GitKraken Desktop Interface Guide | Toolbar, Panels, and Graph

Last updated: March 2026

Use this page to understand the main areas of the GitKraken Desktop interface so you can navigate repository actions, history, staging, and collaboration features more efficiently. It covers the toolbar, Left Panel, Commit Panel, Commit Graph, and tabs, with links to deeper task-specific guides when you need more than a UI overview.

Requirements and limits

• Scope: Interface overview, not full task-specific workflows
• Main areas covered: Toolbar, Left Panel, Commit Graph, Commit Panel, and tabs
• Repository context: Most controls described here appear only when a repository is open
• Left Panel behavior: Sections can be toggled, resized, collapsed, or expanded from the UI
• Toolbar behavior: Some buttons appear only when the relevant feature or repo state is available, such as LFS
• Deeper actions: Use linked feature pages for task-specific limits and workflows beyond this interface overview

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Quick Start

• Left Panel: Lists your local branches, remotes, tags, stashes, submodules, and integrations. Click any item to interact with it. Right-click for additional actions like checkout, merge, and delete.
• Commit Graph: Displays the visual commit history of the current repository. Click any commit to view its details in the Commit Panel. Click the WIP node at the top to view and stage pending changes.
• Commit Panel: Shows file changes for the selected commit or WIP. Displays diffs, staged/unstaged files, and co-author information. Use it to stage files and write commit messages.
• Toolbar: Located at the top of the window. Provides one-click access to Undo, Redo, Pull, Push, Branch, Stash, and Pop. Use the adjacent dropdowns to customize pull behavior or branch options.

To open the Command Palette at any time, press Cmd/Ctrl + P. To toggle the Left Panel, use Cmd/Ctrl + K or the toggle in the toolbar. Preferences and integrations are accessible from the gear icon in the upper-right corner.

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From left to right, GitKraken Desktop displays a Left Panel, Commit Graph, and the Commit Panel when working with a repository.

How the toolbar works

The main toolbar provides quick access to common repository actions, including Undo, Redo, Pull, Push, Branching, and more.

History actions

Icon	Button	What it does
	Undo	If an action can be undone, the Undo button is activated. Click to reverse the last undoable action.
	Redo	Click Redo to reverse the last undo command.

Sync actions

Icon	Button	What it does
	Pull	Click to pull changes from the remote repository. Use the adjacent dropdown to choose pull behavior:
	Push	Push changes to the upstream remote repository.

• Fetch All
• Pull (fast-forward if possible)
• Pull (fast-forward only): same as git fetch && git merge --ff-only
• Pull (rebase): same as git fetch && git rebase

Branch actions

Icon	Button	What it does
	Branch	Create a new branch from your current HEAD.

Work-in-progress actions

Icon	Button	What it does
	Stash	Temporarily save your changes without committing using a stash.
	Pop Stash	Restore changes from the most recent stash.

Conditional actions

Icon	Button	What it does
	LFS	This button appears if LFS is enabled for your repository.

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How the Left Panel works

The Left Panel provides access to repository references, such as local branches, remotes, and tags. You can:

• Collapse or expand sections
• Resize the panel and sections
• Toggle visibility via the context menu
• Maximize a section by double-clicking the header

Icon	Section	What it does
	Local	References to local branches — pointers to specific commits allowing work to be separated. If you need help with branches, visit our Branching and Merging page.
	Remote	References to remote branches. Set sail into pushing and pulling remotes for more.
	Pull Requests	This shows active requests for merging one branch into another. With the GitHub or Bitbucket integration, new PRs can be created directly from GitKraken Desktop. Create your Pull Request to get your contribution merged.
	Issues	Lets you see and work with your issues in GitKraken Desktop Hook up to your remote issue tracker of choice – such as Jira, GitHub, GitLab, or Trello.
	Teams	Easily see what your Team members are working on.
	Tags	These represent active pointers to commits but never move. Tag, you’re it!
	Stashes	Stored file changes in the working copy. For saving your loot to play with later, here’s more on stashes.
	Submodules	A Git repository in a subdirectory of the current repository. Git-inception with submodules anyone?

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How the Commit Panel works

The Commit Panel is where files and changes from your working directory are staged and committed.

The three sections in order of operations are:

1. Unstaged Files — Modified files not yet added to the index.
2. Staged Files — Files staged for the next commit.
3. Commit Message — A two-part message interface:
   • Summary: A brief, informative message shown in the graph.
   • Description: Additional details to support the summary.

To explore more about staging and committing, visit committing work.

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How the Commit Graph works

The Commit Graph is a visual representation of your repo’s Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG), showing each commit and its relationships.

Each row is a commit, with the most recent at the top. Columns represent branches; lines indicate merges and relationships.

You can trace branch history from bottom to top and right to left.

How ghost branches work

Hover over or select a commit to see its nearest containing branch (“ghost” branch). Double-click to check out its head.

How commit highlighting works

Hovering over a branch highlights all related commits.

Toggle this behavior from Preferences > UI Customization.

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How tabs work

Switch between multiple repositories using tabs.

Use shortcuts cmd/ctrl+1-9 to switch tabs. Open new tabs with + or cmd/ctrl+T, and close tabs with middle-click or cmd/ctrl+W.

Tabs persist per profile.

Tab alias and name

Right-click a tab and select Alias repository to assign a custom name.

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Columns

GitKraken Desktop displays these default columns: Branch/Tag, Graph, Commit Message. Columns are rearrangeable.

Right-click headers to toggle columns like Author, Date/Time, or Sha. You can also use the gear icon.

Filter commits by author via the in the AUTHOR column.

GitKraken Desktop saves column selections, widths, and order per repo. Columns are also configurable from Preferences > UI Customization.

For more advanced views, see Hiding and Soloing.