The best terminal git clients, according to hackers
5 terminal git clients were recommended on Hacker News between November 2025 and November 2026. We rank them by how many separate people recommend each one, and 3 earn the Hacker Approved badge.
Top picks
The three most recommended terminal git clients with the badge. Each figure is 5 people. RecommendsCriticizes One comment
Fast, streamlined git workflow
A keyboard-driven terminal UI for git that makes staging individual lines and editing patches fast, with keymaps shown on screen so it is easy to learn.
Best TUI for jj
Recommended as a fast terminal interface for Jujutsu (jj), with few keystrokes handling rebases, commit edits and browsing. Caveat: some find it less polished than lazygit.
Quick selective staging of hunks
A lightweight terminal interface for browsing git history, viewing diffs and staging hunks, long maintained and reliable. Critics note it is more barebones than magit.
All 5 terminal git clients, ranked
Select a column heading to sort. Approval share is recommenders out of everyone who gave an opinion; the tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs. Months counts the months, out of 13, in which someone recommended it.
How we rank
Rank is the number of separate people who recommend a product in a Hacker News comment over the past year. Someone who praises the same terminal git client in five threads counts once.
The badge goes to terminal git clients that at least 10 people recommend, with recommenders outnumbering critics at least 2 to 1, recommended in at least 4 of the 13 months.
Rankings are never for sale. We may earn a commission when you buy through our links. It never changes the order.