Why another git graph extension?

VS Code's current options each have a gap:

Option	Strength	Gap
Git Graph (mhutchie)	Intuitive UI, complete operations	~5 years unmaintained, no open-source licence, slow on large repos
VS Code built-in (1.93+)	Official, zero-install	Feature-light, no AI
GitLens	Deep editor integration	Monolithic, graph is one feature among many, commercial

Git Braid fills the gap: a focused, lightweight extension that is fast on huge repos and brings AI-assisted history understanding.

Two core differentiators:

Performance — 10k–100k commit repos remain smooth. Rust core reads the git object database directly (via gitoxide); a Canvas virtualised renderer paints only the visible window.
AI assistance — release-notes generation, merge-conflict context summaries. Uses VS Code's Language Model API (no key required) with BYO-key fallback (Anthropic, OpenAI, Gemini, Groq).

Features

Commit graph — virtualised Canvas renderer; smooth scrolling on repos with 100k+ commits; bezier lane curves, merge rings, ref chips
Commit detail — metadata, ref labels, changed-file list with A/M/D badges, click-to-diff (uses VS Code's built-in diff viewer)
Full-history search — find by subject, author, or OID prefix; auto-loads commits on demand to reach a match (Cmd/Ctrl+F)
Write operations — checkout, branch/tag CRUD, merge, rebase, cherry-pick, revert, reset (soft/mixed/hard), stash apply/pop/drop — all via the git CLI
Context menu — right-click any commit for the full write-op menu
Copy actions — copy commit hash / short hash / subject / full message
Multi-repo workspaces — auto-detects repos; picker for multi-root workspaces
AI release-notes — pick two refs → AI generates Markdown release notes; two privacy modes (metadata-only vs +diff stat); consent modal per run
Settings — dateFormat, graphColors, ai.provider, ai.model, ai.defaultDiffStat

Architecture

Git Braid is a four-layer system: a Rust core (gitoxide) walks the ODB directly and encodes batches as flat binary buffers; a napi-rs native addon bridges Rust to the TypeScript extension host; the host manages VS Code commands, the webview panel, and AI features; and the webview's Canvas renderer paints only the visible window at 60fps. Write operations shell out to the git CLI; reads never spawn a subprocess.

See docs/architecture.md for the full architecture record: component diagram, data-flows, binary protocol, tech-stack table, and hard constraints.

Development quickstart

Prerequisites: Rust 1.80+, Node.js 20+, pnpm 9+.

# Clone
git clone https://github.com/FWcloud916/vscode-git-braid
cd vscode-git-braid

# Install JS dependencies
pnpm install

# Build the TypeScript extension + webview (includes native vendor step)
pnpm run build

# Run Rust tests
cargo test --workspace

# Check Rust formatting + lints
cargo fmt --all -- --check
cargo clippy --workspace --all-targets -- -D warnings

# Type-check TypeScript
pnpm run typecheck

# Lint TypeScript
pnpm run lint

# Run in VS Code Extension Development Host
# Press F5 in VS Code, then run "Git Braid: Open Graph" from the command palette.

Build the native addon locally

# Debug build (faster; for local development)
pnpm run build:napi:debug

# Release build (for packaging)
pnpm run build:napi

Package a local .vsix

# Builds release addon + vendors it, then packages for the current platform
pnpm run package

Project roadmap

Milestone	Description	Status
M0	Rust core: gitoxide log walk + topo sort	✅
M1	Layout algorithm + napi binding	✅
M2	Canvas virtualised renderer — MVP demo	✅
M3	Commit detail / diff / refs / find	✅
M4	Write operations + context menu	✅
M5	First AI feature (release-notes generation)	✅
M6	Marketplace publish (preview)	✅

See PROGRESS.md for detailed task-level status.

Clean-room notice

Git Braid is a clean-room reimplementation of the Git Graph concept. It is not a fork of any existing extension. See CONTRIBUTING.md for the clean-room development policy.