How to migrate from GitKraken to GitSquid: a step-by-step guide
Switching Git clients is annoying. You have a working setup — profiles, integrations, themes, keyboard shortcuts — and you do not want to start from scratch. This guide walks through replicating your GitKraken setup in GitSquid in about 15 minutes, plus a feature mapping table for the Git operations you used most.
Disclosure: this article is published on the GitSquid website.
Before you start
Nothing here touches your repositories. Both GitKraken and GitSquid are read-only over your `.git` folders — they call Git commands, they do not own the data. You can have both installed in parallel, point them at the same repository, and switch back at any time.
If you want a clean comparison, install GitSquid and use it for one week before uninstalling GitKraken. That is enough to confirm the workflow holds up.
Step 1: Install GitSquid (2 minutes)
Go to the download page and grab the build for your platform:
- macOS — native arm64 (works on Intel via Rosetta).
- Windows — native x64 or ARM64 (Snapdragon X / Surface Pro X).
- Linux — AppImage for x64 or ARM64.
No account creation. No telemetry consent dialog. Open the app and you land on the welcome screen.
Step 2: Point it at your existing repositories (2 minutes)
From the welcome screen click "Open repository" and pick the same folders you have in GitKraken. Each repo opens in its own tab, like in GitKraken. The Free tier supports 3 tabs simultaneously; Pro lifts that to unlimited.
Recently used repositories appear on the welcome screen automatically — you can search through them once you have more than 5.
Step 3: Recreate your profiles (3 minutes)
If you used multiple Git identities in GitKraken (work email, personal email, open-source identity), recreate them in Settings → Profiles:
- Click "Create profile".
- Enter the name (e.g. "Work" or "Open source").
- Set the Git name and email exactly as you did in GitKraken.
- If you sign commits, paste the GPG key ID in the GPG signing field.
- Repeat for each identity.
The Free tier supports 1 profile; Pro supports unlimited. Switching profiles in GitSquid is a single click in the title bar, same model as GitKraken.
Step 4: Connect your Git hosting providers (3 minutes)
In Settings → Integrations, connect each hosting provider:
GitHub
- Click "Connect" next to GitHub.
- Open github.com/settings/tokens and create a fine-grained personal access token. Grant repo and pull request scopes.
- Paste it back in GitSquid. The integration validates by calling `/user`.
GitLab
- Click "Connect" next to GitLab.
- Open gitlab.com/-/profile/personal_access_tokens and create a personal access token with `api` scope.
- Paste it in GitSquid.
Bitbucket Cloud
- Click "Connect" next to Bitbucket.
- Bitbucket no longer uses app passwords. Create an Atlassian API token at id.atlassian.com/manage-profile/security/api-tokens.
- Enter your Atlassian email and the API token. GitSquid uses email + token for HTTP basic auth, which is the format Bitbucket Cloud expects.
Once connected, you can list / create / review pull requests, manage issues, and see CI check statuses for each provider directly inside GitSquid — same workflow as GitKraken.
Free tier supports 1 integration; Pro supports unlimited.
Step 5: Recreate your theme (1 minute)
GitSquid ships with 6 themes by default: Dark, Light, Midnight, Solarized Dark, Dracula, Nord. Pick one in Settings → Appearance.
If you used a custom GitKraken theme, GitSquid Pro lets you create your own in Settings → Themes: edit each color (background primary / secondary, accent, text, border) and save. There is no automatic import from GitKraken format.
Step 6: Map your keyboard shortcuts (2 minutes)
The default GitSquid shortcuts are similar but not identical to GitKraken's:
| Action | GitKraken default | GitSquid default |
|---|---|---|
| Search commits | Cmd/Ctrl+P | Cmd/Ctrl+F |
| New branch | Cmd/Ctrl+B | Cmd/Ctrl+N |
| Commit (in staging) | Cmd/Ctrl+Enter | Cmd/Ctrl+Enter |
| Toggle terminal | n/a | Cmd/Ctrl+` |
| Toggle command log | n/a | Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+L |
| Keyboard shortcuts | ? | F1 |
If you want to remap any shortcut to match your GitKraken muscle memory, go to Settings → Shortcuts (Pro). Click any action, press the new combination, save. Reset individual shortcuts or all of them with one click.
Feature mapping
| GitKraken feature | GitSquid equivalent |
|---|---|
| Commit graph | Same, canvas-rendered with virtual scrolling |
| Staging (file / hunk / line) | Same, plus drag-and-drop and folder operations |
| Diff viewer (unified / split / blame) | Same, powered by CodeMirror with full syntax highlighting |
| Merge conflict editor | Same 3-way editor with built-in code editor |
| Interactive rebase | Same, drag-and-drop reordering with per-commit actions |
| Cherry-pick / revert / reset | Same, multi-commit cherry-pick included |
| Stash management | Same, list / save / apply / pop / drop / clear all |
| Tag management | Same, create / delete / push to remote |
| Worktrees | Same, create / lock / unlock / remove / open in tab |
| Submodules | Same, list / init / update |
| Gitflow | Same, init + feature / release / hotfix start & finish |
| Git LFS | Same, track patterns / pull / push / status panel |
| Reflog viewer | Same with checkout-from-reflog |
| GPG signing | Same, configured per profile |
| Pull requests / issues | Same flow for GitHub / GitLab / Bitbucket |
| AI commit messages | Yes (Claude Code, Anthropic, OpenAI, custom) |
| AI explain | New — right-click commit / hunk / file for streamed explanation |
| AI PR description | New — "Generate with AI" in create PR dialog |
| Conflict predictor | New — preview conflicts before merge / rebase / cherry-pick |
| Pre-commit secrets scan | New — blocks AWS / GitHub / OpenAI keys, JWTs, etc. |
| Branch intent | New — markdown plan attached to branch via git notes |
| Monorepo scope | New — auto-detect npm / pnpm / Cargo / Nx workspaces |
| File timeline scrubber | New — drag a slider above any file's history |
| Team activity timeline | New — per-author × per-week heatmap |
| Jira integration | Not in GitSquid |
| Azure DevOps integration | Not in GitSquid |
| GitLens (VS Code) | Not applicable — GitSquid is a desktop client only |
| Cloud profiles / settings sync | Not in GitSquid — everything stays local |
Things you will miss
To set expectations, the GitKraken features that have no equivalent in GitSquid:
- Jira / Azure DevOps integrations. If your team relies on these, GitSquid will not replace GitKraken on this front. We track this in the public backlog.
- Cloud-synced settings. GitKraken syncs profiles and settings across machines via your Atlassian account. GitSquid keeps everything local. If you work on multiple machines, you currently re-do step 3-6 on each one.
- Team management dashboard. GitKraken has org-level admin features. GitSquid is licensed per individual seat.
If any of these are critical to your workflow, GitSquid will not be a clean migration target.
Things you will gain
- Half the price. 49 EUR/year vs $96/year.
- No account. No login screen on launch.
- No telemetry. Nothing leaves your machine.
- Linux support. Native binaries for Linux x64 and ARM64 if you switch machines.
- Faster cold start and lower RAM. Tauri / Rust vs Electron.
- Modern features. Conflict predictor, secrets scan, monorepo scope, file timeline, team activity, AI explain — none of these exist in GitKraken.
- Active release cadence. Updates every 1-2 weeks with public changelogs.
If you decide to go back
Both apps are read-only over `.git` folders — switching back is just relaunching GitKraken. No data lock-in. The 49 EUR/year is annual, so you can stop paying at any renewal cycle.
The migration above takes about 15 minutes the first time. Do it on a Friday afternoon and use GitSquid for the following week. By the end of the week, you will know whether the savings + modern features justify the trade-offs for your specific workflow.
Download GitSquid Free to start.