Migrate from SourceTree to GitSquid in 15 minutes

Migrate from SourceTree to GitSquid in 15 minutes

SourceTree was the first Git GUI for an entire generation of developers. It was free, it made staging visual, and for many of us it was the tool that finally made Git click. That history deserves respect — and it is also why leaving feels like a bigger deal than it actually is. This guide walks through the whole migration, step by step, in about 15 minutes. The longest step is creating two API tokens.

Disclosure: this article is published on the GitSquid website.

Why people leave SourceTree

If you are reading this, you probably already have your reasons. The four we hear most often:

• No Linux version. SourceTree runs on macOS and Windows only, and that has never changed. If you switch to a Linux machine — or your team has a single Linux developer — SourceTree simply is not an option there.
• Performance on large repositories. On repos with thousands of commits, the UI lags: switching branches takes seconds, the file status view crawls, and a fetch on a big repository can freeze the app entirely.
• Slow release cadence. Major SourceTree updates land once or twice a year, and bug reports can sit unacknowledged for months. The app works, but it is visibly not a priority for Atlassian.
• The Atlassian account. SourceTree has historically required registering with an Atlassian or Bitbucket account just to use a local Git client. For a tool that mostly runs git status on your own disk, that always felt like one account too many.

None of this makes SourceTree a bad tool — it makes it an aging one. For a full feature-by-feature comparison, see GitSquid vs SourceTree in 2026. This article is the practical half: how to actually move.

Before you start: there is nothing to export

Here is the part that surprises people the most: there is no migration step for your repositories, because your repositories are just folders on disk. Every branch, every commit, every stash, every remote, every hook lives inside the .git directory, and Git itself holds all of that state. SourceTree never owned any of it — it was a window onto data that was always yours.

That is also why GitSquid has no "import SourceTree bookmarks" wizard: there is genuinely nothing to import. The bookmark list in SourceTree is just a list of folder paths, and recreating it takes a minute (step 2 below).

It also means there is zero risk in trying. Keep SourceTree installed, point GitSquid at the same folders, and use both side by side for a week. Both tools call Git commands on the same .git data; switching back is just reopening the other app.

Step 1: install GitSquid (2 minutes)

Go to the download page and grab the build for your platform:

• macOS — native arm64, no Rosetta lag on Apple Silicon.
• Windows — x64 and native ARM64.
• Linux — x64 and ARM64. Yes, this is the platform SourceTree never shipped on.

No account creation, no sign-in screen, no telemetry consent dialog. This alone is a noticeable contrast with the SourceTree first-run experience: you open the app and you are on the home screen, ready to open a repository.

Step 2: re-open your repositories (3 minutes)

From the home screen, open the same folders you had bookmarked in SourceTree. If you are not sure where they all live, SourceTree's bookmarks window shows the full path of each repository — work down that list.

Repositories you have opened appear in the recent repos list on the home screen, and once you are past 5 repositories a search bar appears above the list, so even a long bookmark collection stays one keystroke away. Each repository opens in its own tab, and switching between tabs is near-instant — no re-scan, no spinner, which tends to be the first "oh" moment for long-time SourceTree users.

Step 3: credentials — the only fiddly part (5 minutes)

This is the one step where a few minutes of attention pay off. There are two separate layers, and it helps to keep them apart.

Push and pull: Git's own credential helpers

GitSquid does not maintain its own credential store. It uses Git's own credential helpers — the same osxkeychain, Git Credential Manager, or libsecret setup that answers when you run git push in a terminal. The practical test: open a terminal, cd into one of your repositories, and run git pull. If that works without prompting, GitSquid will push and pull without any configuration at all.

If it prompts for credentials, your authentication was living inside SourceTree rather than in Git's helper. Fix it once at the Git level (set up a credential helper for HTTPS, or an SSH key) and every tool on your machine benefits, GitSquid included.

Hosting tokens: Settings → Integrations

The second layer is optional but worth it. In Settings → Integrations, you can add a token for GitHub, GitLab, or Bitbucket. These tokens power the repository pickers (browse and clone your remote repos from inside the app) and the pull request features — listing, creating, and reviewing PRs without leaving GitSquid.

One Bitbucket-specific note, since most SourceTree users are Bitbucket users: app passwords are deprecated. Create an Atlassian API token instead at id.atlassian.com/manage-profile/security/api-tokens and paste it into the Bitbucket integration along with your Atlassian email.

Step 4: map your SourceTree habits (5 minutes)

The mental model transfers almost one to one. Here is where each SourceTree habit lands in GitSquid:

Two of these deserve a closer look.

Line-level staging. SourceTree lets you stage hunks, and that was genuinely ahead of its time. GitSquid goes one level deeper: drag-select the exact lines you want inside a hunk and stage just those. If you have ever split a hunk in SourceTree to isolate two unrelated changes, this replaces that dance entirely.

The command log. SourceTree's terminal button drops you into a shell so you can do things the GUI cannot. GitSquid approaches the same need from the other direction: the command log (Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+L) shows every git command the app runs on your behalf, with arguments, and every line is copyable. You see exactly what the GUI is doing, you can replay it in any terminal, and along the way it doubles as the best Git tutor most GUIs never had.

Step 5: what you gain that SourceTree never had

The steps above get you to parity. These are the things waiting on the other side that have no SourceTree equivalent:

• Conflict Predictor (free) — before you merge, rebase, or cherry-pick, see which files will conflict. The end of "merge and pray".
• File timeline scrubber (free) — drag a slider across any file's history and watch it evolve commit by commit.
• Monorepo scope detection (Pro) — GitSquid detects your workspaces and lets you scope the view to a single package instead of drowning in the whole repo's noise.
• AI commit messages and PR descriptions (Pro) — generated from your actual diff, using your own API key with the provider you choose.
• Pre-commit secrets scan (Pro) — API keys and tokens get caught before the commit, not after the force-push of shame.
• Linux support — the same app, on the platform SourceTree never reached.
• Native arm64 on all three platforms — Apple Silicon, Windows on ARM, and ARM Linux all run native builds.

What you might honestly miss

Two things, in fairness:

• The price tag. SourceTree is entirely free, and that is its strongest argument. GitSquid has a Free tier that covers the daily workflow — staging, committing, branching, merging, the Conflict Predictor, the file timeline — and a Pro tier at 49 EUR/year for the advanced features above. If your budget is exactly zero and SourceTree's performance does not bother you, staying put is a defensible choice.
• Mercurial. If you are one of the few still holding out: SourceTree itself dropped Mercurial support long ago, but if you somehow still need hg, GitSquid will not help — it is Git-only, by design.

Wrap-up

That is the whole migration: install, re-open your folders, sort out credentials once, and relearn perhaps three button locations. No exports, no importers, no lock-in in either direction — your repositories never belonged to any GUI in the first place.

SourceTree earned its place in Git history by making version control visual when nothing else free did. But it is fine to be grateful to a tool and still outgrow it. Try GitSquid alongside it for a week; if it does not stick, SourceTree is still right there in your dock.

Coming from a different client? We have the same guide for migrating from GitKraken.

Download GitSquid Free and start the timer — 15 minutes is a promise, not a slogan.