How can I view the Git history in Visual Studio Code?

Question

I can execute various Git commands from Visual Studio Code, however I couldn't find a way to visualize the history.

Weinberg

strangely, it hides in the Explorer tab under Timeline, rather than in the Git tab... :-) – Deemster

Answer 1

I recommend you this extension, Git History by Don Jayamanne

It does exactly what you need and has these features:

• View the details of a commit, such as author name / email / date, committer name / email / date and comments.
• View a previous copy of the file or compare it against the local workspace version or a previous version.
• View the changes to the active line in the editor (Git Blame).
• Configure the information displayed in the list
• Use keyboard shortcuts to view history of a file or line
• View the Git log (along with details of a commit, such as author name, email, comments and file changes).

repo: https://github.com/DonJayamanne/gitHistoryVSCode

Nigercongo

Note that you can download it directly from the marketplace. – Vituperation

Git History for VS Code in marketplace marketplace.visualstudio.com/… – Receivership

Does this show the history only after you've installed it? Or would you be able to see commands executed before installing it as well (perhaps VS Code stores it somewhere inaccessible)? – Churchless

No, I installed it and cannot see the previous history. It shows the history only after its installed – Orthotropous

I was using GitLens but found it extremely overwhelming. The interface has just too many options. This, on the other hand, is quite straightforward. Liking it so far. – Keck

But, if you faced a issue, like git.viewHistroy command not found , then look here github.com/DonJayamanne/gitHistoryVSCode/issues/238 – Golliner

You can open the marketplace in VSCode with Ctrl+Shift+X and then search for "git history" – Hanson

Answer 2

You won't need a plugin to see commit history with Visual Studio Code 1.44 or more.

Timeline view

This is a unified view for visualizing time-series events (for example, Git commits, file saves, test runs, etc.) for a file. The Timeline view automatically updates showing the timeline for the currently active editor, by default. You can control this default behavior by toggling the eye icon in the view toolbar. Also, similar to other views, the Timeline view supports find or filter as you type.

The Timeline view is collapsed by default at the bottom of the File Explorer. Selecting the Timeline sash will expand the Timeline view.

[...]

Here is the Timeline view in action:

Declan

Can it show branch history? It seems to show selected file history. – Gilchrist

@Gilchrist No, for now it is a time-series events (here, Git commits) for a resource (file, folder). – Declan

@Declan is there a way in timeline to bring up diff details for then entire commit that the timeline view is showing for a specific file? Is there a way to render "git show <commit id>" view in vsc vs command line vi editor experience? – Inattentive

@Inattentive Not that I know of. That would be a good question on its own. – Declan

@Declan okay thanks for clarification. While the git history extension mentioned earlier in this thread does provide a way to use ide for view and diff contents of all aspects of a commit in the history log i assumed an oob story would exist for this given timeline is sort of doing this already but at a file scope level. As suggested i created a new SO question for just that issue here. – Inattentive

It does not seem to show history for a folder, only for a single specific file. – Jurist

Saved my day. When I done git reset --hard I lost a file and wasn't able to restore it through git, so VSCode had the solution – Euphemia

Answer 3

GitLens has a nice Git history browser. Install GitLens from the extensions marketplace, and then run "Show GitLens Explorer" from the command palette.

Barbarism

The latest version of GitLens is really good. It adds a handy sidebar button and allows you to much better visualize changes across multiple branches. – Papal

yes, i used that, and i highly recommended that extension because it can show in realtime when i click on some link , ref: academy.byidmore.com/post/… – Dyestuff

@JosephSheedy, GitLens seams most popular (downloads) extension for reason. – Warp

Good plugin. Did too much overlaying for me. https://mcmap.net/q/12201/-how-can-i-view-the-git-history-in-visual-studio-code built in vscode was exactly what I was looking for. – Vulnerable

GitLens > gitHistory – Moses

Answer 4

It is evident to me that GitLens is the most popular extension for Git history.

What I like the most it can provide you side annotations when some line has been changed the last time and by whom.

Warp

Answer 5

You don't need an extension to do this, you can just go to Explorer and then Timeline.

If you don't want it in Explorer, you can drag and drop it to the Sidebar, or Source Control or anywhere you want!

If you want more fancy features like visualizing and all that stuff you need an extension.

Mellen

Timeline only shows the log for a single file, not the branch. – Palmary

Answer 6

I would recommend using Git Graph extension.

Purgatory

Simple and efficient. – Microbarograph

Answer 7

I strongly recommend using a combination of GitLens & GitGraph.

Below snapshot highlights how gitlens is showing commit over time

And the below picture is for the the amazing vivid GitGraph

Zaidazailer

Answer 8

Git Graph seems like a decent extension. After installing, you can open the graph view from the bottom status bar.

Shod

Answer 9

You will find the right icon to click, when you open a file or the welcome page, in the upper right corner.

And you can add a keyboard shortcut:

Stirps

JIC: ... before to see this option, you need to have Git History extension previously installed. – Koo

Can you update your answer with the prerequisites (after testing it is actually the case)? – Rotl

Thanks @Jhegs, somehow I forgot about reinstalling that extension and was looking for this feature everywhere in the settings 🤦‍♂️ – Brandes

Answer 10

There's another comfortable way to navigate the commit history for a file in Visual Studio Code by using the Gitlens extension.

That provides two functionalities, "File history" and "Line history", that are accessible from the VCS menu once Gitlens is installed.

Full explanations with example and doc reference provided in this answer.

Lehman