GitKraken Desktop Documentation

Staging Files and Changes

Last updated: April 2025

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


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.
Select the WIP node to view changes
Select the //WIP node to view your working changes.
  1. Hover over a file and click to stage it.
Stage file button appears on hover
Click Stage File on hover.

You can also:

  • Click 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
Select lines to stage from diff view
Right-click to stage specific lines or hunks.

Tip: Use keyboard shortcuts to speed up staging actions.


Unstage Files or Lines

To unstage a file:

  1. Select the file under the Staged Files section
  2. Click
Unstage a file button
Click Unstage File to move it back to working changes.

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

Unstage hunk from file diff view
Unstage specific hunks directly from the diff view.

To unstage all:

  • Click

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
Discard all changes from WIP
Discard changes for all or multiple 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
Discard individual hunk from diff
Discard selected hunks of code.

Ignore Files

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

Right-click a file and select Ignore:

Ignore option in file context menu
Choose ignore rules based on file, extension, or folder.

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.

Note: GitKraken Desktop only uses the root-level .gitignore file.

Ignore Previously Tracked Files

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

Prompt to ignore a tracked file
Prompt showing options to ignore a file already tracked by Git.

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

Option to ignore but keep tracking
Ignore file but keep it tracked by Git.

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

Option to ignore and stop tracking
Ignore file and remove it from Git tracking.
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