All the world's a stage, and all the git contributors
An interactive terminal tool for staging files and committing with Git.
Rather than juggling git add and git status at the command line, git-stage presents all changed files in an interactive list. Navigate with arrow keys, select what to stage, review diffs, and commit — all in one flow.
- Interactive file selector with keyboard navigation
- Shows current branch, previous commit, and per-file line change counts in the header
- Pre-selects already-staged files so you can see and adjust the current index state
- Unstage files by deselecting them
- View word-level diffs before deciding what to stage
- Revert unstaged changes to a file
- Remove untracked files
- Amend the last commit — optionally adding more files and editing the message
- Push to origin after committing, or when the working tree is clean with unpushed commits
- Dry run mode to preview what would be staged and committed
- Prints the git commands run after each session
Run from inside any Git repository:
git-stage| Key | Action |
|---|---|
↑ / ↓ |
Navigate the file list |
k / j |
Navigate (vim-style) |
Space |
Toggle selection |
d |
View diff of file under cursor |
x |
Remove untracked file (with confirmation) |
u |
Revert unstaged changes to file under cursor (with confirmation) |
m |
Amend the last commit |
a |
Select / deselect all |
Enter |
Confirm — stage selected, unstage deselected, then prompt for commit message |
q / Ctrl-C |
Quit — leaves the index exactly as-is |
The header displays the current branch, the previous commit (with author, date, and short SHA), and the total number of changed files and selected files. Per-file line change counts (+N -N) are shown next to each file in the list.
Files already in the index appear pre-checked. Leaving them checked keeps them staged. Unchecking a staged file and pressing Enter will unstage it.
Press d on any file to open its diff in less:
- Staged files show the diff against
HEAD(what would be committed) - Unstaged modified files show the worktree diff
- Untracked files show the raw file contents
Quit the diff with q to return to the file selector.
After pressing Enter, any staging changes are applied and you are prompted for a commit message. Leave the message blank to abort the commit while keeping the index as staged.
Press m to amend the last commit. If files are selected, they are staged into the amended commit and listed before the message prompt. The previous commit message is shown so you can edit or keep it as-is — pressing Enter on a blank line keeps the existing message.
After a successful commit, a post-commit screen offers the option to push to origin (p) or quit (q). If the working tree is already clean but there are unpushed commits, the same screen is shown when git-stage is run, allowing you to push without going through the selector.
Pressing q or Ctrl-C exits immediately without modifying the index. Files that were already staged remain staged.
After each session, the git commands that were executed are printed, so you always have a clear record of what the tool did on your behalf.
git-stage --help # Show usage and controls
git-stage --version # Show version and copyright
git-stage -q # Suppress copyright display in the UI
git-stage --dry-run # Preview what would be staged and committed without doing itShort forms -h and -v are also supported for --help and --version.
- Bash 4.0+
- Git
- Standard Unix utilities:
tput,stty,less
macOS ships with Bash 3.2. Install a current version via Homebrew:
brew install bashDownload the script and place it somewhere on your $PATH:
curl -o ~/.local/bin/git-stage https://raw.githubusercontent.com/sbellware/git-stage/main/git-stage.sh
chmod +x ~/.local/bin/git-stageOr clone the repository and symlink it:
git clone https://github.com/sbellware/git-stage.git
ln -s "$PWD/git-stage/git-stage.sh" ~/.local/bin/git-stageCopyright (c) 2026 Scott Bellware. All rights reserved.
See LICENSE for full terms.