How Changes and Commits Work

The Changes sidebar lists what changed in every repository of the workspace (Conflicts, Staged and Changes), where you stage, unstage, discard and commit. The user side is in Changes and Commits. Repository row buttons are in How Repository Actions Work, the Commit arrow and gear in How Commit Options Work.

Why we need it

This is the daily loop of any git client, so it must be quick and predictable. It is grouped by repository, so one window manages many projects.

Two rules shape the code:

• Every write goes through the git CLI (git/cli.rs), so hooks, signing and config behave as in the terminal. Reads use git2.
• Every action names its repository: every mutation takes repoRoot first.

How it works

From status to sections

repoStore.statuses holds one RepoStatus per repository, loaded by get_status, which calls status::read (git2, untracked folders recursed, renames detected between HEAD and the index). buildSections in sections.ts turns them into one section per repository:

flowchart TD
  F["FileStatus"] --> C{"conflicted?"}
  C -->|yes| G1["Conflicts group"]
  C -->|no| S{"staged kind?"}
  S -->|yes| G2["Staged group"]
  S --> U{"unstaged kind?"}
  U -->|yes| G3["Changes group"]
  G2 --> N["A partly staged file<br/>appears in both groups"]
  G3 --> N

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groupFiles and buildSection cache their results in a WeakMap keyed by the status object; a refresh replaces only the changed repository's status, so other sections are reused. splitSections moves clean repositories to CleanRepoList.svelte.

The selected row is a FileSelection (repoRoot, path, area) in changesSelection; picking one opens its diff (see How diffs work). After every refresh, resolveSelection keeps it valid: the same row, else the same file in the other area, else the nearest row.

Stage, unstage, discard, commit

Every action in mutations.ts, and commitRepo in repoActions.ts that the commit box calls, runs through repoStore.run, which sets the busy label, shows errors and refreshes that repository.

sequenceDiagram
  participant Row as RepoSection or commitRepo
  participant Store as repoStore.run
  participant Api as api.ts
  participant Cmd as commands/status.rs
  participant Git as git CLI
  Row->>Store: run(label, work, repoPath = repoRoot)
  Store->>Api: stageFiles / unstageFiles / discardFiles / commit
  Api->>Cmd: stage_files, unstage_files, discard_files, commit
  Cmd->>Git: add -A, restore --staged, restore --worktree, commit -F -
  Git-->>Cmd: output or error
  Cmd-->>Store: result
  Store->>Store: toast, refreshRepo(repoRoot)

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• stage_files runs git add -A -- <paths>, so deletions are staged too.
• unstage_files runs git restore --staged, or git rm --cached -r -q in a repository with no commits yet. unstagePaths adds the old path of a staged rename.
• discard() asks first, then discard_files restores tracked files (git restore --worktree) and deletes untracked ones through safe_join.
• commit passes the message on stdin with git commit -F -, so multi-line messages arrive exactly as typed; amend with an empty message uses --no-edit. run_commit adds the Commit Options arguments, and --all for commit_all. Turning on Amend fills an empty box from get_head_message; turning it off clears that text again if unchanged.

There is one commit box. changesLayout.commitTargetRoot follows the repository you last worked in (focusRepo), and resolveCommitTarget falls back to the active repository, then the first. Each repository keeps its message and Amend flag in commitDraft.for(repoRoot), built on DraftBook.

Rows and menus

RepoSection.svelte draws the repository header (name, submodule or worktree tag, change count, operation badge) with RepoActions.svelte on its right; with one repository, ChangesView.svelte shows RepoActions in the panel title instead. Stage All, Unstage All and Discard All live in the ... menu. Right-clicking the header opens that menu (repoMenuFor) plus Resolve Conflicts, Set as Active Repository (only when it is not active) and Copy Repository Path.

File row menus add Add to .gitignore (ignoreMenu, see How Ignoring Files Works) and Shelve Changes.... FileRow.svelte takes an optional badge (LFS, submodule) and note (a submodule's change).

Arrow keys move across all expanded sections, Space or Enter stages or unstages the selected row, and Delete discards an unstaged row; the list keeps the focus. Cmd+Enter in the message box commits.

Where the code lives

File	What it does
src/lib/views/ChangesView.svelte	The sidebar panel, keyboard handling, empty states
src/lib/views/changes/RepoSection.svelte	One repository: header, badges, groups, row menus
src/lib/views/changes/RepoActions.svelte	The repository buttons, see How Repository Actions Work
src/lib/views/changes/FileRow.svelte	One file row
src/lib/views/changes/CleanRepoList.svelte	Repositories with no changes
src/lib/views/changes/CommitBox.svelte	Amend, target picker, Commit and its arrow, Sync Changes
src/lib/views/changes/CommitMessageField.svelte	The message: history, templates, commit.template, subject note
src/lib/views/changes/sections.ts	Pure grouping, rows, selection and labels
src/lib/views/changes/selection.svelte.ts, layout.svelte.ts	Selected change; collapse state and commit target
src/lib/views/changes/mutations.ts	Stage, unstage, discard
src/lib/views/changes/commitDraft.svelte.ts, drafts.ts	Per-repository drafts
src/lib/views/changes/fileStatus.ts	Letters, unstagePaths, discardPaths, rowElementId
src-tauri/src/commands/status.rs	Status, stage, unstage, discard, commit, commit_all
src-tauri/src/git/status.rs	status::read and head_info

Design decisions

One commit box for all repositories. A box per section would make the layout jump on every stage, and text fields inside the list would clash with its arrow and Space keys.

Selecting a file does not change the active repository. Switching reloads branches and history, too heavy for every click. Set as active, opening a conflict and Resolve do switch it.

Repository actions on the row, not on hover. Hover-only buttons were hard to find and to reach from the keyboard. An always visible row shrinks through container queries instead.

Commit messages go through stdin. -F - keeps the text exact, with no quoting or length limits, and GIT_EDITOR=true in cli.rs means git never waits for an editor.

Confirm every discard. It cannot be undone, so the dialog names or counts the files, untracked ones included.

Bugs we fixed

Staged renames showed the old name.

• The issue: after git mv old new, the list showed the old name and never the new one.
• Why it happened: git2's StatusEntry::path names the old side of a rename.
• The fix and why we chose it: for a staged rename, status::read takes path from the new side and orig_path from the old side of head_to_index(), which matches how the UI reads path.

Space on a header button also staged the selected row.

• The issue: pressing Space on a focused section button such as Stage All also staged or unstaged the selected file.
• Why it happened: the list's keyboard handler saw the same key press.
• The fix and why we chose it: for Space, Enter and Delete, ChangesView.svelte ignores keys whose target is a button, select, input or textarea, so the focused control keeps its behavior.

Enter did not stage the selected file.

• The issue: after clicking a file in the Changes list, Enter did nothing. Only Space and double-click staged or unstaged it.
• Why it happened: clicking focuses the list, but Enter was only handled on the row itself, which never has the focus.
• The fix and why we chose it: ChangesView.svelte handles Enter like Space, with the same rule that a focused button keeps its own behavior. Rows no longer take the focus on click, and aria-activedescendant points screen readers at the selected row. One keyboard owner means no key runs twice.

Tests

• src-tauri/src/commands/tests.rs: stage_files_stages_modifications_and_deletions, unstage_files_in_unborn_and_normal_repo, discard_files_restores_tracked_and_deletes_untracked, commit_with_multiline_message_and_amend and get_status_and_file_diff_commands.
• src-tauri/src/git/tests.rs: status_reports_staged_unstaged_and_untracked_changes and the status_head_* tests.
• src/lib/views/changes/sections.test.ts (grouping, cache reuse, selection fallback, commit target), drafts.test.ts (DraftBook) and fileStatus.test.ts (rowElementId).

Add a Rust test with TestRepo for every new git command, and keep grouping or selection rules in sections.ts, tested. See Testing.

Keeping this page in sync

• Update this page when a stage, discard or commit command, grouping, selection, keys, row menus or the commit target change.
• Update Changes and Commits for visible changes.
• Retake changes-sidebar.png and commit-box.png. See Docs and Screenshots.