As we get close to wrapping up Q1 launch week, we want to highlight a part of the Graphite experience we’ve been very hard at work improving over the last few months: our VS Code extension.
Ever since we released the Graphite CLI, users loved to ask us for integrations with their editors of choice. It makes sense: the best tools are the ones where you already feel at home.
While there’s no shortage of Git GUIs, none of them have quite suited the needs of engineers who use the stacking workflow every day to create, review, and merge code.
As an answer, we initially released our VS Code extension in beta back in September of 2023, and we’ve come a long way since that initial release. After tons of feedback from our community, user calls, lots of engineering and design discussion, and a few hundred cups of coffee, we’ve created the VS Code extension for stacking — all integrated right in your editor. Finally, it’s out of beta and is generally available for everyone!
Download Graphite for VS Code and start stacking today!
From git novice to stacking expert in hours
Our goal was to create an intuitive way to use the stacking workflow independent of the terminal, and we’ve seen it be a great touch point for developers across the spectrum of stacking expertise. Over the past few months we’ve see people who consider themselves Git novices get up to speed on stacking using the VS Code extension, mastering the workflow after just a few pull requests.
This is a huge point of validation for us, as it shows that if we met our users where they were, and let them work with the tools they already love, they would be successful.
Tool sprawl is real and trying out a new workflow, while simultaneously introducing additional tooling can be challenging. Instead of constantly flipping back and forth between docs pages, and reading monospace terminal help text, the Graphite VS Code extension is fully integrated with your editor, making it easy to understand abstract concepts with concrete visual representation.
Making the best stacking experience, period
To get here, we’ve been working closely with dozens of community members who have been generous with their time and feedback. The result is a reimagining of our VS Code extension from the ground up, using native VS Code components. In the extension you can:
Visually manage your stacks & create new branches with the click of a button
Drag and drop to move branches within or across stacks (important when you realize you need that function you wrote earlier in another stack!)
Apply labels & reviewers quickly across the entire stack with Graphite stack edit
And we followed a few guiding principles along the way:
There should always be a clear next step: whether you need to sync upstream changes, resolve merge conflicts, or re-stack branches, we should help you move forward.
You should be able to learn the CLI from VS Code: which is why the extension prints out the corresponding
gtCLI command that you can run yourself!
Changes since the beta
Switch the default branch view between PR title and branch name
Track and get branches directly from the GUI
View changes by commit or by version per-branch
Graphite’s VS Code extension is yet another way we’re committed to empowering our users to stack, no matter their experience level, or tooling preference.
To start stacking from VS Code, install the Graphite extension today!
Graphite Q1 launch week continues tomorrow! Join us each day for a roundup of exciting new feature launches. Join us at the week with a live webinar by our co-founder & CEO Merrill Lutsky.
Jan 16: Accelerating code review
Jan 17: Making stacking seamless
Jan 18: Stacking with the tools you love (today)
Jan 19: What’s next for Graphite + live webinar