LazyGit Tutorial: Fast Terminal Git UI for Staging, Committing, and Branching

Why LazyGit?

LazyGit is a terminal UI for Git that makes staging, committing, branching, and rebasing visual and fast. If you've ever fumbled with git add -p or struggled with interactive rebase, LazyGit makes those operations point-and-click.

This guide covers the full LazyGit workflow: from installation to custom commands and rebase mastery.

• Stage and unstage individual lines with a single key
• Branch and stash visually — see everything at a glance
• Interactive rebase without memorizing rebase commands
• Custom commands and keybindings for your workflow

Installation & First Launch

Install LazyGit:

brew install lazygit

• Git installed and configured
• A terminal with mouse support
• No prior LazyGit experience needed
• Optional: set lg as a shell alias

Add an alias for convenience:

# ~/.zshrc or ~/.bashrc
alias lg='lazygit'

Staging & Committing Visually

Run lg in any Git repository. The interface has five panels: Status, Files, Branches, Commits, and Stash. Navigate with H/J/K/L (vim-style) or arrow keys.

• Space — stage/unstage a file or hunk
• a — stage/unstage all files
• c — commit (opens editor for message)
• Enter — view file diff or commit details
• Tab — switch between panels
• + / - — expand/collapse diff hunks

The bottom bar always shows context-appropriate keybindings. You don't need to memorize everything — just look down.

Branching & Stashing Made Easy

LazyGit's killer feature is line-level staging. In the Files panel, select a file, press Enter to see the diff, then:

• Space on a specific hunk — stage just that hunk
• Use arrow down to select individual lines, then Space — stage just those lines
• d — delete uncommitted changes (with confirmation)
• S — stash changes
• shift+S — pop the latest stash

Custom Keybindings & Folders

LazyGit can be extended with custom commands. In ~/.config/lazygit/config.yml:

customCommands:
- key: 'C'
command: "git commit --amend --no-edit"
context: 'files'
description: 'Amend commit without editing message'
- key: 'P'
command: "git push --force-with-lease"
context: 'commits'
description: 'Force push with lease (safe)'
- key: 'f'
command: "git fetch --prune"
context: 'localBranches'
description: 'Fetch and prune remote branches'

• Custom commands appear in the keybinding help
• Use {{.SelectedFile.Name}} to pass context to your command
• Commands run in the repo root
• See [[LazyGit Custom Commands]] for more recipes

Git Operation Recovery

Common issues and fixes:

• No mouse support? Set gui: mouseEvents: true in config.yml
• Colors look wrong? Set your terminal to 256 color mode
• Can't edit commit message? Ensure $EDITOR or $GIT_EDITOR is set
• Rebase gone wrong? Press ctrl-z or run git rebase --abort outside LazyGit

LazyGit Muscle Memory

You've mastered LazyGit basics. Go deeper:

• Master interactive rebase visually (see [[LazyGit Rebase and Conflict Resolution]])
• Extend with custom commands (see [[LazyGit Custom Commands]])
• Pair with git-delta for beautiful diffs (see [[git-delta Tutorial]])
• Use GitHub CLI alongside LazyGit (see [[GitHub CLI Workflow]])