GitDesk

A lightweight desktop git client in the spirit of GitHub Desktop, built with Tauri 2, Rust and React. The app bundle is about 4.4 MB. It also runs in your browser: see Web app.

Features

• Changes: every modified, new, deleted and renamed file, with checkboxes. A commit includes exactly the files you tick. Other staged or unstaged work is left alone.
• Diff view: old and new line numbers with coloured hunks, for working-tree changes and past commits.
• Commit: summary and description. Discard one file or all changes, with a confirmation first.
• History: commit list (100 at a time), commit details, and a diff for each file.
• Branches: filter, create from the current branch, switch, and check out remote branches with tracking.
• Sync: one toolbar button that fetches, pulls, pushes or publishes depending on ahead/behind state.
• Repositories: add a local folder (and offer git init if it isn't a repo yet), clone by URL, and keep a recent list.
• Command line: gitdesk ~/code/project opens straight into that repository.
• Light and dark themes that follow the system.

History	Branches (dark)

Web app

The same UI also runs in a browser tab. gitdesk-web is a small local server (2.3 MB, with the UI built in) that uses the desktop app's git layer, so it works on the real repositories on your machine.

npm install
npm run web                       # builds everything, serves http://127.0.0.1:4820 and opens it
npm run web -- ~/code/project     # opens straight into that repository

To get a standalone binary: npm run build && cargo install --path src-web, then run gitdesk-web [folder] [--port N] [--no-open].

Everything works the same as on the desktop, with two small differences. Adding or cloning a repository uses a folder browser inside the page instead of the system dialog, and confirmations use the browser's dialog. Recent repositories are saved per browser and per port.

Security: the server listens on 127.0.0.1 only. Any website you visit can send requests to localhost, so the server answers only its own page. A request must be addressed to its own host and port, which defeats DNS rebinding, and requests from any other origin are refused. There is no login: any program running as you can use it, just as it could run git itself.

The ChayYar family

GitDesk is the desktop client in a family of tools built around ChayYarHub (ခြေရာ, "footprints"), a self-hosted git hub. They relate the way GitHub Desktop relates to GitHub.

Product	Like	What it does	Status
ChayYarHub	GitHub	Hosts repositories: code, history, issues, pull requests, accounts	v0.1, in progress
GitDesk (this repository)	GitHub Desktop	Desktop and browser client: changes, commits, history, branches, sync	v0.1, desktop and web
SitMal (စစ်မယ်, "will check")	GitHub Actions	Runs a repository's tests on every push and marks commits ✓ or ✗	Planned
PyaMal (ပြမယ်, "will show")	GitHub Pages	Publishes a repository's website at its own address	Planned
KuMal (ကူမယ်, "will help")	Copilot	Suggests commit messages and reviews pull requests, using Claude	Planned
chayyar CLI	GitHub CLI	Pull requests and issues from the terminal	Planned
ChayYarHub Mobile	GitHub Mobile	Notifications and pull request review on your phone	Planned

The names of planned products are working names. GitDesk already works with ChayYarHub as it does with any git server: clone with the repository's URL, then fetch, pull and push. For a push, git asks your credential helper for your ChayYarHub username and password.

How it works

React UI ─┬─ invoke ─────▶ Tauri commands (src-tauri/src/lib.rs) ─┐
          │                                                       ├─▶ git layer (src-tauri/src/git.rs) ──▶ system `git`
          └─ POST /api ──▶ gitdesk-web (src-web/src/main.rs) ─────┘
                   both run git on a blocking thread, so the UI never freezes

GitDesk drives your installed git binary, the same way GitHub Desktop does. Both front ends call the same git layer with the same commands and arguments; src/api.ts picks Tauri or HTTP at runtime. Your config, hooks, credential helper (Keychain, Git Credential Manager) and SSH agent all work unchanged. GIT_TERMINAL_PROMPT=0 makes auth failures show up as errors instead of hanging on a hidden prompt.

The git layer has integration tests that run against real temporary repositories. They cover selective commits, diffs, discard, branches, and cloning with ahead/behind tracking.

Develop

Requirements: Node 20+, Rust (stable), git 2.23+, plus the Tauri prerequisites for your OS.

npm install
npm run tauri dev               # run the app
cd src-tauri && cargo test      # git layer tests
npm run tauri build             # release bundle

npm run web:server              # web app: debug server on :4820
npm run dev                     # in a second terminal, then open http://localhost:1420 (/api is proxied)
cd src-web && cargo test        # server tests, plus the git layer tests again

macOS note: if linking fails with tapi error: malformed file … unknown architecture, your Command Line Tools ship an SDK newer than their linker. Point at the older SDK: export SDKROOT=$(xcrun --show-sdk-path --sdk macosx26.5) (or the matching path under /Library/Developer/CommandLineTools/SDKs/).

Roadmap

• Stage individual hunks and lines, stash, amend
• Merge, conflict resolution, cherry-pick and revert
• Sign-in to ChayYarHub and GitHub, with the pull request list and creation
• Signed and notarised builds with auto-update

License

MIT © Soe Moe Htet (Stephen)