Setup, Review, And Power-User Guides

Interactive Rebase (Janitor Mode)

Critiq includes an Interactive Rebase workflow for cleaning up commit history before you share it. Use it to reorder commits and choose actions like pick, reword, squash, fixup, and drop.

Interactive Rebase currently runs in same-branch janitor mode: it rewrites commits that are already in your current branch ancestry. It does not move commits across unrelated branches.

• In the commit graph, right-click the oldest commit you want to rewrite and choose Interactive Rebase.... Critiq includes that commit and all newer commits on the current branch in the plan.
• Validation checks the plan before apply, and Critiq creates a backup rewrite branch.
• A backup branch is created before history changes (for example critiq/rewrite/...) so you can recover or compare if needed.
• If rewritten commits already exist on upstream, pushing requires --force-with-lease.

Branch Context Menu

Right-click any local branch in the branch dropdown to:

• Push - Push commits to remote (shows if branch is ahead)
• Pull - Pull commits from remote with fast-forward only (shows if branch is behind)
• Fetch - Fetch latest changes from remote without merging

File Context Menu

Right-click any file in the changes pane to:

• Stage/Unstage - Move files between staged and unstaged
• Line-level Stage/Unstage - Hover changed lines in diff view and use round +/- gutter buttons for single-line granularity
• Add to Scratchpad - Park file changes to restore later (Experimental)
• Discard Changes - Discard staged or unstaged changes (context-aware)
• Delete File - Delete untracked or newly added files

Commit Composer

Commit Composer helps you split a large working set into multiple focused commits without leaving Critiq.

• Open it from the Commit panel header using the Compose button.
• Composer currently loads staged changes as its source set, then lets you drag files or hunks into commit buckets.
• Drop a file/hunk onto Add Commit to create a new bucket and assign that change in one step.
• Buckets execute top-to-bottom, creating one git commit per bucket message.
• If an AI provider is configured, each bucket has a wand button to generate a commit summary from that bucket's selected changes.

Composer safety and staged-state restore

Before execution, Critiq snapshots your current staged index and attempts to restore it after the composer run completes.

• Working tree edits are not expected to be discarded by composer execution.
• If restore succeeds, your pre-existing staged selection is reinstated.
• In complex overlap scenarios (for example, staged + unstaged edits on the same file/region), restore can fail; in that case, some previously staged changes may end up unstaged.
• Commits already created by Composer are not automatically rolled back if a later step fails.

For highest safety, run Composer with a small batch and verify staged state after execution before continuing.

File Tree Text Search

Open File Tree Text Search with your configured shortcut to search across the repository without leaving the sidebar. You can scope results to changed files only and use hunk markers to see whether each result line is inside a changed hunk.

• Green dot - The matched line is inside a changed hunk.
• Red dot - The matched line was removed (only shown when "Include removed lines" is enabled).
• Gray dot - The file is changed, but that matched line is outside changed hunks.
• No dot - The result is from a file outside the current changeset, so hunk status does not apply.

Commit Profiles

Critiq supports reusable commit identities and repository-specific profile selection so you can use different name/email/signing setups across repositories.

1. Open Settings → Commit Profiles.
2. Create one or more named profiles with the commit identity you want (user.name, user.email, optional signing settings).
3. Optionally set provider defaults in each profile (for example, a default profile for GitHub repos).
4. Pin specific repositories to a profile from the repository picker gear icon (Repository Settings → Commit profile).
5. You can also click your identity text in the status bar to quickly switch the current repository profile.

Profile assignment is done in Repository Settings or from the status bar identity menu.

Fallback order for commit identity is: pinned repository profile → local git config → provider default profile → global Critiq profile → global git config.

Visual Image Diff Preview

Critiq supports first-class visual image diffing in Preview mode for working tree review, commit file review, and branch/PR comparisons.

• Single mode - View one side only (ideal for unchanged files or file explorer image opens).
• Side-by-side mode - Compare before/after images with synced pan/zoom.
• Onion-skin mode - Overlay before/after with adjustable opacity for subtle visual shifts.
• Added/Deleted states - Critiq clearly labels image additions and removals when one side is missing.

In onion-skin mode, use arrow keys for fast opacity tuning while reviewing.

Keyboard Shortcuts

• Ctrl/Cmd + P - Toggle quick file search
• Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + F - Open text search
• Ctrl/Cmd + H - Previous file (navigate file history in working changes)
• Ctrl/Cmd + L - Next file (navigate file history in working changes)
• Ctrl/Cmd + J - Next hunk
• Ctrl/Cmd + K - Previous hunk
• Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + J - Next file in changes list
• Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + K - Previous file in changes list
• Ctrl/Cmd + S - Stage/unstage current hunk (or save file in edit mode)
• Alt + S - Stage/unstage current line
• Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + S - Stage/unstage entire file
• Ctrl/Cmd + E - Toggle edit mode
• Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + R - Toggle file reviewed status (PR mode)
• Ctrl/Cmd + M - Cycle image diff mode (single, side-by-side, onion skin)
• Ctrl/Cmd + B - Blink overlay in onion-skin mode
• Arrow Left / Arrow Right - Decrease/increase onion-skin opacity (Shift for larger steps)

Note: All keyboard shortcuts can be customized in Settings.

Command Palette Modes

Open the command palette with Ctrl/Cmd + P. You can search normally, or use a mode prefix to narrow behavior.

• Default (no prefix): Search changed files, all files, and symbols.
• : Line jump mode. Type a line number and press Enter to jump in the currently open file.
• c: Class/type symbol filter.
• m: Method/function symbol filter.
• v: Variable/property/field symbol filter.
• > Command mode. Use it for Git actions (stage, unstage, discard, commit, push, pull, fetch, stash) and guided commands such as >mode and >open.
• >mode Guided mode switcher for working, branch compare, and pull request review modes.
• >open Open a previously accessed repository (including saved workspaces) by name.

Enter these by typing the prefix or command directly in the palette input.

Scratchpad

In Settings → Additional Settings → Experimental, enable Enable Scratchpad to show Scratchpad actions and the Scratchpad section in the Changes panel.

Scratchpad lets you park file or hunk changes, then restore them later without losing context. When disabled, all Scratchpad buttons, menu actions, and list entries are hidden.

In Scratchpad diff view, you can also restore individual changed lines back into your unstaged working tree with the same green + gutter control.

How this differs from git stash:

• Granular by design - Scratchpad supports parking and restoring at file or hunk level.
• Always visible in UI - Parked entries stay in the Changes panel instead of a stack hidden behind CLI commands.
• Selective workflow - Move only the noise out of your current commit, without stashing everything.