Tig

A long-standing ncurses text-mode interface for browsing Git history, blame and diffs.

Verified facts: 4 of 4
Alternatives ranked: 4
Approved reviews: 0
Visits sent from here: 0

About Tig

Tig is one of the oldest terminal interfaces for Git, built on ncurses. It is first and foremost a fast repository browser: scroll through the log with a commit graph, open diffs, follow blame line by line, view trees and refs, and jump between them with Vim-like keys. It can also stage changes at the chunk level and commit, and it works as a pager for the output of other Git commands, so you can pipe `git log` or `git show` into it. Because it is small and widely packaged, it is often already available on Linux servers and through Homebrew on macOS, and it runs on Windows via Git for Windows or WSL. It is free software under the GPL-2.0. Tig is deliberately modest: it does not try to handle interactive rebase or conflict resolution in its interface, so most people use it alongside the Git command line rather than instead of it.

Best for: Command-line users who want a quick way to browse history, diffs and blame.

What works

Tiny, fast and widely packaged
Excellent log, diff and blame browsing
Works as a pager for other Git commands

Why people leave

Limited write operations; no interactive rebase UI
Dated look and Vim-style keys
Needs the Git command line for most changes

Top Tig alternatives

See all 4

1
lazygit
Handles rebasing, cherry-picking and staging, not just browsing.
66.5
2
gitui
A modern, responsive terminal UI with on-screen help.
62.6
3
Gitu
A terminal client with Magit-style workflows for staging and rebasing.
59.6
4
Fugitive
Brings blame, log and staging into Vim if you already live in the editor.
57.2

Why people left Tig

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Tig: common questions

Is Tig free?

Yes. Tig is free, open-source software.

Is Tig open source?

Yes. The source code is on GitHub at jonas/tig.

What platforms does Tig run on?

Tig is available for Linux, macOS and Windows.

What are the best alternatives to Tig?

The highest-ranked Tig alternatives right now are lazygit, gitui and Gitu. See the full ranked list for pricing, platforms and verified facts.

See all 4 Tig alternatives

Tig facts

4 of 4 verified

License: GPL-2.0; Checked Oct 25, 2026github.com(opens source in a new tab); “License: GPL-2.0 (GNU General Public License v2.0).”
Type: ncurses text-mode interface; Checked Oct 25, 2026jonas.github.io(opens source in a new tab); “Tig is an ncurses-based text-mode interface for git.”
Staging: Chunk-level staging; Checked Oct 25, 2026jonas.github.io(opens source in a new tab); “It functions mainly as a Git repository browser, but can also assist in staging changes for commit at chunk level and act as a pager for output from various Git commands.”
Pager mode: Yes; Checked Oct 25, 2026jonas.github.io(opens source in a new tab); “act as a pager for output from various Git commands.”