Git in Skink: diff, stage hunks, blame, commit, branches

Skink shows git changes next to the line numbers and lets you stage, revert, commit and switch branches without leaving the editor.

Press Alt+Shift+C for the git panel, Alt+Shift+D to peek at the change under the cursor, and :diff to compare the file side by side.

Gutter marks

Next to the line numbers, compared with the index:

• Green bar: added lines
• Blue bar: modified lines
• Red mark: deleted lines
• Dotted bar: a change that is already staged

The scrollbar (the editor’s last column) shows the same marks for the whole file.

Turn them off with "gitgutter": false.

Working with hunks

Key	Command	Does
Alt+Shift+N	:nexthunk	Next change
Alt+Shift+P	:prevhunk	Previous change
Alt+Shift+D	:hunk	Peek at the change: s stage, u unstage, r revert, Esc
Alt+Shift+S	:stagehunk	Stage the change at the cursor
	:unstagehunk	Unstage it
	:reverthunk	Put the index version back

Clicking a gutter mark opens the same peek. Reverting is a normal edit, so Ctrl+Z undoes it.

Hold Shift

The git keys are all Alt+Shift chords. The plain Alt versions do other things: Alt+N adds a cursor, Alt+S searches the project, Alt+C goes back to one cursor. If a chord does not reach Skink (macOS, tmux), type the command instead.

Blame

• Inline blame: the faded author, date and summary at the end of the cursor line. On by default.
  • Alt+Shift+B (:inlineblame) toggles it.
  • "inlineblame": false turns it off for good.
• :blame: the whole file’s blame in a tab. Enter on a line shows that commit.

Diff

Command	Shows
:diff	This file side by side against the index
:diff HEAD	This file against the last commit
:diff all	git diff of the whole tree, in a tab

The git panel

Alt+Shift+C (or :gitstatus, :status) opens the panel. In it:

Key	Does
Enter	Open the file
s / u	Stage / unstage the file
S / U	Stage / unstage all
d	Discard changes (asks first; untracked files go to the trash)
c	Commit
C	Amend
b	Branches
z / Z	Stash / list stashes
g	Refresh
P / p / f	Push / pull / fetch

Push, pull and fetch run in a terminal tab, so git asks for passwords, passphrases and keys itself.

Skink never handles your credentials.

Committing

• :commit MESSAGE commits with that message.
• :commit alone opens a message tab. Write the message and save it (Ctrl+S) to commit. Closing the tab cancels.
• In the message tab, :amend toggles amending the last commit and :signoff toggles a Signed-off-by line.

To use Skink for git commit run from a shell too, see Use Skink as your $EDITOR.

:stage [PATH] and :unstage [PATH] work on the current file or PATH.

Branches and stash

Command	Does
:branches	List local branches. Enter switches, D deletes (asks first)
:branch NAME	Create NAME and switch to it
:switch NAME (:checkout)	Switch to a branch
:stash [MESSAGE]	Stash the current changes
:stashes	List stashes. Enter applies, p pops, D drops
:push, :pull, :fetch [ARGS]	In a terminal tab
:git ARGS	Run any git command, output in a tab

Merge conflicts

Command	Does
:conflicts	Open every conflicted file at its first marker
:nextconflict / :prevconflict	Move between conflict blocks
:ours / :theirs / :both	Resolve the block under the cursor

Conflict blocks are tinted: ours green, theirs blue.

The first line of each block shows “Accept ours | theirs | both”, and you can click one. Every resolution is undoable.

In the file tree

File names are coloured by status:

• modified: yellow
• added: green
• untracked: teal
• conflicted: red
• ignored: grey

A folder takes the colour of its most serious file.

Requirements

Skink runs your installed git for these features, so it needs git on your PATH.