# git blame

Hacker Approved page: https://hackerapproved.com/p/git-blame/

7 people recommended git blame in Hacker News comments, 1 had mixed feelings and 2 criticized it, November 2025 to October 2026. It was recommended in 5 of 12 months, in 7 threads. It does not meet the Hacker Approved badge rule.

**Verdict:** Recommended for quickly finding the commit and author that last changed a line. Critics say it shows who touched code, not why.

Summary written by Claude from 9 comments.

## Why people recommend it

- Little effort to trace changes (2 comments in the sample): "It’s easy to verify if the snippet has changed since the comment." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46447921)) "git blame" designed to do exactly that with almost no effort" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46406461))
- Go-to tool, more useful than timestamps (2 comments in the sample): "git blame is more useful than the file timestamp in any case." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46755120)) "it's probably the first tool I reach for" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49022535))
- Shows commit and commit message (1 comment in the sample): "It tells you the commit and the commit message." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45793984))
- Useful months later for old code (1 comment in the sample): "This also makes git-blame 6 months later way more useful" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49681079))

## What people warn about

- Doesn't explain why code is buggy (1 comment in the sample): "Git blame doesn’t show you why line 22 has a bug in it. It only shows you who touched it last." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45796930))
- Breaks on project-wide linter changes (1 comment in the sample): "falls apart on someone running a new linter config across the project" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49813736))
- Still rather crude overall (1 comment in the sample): "Git blame is great yes, but it's still rather crude." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49819152))

## Other version control features people recommend

- [Git worktree](https://hackerapproved.com/p/git-worktrees/): 46 recommend, 10 mixed, 19 criticize
- [git rebase](https://hackerapproved.com/p/git-rebase/): 21 recommend, 2 mixed, 11 criticize
- [git rerere](https://hackerapproved.com/p/git-rerere/): 16 recommend, 2 mixed, 4 criticize
- [git add -p](https://hackerapproved.com/p/git-add-p/): 11 recommend, 2 mixed, 4 criticize

## The badge

A product earns the Hacker Approved badge when at least 10 people recommend it, recommenders outnumber critics at least 2 to 1 (mixed feelings count toward neither side), it was recommended in at least 4 of the 12 months and in at least 5 different threads, and no single thread supplies more than half of the people who recommend it. Health and money products are never badged.

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "git blame", https://hackerapproved.com/p/git-blame/ (7 recommend, 1 mixed, 2 criticize; Hacker News comments, November 2025 to October 2026).

Counts updated 2 Nov 2026, with data through October 31, 2026.