Branch list area lacks relevant data, is not organized and is too narrow

[tierninho]

Please describe the problem you think should be solved

The lack of information in the branch list area has led to multiple issues suggesting that changes are needed. Our current branch list is mainly categorized into ‘“recent” branches and “other” branches, along with the creation date of each branch. This current state is lacking certain information from workflows found to be useful by some users. It also lacks data exposed by new or attempted features, such as stashing and protected branches. We also constrain the width of the branch list and associated button, which hides contextual data. This is not ideal and forces us to use tooltips, which may be better suited for a different set of data. Overall, we have the opportunity to add value to the branch list area and close any issues that will not be worked on.

Below is a list of issues which highlight the information that our users would like to see in the branch area.

Relevant issues affecting the branch list area:

Stashing indicator request #7755
Pull request Indicator request #3520
Show branch publication and commit status #5330
Grouping branches under local/remote #1977
Sort branches by last update #5155
Expand width of branch list #4957
Expand branch button width #4569
Local vs Remote branches #5873
Protected branch badge #5776
Sort branches by latest used: #8819

Potential problem statements:

1. Having an indicator for uncommitted changes, existing stashes, and/or associated pull requests on a branch helps surface relevant information that requires me to think less.
2. Grouping my branches based on local or remote is helpful in differentiating my branches to understand which ones haven't yet been pushed (and therefore might need to).
3. I cannot see useful branch information as the width of the area is too narrow and there's no way to expand it.
4. The branch creation date doesn't provide any relevant information to me - instead, seeing when the branch was last updated (and possibly by whom) would be more useful.
5. Protected branches need to be distinguishable from other branches so I don't attempt to commit to them (this could potentially be solved on the branch itself as we're looking at in I accidentally commit locally to protected branches #7023).

Current state of info on branches compared to GitHub.com

Branch feature	On Desktop app	Under Branches tab
Name	✅	✅
Date created	✅	✅
Default / Active / Stale	✅	✅
Protected	✅	❌
Commits before/after default branch	✅	❌
Pull Requests + CI	✅	✅
Stashes	✅	❌
Creator	❌	❌
Contributors	❌	❌
Last updated	❌	❌
Uncommitted work	❌	❌
Local / remote	❌	❌

When looking at Github.com, these are the features of a branch that one can view. While we do not need to mirror Github.com, we do have the opportunity to include some of this data to further enhance our branches tab.

If I missed something here, please add a comment as feedback is always welcomed!

[brianjenkins94]

I'm not a fan of the "recent" feature. Can it be made toggleable in the options?

[tierninho]

@brianjenkins94 Thanks for the suggestion. As it is a rather new feature, we are still gathering feedback. If we hear similar requests, we will consider the option.

[rhwood]

Can we add "is published" to the set of information shown for branches? In my use case, it would be useful to know what branches exist only on my laptop and need to be published to GitHub (or reviewed for being OBE and deleted).

[steveward]

Request from @sdiedrichsen in #10237:

I have many branches and sometimes it's hard to keep track of them. I would like to flag them as favorite or so.

[steveward]

Request from #16134:

The feature request
Add the a-b-count-widget which shows how many commits a branch differs from the default branch as seen on GitHub.

Proposed solution
Just copying this over from the website would be a great addition to add some more information at a glance to the otherwise quite empty UI that could just fit this little widget

[steveward]

From #16902:

I would like to see if any of my branches are behind (and seeing if they are ahead would be helpful too). And have the ability to pull a branch that isn't the active one. It's nice if I'm wanting to merge from changes in another branch.

[steveward]

From #17607:

The feature request
It would be great if it would be possible to see how many commits a branch is ahead or behind.

Proposed solution
On the web when selecting a branch it shows the amound of commits ahead or behind. A similar information box in the desktop client would be great so you can instantly see if your branch is behind the root.

[steveward]

#8048 is a request to add folder grouping to the branch list.