Stage, Unstage, and Ignore Files in GitKraken Desktop

Last updated: February 2026

Learn how to stage files, review changes, and manage tracked content in GitKraken Desktop.

Quick Start

Stage, unstage, and discard file changes in GitKraken Desktop from the Commit Panel.

To stage files:

1. Select the //WIP node in the Commit Graph to open the Commit Panel.
2. Hover over a file and click Stage File, or click Stage all changes to stage everything at once.
3. To stage specific lines, click a file to open its diff, highlight the lines, right-click, and select Stage selected lines.

To unstage files: Select a file under Staged Files and click Unstage File. Use Unstage all changes to move all staged files back to the working directory.

To discard changes: Select the //WIP node and click the trash icon to discard all changes or selected files. Right-click a file to discard individual hunks from the diff view.

To ignore a file: Right-click any unstaged file and select Ignore. Choose to ignore by file name, extension, or directory. GitKraken Desktop adds the rule to the root-level .gitignore. For already-tracked files, select Ignore and Stop Tracking to also remove the file from the Git index.

Stage Files and Changes

Staging prepares your file changes for commit. To begin:

1. Select the //WIP node in the Commit Graph to open the Commit Panel.

2. Hover over a file and click Stage File to stage it.

You can also:

• Click Stage all changes to stage all at once
• Click a file to view its diff and selectively stage lines:
  • Highlight lines
  • Right-click and select Stage selected lines

Unstage Files or Lines

To unstage a file:

1. Select the file under the Staged Files section
2. Click Unstage File

To unstage lines or hunks, click a file to view its diff and right-click the content to unstage.

To unstage all:

• Click Unstage all changes

Discard Changes

To discard changes across your working directory:

1. Select the //WIP node
2. Click the trash icon to discard all or selected files

You can also:

• Multi-select files and right-click to Discard selected
• Discard lines/hunks from the file diff
• Right-click within the staging panel and choose Discard Changes

Ignore Files

To prevent Git from tracking certain files, add them to a .gitignore file.

Right-click a file and select Ignore:

You can choose to:

• Ignore the selected file only
• Ignore all files with that extension
• Ignore all files in the directory

GitKraken Desktop will add the rule to a .gitignore file at the root of your repo. Nested .gitignore files are not parsed.

Ignore Previously Tracked Files

If a file is already tracked, you’ll see two options:

Selecting Ignore will add the corresponding entry to the .gitignore file, but Git will continue tracking the file.

Selecting Ignore and Stop Tracking will add the entry and remove the file from the Git index, so Git stops tracking it.