GitBolt logo GitBolt

Qt 6 · C++20 · libgit2

A Git client that feels as fast as git itself.

GitBolt is a high-performance, feature-complete Git GUI for macOS, Linux, and Windows. Built natively in C++ with Qt 6. No Electron, no JavaScript runtime, no compromises.

Download GitBolt Free for Apple Silicon Macs, Linux, and Windows

Performance targets

~12 MBnative binary
~50 MBidle RAM
~1scold startup

A guided tour, one step at a time

Clone, graph, stage, rebase, push. Five things GitBolt does better than most.

01 / 05

Clone anything, anywhere

Paste a URL or pick a directory. GitBolt handles SSH keys, credentials, and shallow clones through the git CLI where it matters, and libgit2 everywhere it's faster.

Clone URL git@github.com:Inverian/GitBolt.git
Directory ~/Developer/GitBolt
Receiving objects: 100% (18,432/18,432), 12.4 MiB Resolving deltas: 100% (9,201/9,201) Cloned in 2.1s
02 / 05

A revision graph you can actually read

Lane-based topology rendering with bezier merge curves. Paged loading with a sliding-window cache keeps 100K-commit repos smooth.

main feature hotfix
feat: rewrite log delegate
feat: add auth helper
refactor: split models/
fix: LRU eviction
perf: paged log
Merge feature/auth
03 / 05

Chunk- and line-level staging

Click a hunk to stage it. Click a line to stage just that line. Side-by-side diffs with syntax highlighting throughout.

 int Cache::evict() {
-    if (size_ > limit_) {
+    while (size_ > limit_) {
     auto oldest = lru_.back();
     lru_.pop_back();
-    return 1;
+    evicted++;
 }
04 / 05

Interactive rebase, actually interactive

Drag commits to reorder. Pick, squash, fixup, edit, with a live preview of the rewritten history before you commit.

picka1b2c3feat: OAuth helper
squashd4e5f6fixup: typo
pick7g8h9ifeat: PAT fallback
reword0j1k2ldocs: README
drop3m4n5owip
05 / 05

Push, pull, fetch, on worker threads

Every network op runs on QtConcurrent with credential helper integration. Your UI never freezes, even on big fetches.

Pushingmain → origin/main
Enumerating124 objects
Compressing2.1 MiB / 2.1 MiB
✓ Pusheda1b2c3 → d4e5f6

Built for power users

Everything you need for real day-to-day Git work, plus the things most GUIs still skip.

Visual revision graph

Lane-based topology rendering with bezier merge curves. Custom Qt delegate with paged loading, designed to stay smooth on large repos.

Interactive rebase

Drag-and-drop reordering, pick / squash / fixup / edit, with a real preview of what you're about to rewrite.

Three-way merge

Side-by-side conflict resolution with chunk- and line-level staging. Syntax highlighting throughout.

Blame with drill-down

Follow renames, jump to the commit behind any line, and trace file history across moves without losing your place.

Pickaxe search

Search by message, author, date range, file content, or path. Fast enough to use while you think.

Git Flow built-in

Feature, release, and hotfix workflows as first-class UI. Not a tucked-away menu.

Submodules & worktrees

Init, update, sync, and deinit submodules; add, remove, and lock worktrees, all from the same window.

Shell integration

Finder Sync on macOS, Explorer shell extension on Windows, Nautilus on Linux. Right-click, open, done.

Plugin system

Extend with background fetch notifications, repository statistics, or your own workflow plugins.

Native by design

Most desktop Git GUIs today are either Electron-based, dragging a full JavaScript runtime along for the ride, or expensive commercial native apps. Linux options are especially thin. GitBolt fills the gap.

Why native?

  • Qt 6 with hardware-accelerated rendering
  • libgit2 on the hot path; git CLI for credentials and interactive flows
  • All git operations on worker threads via QtConcurrent
  • Paged commit log with sliding-window cache eviction
  • 12-module architecture with strict single-responsibility

Under the hood

Download GitBolt

GitBolt, the native Git client for macOS, Linux, and Windows, is free to download and use. Every release is published on GitHub with builds for each platform.

macOS

Apple Silicon (arm64)

.dmg

Linux

64-bit (x86_64), tested on Ubuntu 24.04

.AppImage · .deb

Windows

64-bit (x64)

.exe
Download from GitHub Releases

Free and open source under GPL-3.0. Every release includes SHA-256 checksums so you can verify your download. The macOS build is not notarized yet: if macOS blocks the first launch, open System Settings, then Privacy & Security, and click Open Anyway.

Build from source

Prefer to compile it yourself? Once the prerequisites are installed, the first build takes a few minutes.

git clone https://github.com/Inverian/GitBolt.git
cd GitBolt
cmake -B build -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release -G Ninja
cmake --build build --parallel

Requires a C++20 compiler, CMake 3.21+, Qt 6.5+, and libgit2 1.7+. See docs/BUILDING.md for per-platform instructions.