GitKraken Desktop Documentation

Profiles

Last updated: May 2025


GitKraken Desktop uses profiles to manage app preferences, Tabs, and Git config settings. You can create and switch between profiles for different projects and environments.

Profile settings showing avatar preview
Set your email address to view your Gravatar preview.

Create and switch between multiple profiles with a GitKraken subscription.


Manage Profiles

Profiles tab in Preferences
Access profiles from Preferences > Profiles.

Enable Keep my .gitconfig updated with my profile info to sync your name and email with Git’s global .gitconfig.

What Does a Profile Store?

Each profile retains settings under:

  • Preferences > General
  • Preferences > Integrations
  • Preferences > UI Preferences

Tabs are also profile-specific. When you create a new profile, GitKraken Desktop will duplicate the tabs open in your current one.

Switching profiles changes tabs
Each profile maintains its own set of tabs.

Profiles support unique integration connections. For example, use separate profiles to connect different GitHub accounts.

Different profiles connected to different integrations
Profiles can connect to different remote hosting accounts.

Change Profile Avatars

If connected to GitHub, your avatar will match your GitHub profile. Otherwise, GitKraken Desktop uses the Gravatar linked to your profile’s email address.

To change your profile avatar:

  1. Click the profile icon in the top-right corner.
  2. Select Manage Profiles
Manage Profiles menu option
Start from the profile image menu.
Edit profile details
Edit your profile details here.

Choose an icon or change the email address to use a different Gravatar image.

Gravatar image preview in profile settings
Set a different author email to change the profile Gravatar.

Author Initials in the Graph

Instead of avatars, display commit author initials in the commit graph:

Commit graph showing author initials
Display author initials instead of profile avatars.

To enable, go to Preferences > UI Preferences > Display author initials and generic remote icons instead of avatars.

Which Initials Are Used?

GitKraken Desktop uses initials based on the commit’s author name:

  • Commits made in GitKraken use profile name initials.
  • Commits from the CLI use initials from .git/config or .gitconfig.

Can Profiles Use Different Avatars?

Yes it can, if each profile has a unique email address linked to a different Gravatar. GitKraken currently does not support custom image uploads.

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