# TortoiseHg

Hacker Approved page: https://hackerapproved.com/p/tortoisehg/

9 people recommended TortoiseHg in Hacker News comments and 1 criticized it, November 2025 to October 2026. It was recommended in 3 of 12 months, in 6 threads. It does not meet the Hacker Approved badge rule.

5 of the 9 people who recommend it commented in one thread, “Mercurial, 20 years and counting: how are we still alive and kicking? [video]”.

**Verdict:** A free graphical front end for Mercurial, praised for its good interface and Windows Explorer integration. One commenter reports bitrot on a current Linux distro.

Summary written by Claude from 10 comments.

## Why people recommend it

- Good graphical interface (5 comments in the sample): "It also has TortoiseHg which is a great GUI front end." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46105801)) "The Tortoisehg GUI is good for doing reviews" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47943023)) "a really good default GUI (TortoiseHg" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47758789))
- Windows Explorer integration (2 comments in the sample): "The thing I really liked about it was TortoiseHg, which provides integration between  Mercurial and Windows Explorer." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48172108)) "particularly TortoiseHg integration on Windows" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48006410))

## 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, "TortoiseHg", https://hackerapproved.com/p/tortoisehg/ (9 recommend, 0 mixed, 1 criticize; Hacker News comments, November 2025 to October 2026).

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