# tig(1) Manual Page

## NAME

tig - text-mode interface for Git

## SYNOPSIS

    tig        [options] [revisions] [--] [paths]
    tig log    [options] [revisions] [--] [paths]
    tig show   [options] [revisions] [--] [paths]
    tig reflog [options] [revisions]
    tig blame  [options] [rev] [--] path
    tig grep   [options] [pattern]
    tig refs   [options]
    tig stash  [options]
    tig status
    tig <      [Git command output]

## DESCRIPTION

Tig is an ncurses-based text-mode interface for git(1). It functions mainly as a Git repository browser, but can also assist in staging changes for commit at chunk level and act as a pager for output from various Git commands.

## OPTIONS

Command line options recognized by Tig include all valid git-log(1) and git-diff(1) options, as well as the following subcommands and Tig-specific options. The first command line parameter not starting with "-" is interpreted as being either a revision specification or a path and will end the option parsing. All additional options will be passed to the underlying Git command.

Note that this means that any arguments to options should be specified together. For example, run tig -Sfoo instead of tig -S foo, and tig --grep=foo instead of tig --grep foo, otherwise foo will be interpreted as a revision rather than an argument.

show

  Open diff view using the given git-show(1) options.

blame

  Show given file annotated by commits. Takes zero or more git-blame(1) options. Optionally limited from given revision.

status

  Start up in status view.

log

  Start up in log view, displaying git-log(1) output.

reflog

  Start up in reflog view.

refs

  Start up in refs view. All refs are displayed unless limited by using one of the --branches, --remotes, or --tags parameters.

stash

  Start up in stash view.

grep

  Open the grep view. Supports the same options as git-grep(1).

+<number>

  Show the first view with line <number> visible and selected.

-v, --version

  Show version and exit.

-h, --help

  Show help message and exit.

-C <path>

  Run as if Tig was started in <path> instead of the current working directory.

## PAGER MODE

Tig enters pager mode when input is provided via stdin and supports the following subcommands and options:

- When the show subcommand is specified and the --stdin option is given, stdin is assumed to be a list of commit IDs and will be forwarded to the diff view’s underlying git-show(1) command. For example:

    $ git rev-list --author=vivien HEAD | tig show --stdin

- When --stdin is given, stdin is assumed to be a list of commit IDs and will be forwarded to the main view’s underlying git-log(1) command. For example:

    $ tig --no-walk --stdin < cherry-picks.txt

- When --pretty=raw is given, stdin is assumed to be a "pretty=raw" formatted output similar to that of git-log(1). For example:

    $ git reflog --pretty=raw | tig --pretty=raw

When no subcommands nor options are given, the pager view will be used for displaying the Git command input given on stdin. The pager view assumes the input is either from git-log(1) or git-diff(1) and will highlight it similar to the log and diff views. For example:

    $ git log -Schange -p --raw | tig

## EXAMPLES

Display the list of commits for the current branch:

    $ tig

Display commits from one or more branches:

    $ tig test master

Pretend as if all the refs in `refs/` are listed on the command line:

    $ tig --all

Display differences between two branches:

    $ tig test..master

Display changes for sub-module versions:

    $ tig --submodule

Display changes for a single file:

    $ tig -- README

Display contents of the README file in a specific revision:

    $ tig show tig-0.8:README

Display revisions between two dates for a specific file:

    $ tig --after="2004-01-01" --before="2006-05-16" -- README

Blame file with copy detection enabled:

    $ tig blame -C README

Display the list of stashes:

    $ tig stash

Grep all files for lines containing `DEFINE_ENUM`:

    $ tig grep -p DEFINE_ENUM

Show references (branches, remotes and tags):

    $ tig refs

Use word diff in the diff view:

    $ tig --word-diff=plain

## ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES

In addition to environment variables used by Git (e.g. GIT_DIR), Tig defines the ones below. The command related environment variables have access to the internal state of Tig via replacement variables, such as `%(commit)` and `%(blob)`. See tigrc(5) for a full list.

TIGRC_USER

  Path of the user configuration file (defaults to `~/.tigrc` or `$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/tig/config`).

TIGRC_SYSTEM

  Path of the system wide configuration file (defaults to `{sysconfdir}/tigrc`). Define to empty string to use built-in configuration.

TIG_LS_REMOTE

  Command for retrieving all repository references. The command should output data in the same format as git-ls-remote(1).

TIG_DIFF_OPTS

  The diff options to use in the diff view. The diff view uses git-show(1) for formatting and always passes --patch-with-stat. You may also set the `diff-options` setting in the configuration file.

TIG_TRACE

  Path for trace file where information about Git commands are logged.

TIG_SCRIPT

  Path to script that should be executed automatically on startup. If this environment variable is defined to the empty string, the script is read from stdin. The script is interpreted line-by-line and can contain prompt commands and key mappings. Note that the < character must be encoded as <LT> within the script.

      E.g. TIG_SCRIPT=<(echo :set main-view-commit-title-graph = no) tig

TIG_NO_DISPLAY

  Open Tig without rendering anything to the terminal. This force Ncurses to write to /dev/null. The main use is for automated testing of Tig.

TIG_EDITOR

  The editor command to use when visiting files. This environment variable overrides (in order of precedence) $GIT_EDITOR, core.editor configuration, $VISUAL and $EDITOR, so it allows to use a different editor from the one Git uses. The value is meant to be interpreted by the shell when it is used.

## FILES

$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/tig/config
~/.config/tig/config
~/.tigrc

  The Tig user configuration file is loaded in the following way. If `$XDG_CONFIG_HOME` is set, read user configuration from `$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/tig/config`. If `$XDG_CONFIG_HOME` is empty or undefined, read user configuration from `~/.config/tig/config` if it exists and fall back to `~/.tigrc` if it does not exist. See tigrc(5) for examples.

/etc/tigrc

  System wide configuration file.

$GIT_DIR/config
~/.gitconfig
/etc/gitconfig

  Git configuration files. Read on start-up with the help of git-config(1).

$XDG_DATA_HOME/tig/history
~/.local/share/tig/history
~/.tig_history

  When compiled with readline support, Tig writes a persistent command and search history. The location of the history file is determined in the following way. If `$XDG_DATA_HOME` is set and `$XDG_DATA_HOME/` exists, create `$XDG_DATA_HOME/tig/` if needed and store history to `$XDG_DATA_HOME/tig/history`. If `$XDG_DATA_HOME` is empty or undefined, store history to `~/.local/share/tig/history` if the directory `~/.local/share/tig/` exists, and fall back to `~/.tig_history` if it does not exist.

## BUGS

Please visit Tig’s home page for information about new releases and how to report bugs or feature request.

## COPYRIGHT

Copyright (c) 2006-2026 Jonas Fonseca <jonas.fonseca@gmail.com>

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.

## SEE ALSO

tigrc(5), the Tig manual, git(7)