How to use Git with GitKraken

A multiplatform software for git with an integrated remote repository

4 min readMar 22, 2020

Hello there, I want to bring to your awareness a powerful tool you may have heard of or not. If you have heard of it or have been using it, you probably do not know the extent of what can be done with GitKraken because every version comes with new features, improvement in performance and functionality. The latest version of GitKraken is version 6.5 and the Devs at Axosoft Inc did a great job on that, Kudos.

This tutorial is best understood with videos, I uploaded videos from GitKraken team and you can go to their Youtube channels for more videos on topics and tools that are not covered here. Click the link https://www.gitkraken.com/invite/c99vSMJj to download the software

Watch out! If you are new to programming, or you just heard about git, or you have not understood what git is about, this tutorial will probably confuse you more. Read the article below to get the basic knowledge.

Git says Don’t commit crime, commit Change

If someone had asked me “do you know git” two weeks ago my answer would been i know about git which is git is a Version…

medium.com

Let’s get started with knowing about GitKraken and its key features

What is Gitkraken

GitKraken is a git GUI client, it is developed by Axosoft Inc. It allows you to push your work to a remote server without the use of git commands and command-line. This is possible because the commands are implemented as tools, all that is required is to click on buttons to stage, commit, pull etc or drag and drop to merge and the remote server hosts(GitHub, GitLab, Azure DevOps(VSTS) and Bitbucket) is integrated into GitKraken. Remember your discomfort using the command line (this is also a reason why beginners find it difficult to understand git) this is taken care of in GitKraken. The cons of this multiplatform software is not an opensource, it has a free version and a paid version. As a student, you get the pro version for free because it is part of GitHub Educational pack and if you don’t have the Educational pack request here https://education.github.com/pack they are lots of tech goodies in the pack.

Features of GitKraken

GitKraken Editor

Imagine a situation where you want to commit a file and you decided to add a few lines to your work, this feature allows you to add those lines within GitKraken. They won’t be a need to run your editor to do this and it comes with auto-complete. You can even start a new project using the editor.

GitKraken Client

This feature allows the user to use all git functions (stage, push, clone, pull, merge branch etc) by clicking on the buttons or areas provided to perform certain functions. All of this is done in collaboration with GitHub remote repository. The video added here is how GitHub is set up in the Kraken and snippet of using the Client. The complete video is 50mins duration https://youtu.be/FNgHFFfI4YE?list=RDCMUCp06FAzrFalo3txskS1gCfA click the link to watch.

Now, say your final goodbye to git commands and command line.

GitKraken Glo board

Glo board is a task tracking tool, used to track work done as an individual project and teamwork. It is also used to create boards that save completed work, unfinished work etc depending on what you use in naming your board and what work you are moving to the board. What makes this feature powerful and my favourite is once it is synced with Github every change you make locally is automatically saved on Github. This means I do not need to personally commit the change to GitHub. This feature can be integrated into VS Code and Atom by downloading the plugin, also users can be added to the board. You can use the Glo board on your phone, go to your App store to download the application on your device.

GitKraken Timelines

I have not personally used this feature but it is a very important and useful tool for organisation and project collaborators. The feature is designed to show major milestones of development on a continuous line with time. It identifies the most important development process of a product and when the product development is completed. This features allows departments of an organisation to collaborate and because you can view more than one timeline you can combine major milestones from timelines of other departments or team. I can not fully explain the usefulness and importance of this tool but as an organisation or team, this is a tool that must be used for your products development.

Here is the video by the founder of Axosoft to fully understand the extent of its importance, you can also google about it to get more information.

This article is inexhaustible of the functionalities of GitKraken but I have taught you how to fish, so go fishing on GitKraken.