LazyDesktop

A fast, native Git GUI for the KDE Plasma desktop.

LazyDesktop is a lightweight alternative to GitHub Desktop built on the same technology stack KDE itself uses — Qt 6 and C++23. No Electron, no web runtime, no bloat: it fits straight into your desktop, respects your system theme, and gives you a clean, keyboard-friendly interface for everyday Git work.

Think GitHub Desktop, but native, fast, and built for the KDE ecosystem.

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Features

Git, the essentials

• Status list — Flat file list with colored status indicators (modified = yellow, added = green, deleted = red, renamed = purple, untracked = gray).
• Per-file checkboxes — Pick exactly which files to stage and commit. A master Select All checkbox lives in the header bar.
• Diff viewer — Clean diff view with line numbers and syntax highlighting. Images (png, jpg, webp, gif, …) render inline; video files show a placeholder.
• Commit — Summary and optional description, committed in one click.
• Skip pre-commit hooks — A lightning-bolt toggle adds --no-verify.
• Co-authors — Scan the checked files' git history for authors and append Co-authored-by: trailers to the description.
• Push / Fetch / Pull — One smart button that cycles through push, fetch, and pull based on repository state.
• Remote management — Manage remotes (add, edit, rename, remove, copy URL) from the toolbar. Native and dependency-free: powered by the bundled crates/vcs_core Rust crate, no git remote subprocess.
• SSH keys — Generate Ed25519/RSA-4096 keypairs (optionally passphrase-encrypted), list existing public keys, copy or delete them, and test connections — all native, no ssh-keygen/ssh subprocess.
• Branch management — Switch, create, and delete branches from a dropdown.
• Commit history — Tabbed sidebar with a colored commit list. Click a commit to see its files; click a file to see its diff.

Project management

• Add project dropdown — Clone a repository (git clone), create one (git init), or load an existing folder.
• Recent projects — Persistent history in projects.yaml, grouped by remote owner/org, with a yellow dot on repos that have uncommitted changes.
• Scan folder — Bulk-import every Git repo inside a directory.
• Remove / Clear all — Remove one project or wipe the whole list, with confirmation dialogs.

AI commit messages

• Cloud providers — Generate summary and description from the diffs of your checked files. Supports OpenRouter, OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google AI Studio. Requires an API key in Settings → AI.
• Local inference — Built-in GGUF model support with one-click downloads from HuggingFace, GPU acceleration toggle, and full model management. Local inference runs inside the bundled Rust crate (crates/ai_core, powered by llama-cpp-2) and is exposed to the UI over a C FFI.
• Right-click the AI button to switch providers; the model name is configurable in Settings → AI.

AI editor skills

The repository ships Conventional Commits and branch-creation skills so AI coding tools produce commit messages and branch names consistent with the project's conventions. The two skills live in .opencode/skills/:

Tool	Location	Skills
OpenCode	.opencode/skills/	commit, create-branch

• commit detects Git vs Jujutsu, gathers the diff and recent history, and produces a Conventional Commits message (type(scope): subject), committing only after explicit approval.
• create-branch names branches using the type/scope?/short-description convention (for example feat/vcs/jj-support), for both Git and Jujutsu.

Look and feel

• Uses system palette colors throughout and respects your desktop theme.
• A built-in Dark theme and custom YAML themes apply Qt stylesheets at startup.
• System monospace font in the diff viewer; no custom painting for the file list.

Custom YAML themes

Drop a .theme.yaml file into ~/.config/lazydesktop/themes/ to add a new theme option in Appearance settings:

name: "Ocean Night"
colors:
  background: "#0d1117"
  foreground: "#c9d1d9"
  widget_background: "#161b22"
  input_background: "#21262d"
  input_foreground: "#c9d1d9"
  button_background: "#1f6feb"
  button_foreground: "#ffffff"
  tooltip_background: "#21262d"
  tooltip_foreground: "#c9d1d9"
  selection: "#1f6feb"

The theme appears in Settings → Appearance after a restart or reopening the settings dialog. See themes.

Settings

A categorized settings dialog covers:

• Appearance — System Default, Dark, and any custom YAML themes.
• Git — Read and write global user.name / user.email via git config --global.
• SSH Keys — Generate keypairs, browse existing public keys (only public material is ever shown), copy them to the clipboard, and test connections.
• AI — Enable toggle, provider, API key, model name, system prompts, and local model downloads.

Quality of life

• Git bootstrapping — If Git is missing, LazyDesktop offers to install it (pkexec/sudo on Linux, xcode-select on macOS, winget on Windows).
• Credential handling — GIT_ASKPASS integration with a credential dialog for remote authentication.
• Auto-refresh — A QFileSystemWatcher watches .git/index and .git/HEAD; changes trigger a debounced 2-second status refresh that preserves your selection and diff state.
• Files menu — Open in Editor (kate), File Manager, Terminal (konsole), or View on GitHub.
• Right-click context menu — Discard changes on modified files or delete untracked files.

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Quick start (build and run)

xmake f -m debug          # configure (release: xmake f -m release)
xmake                     # builds C++ and the Rust ai_core crate
./build/linux/x86_64/debug/lazydesktop

The binary runs directly from the build directory — no make install needed. The xmake build automatically runs cargo build for the bundled Rust crates (ai_core, and vcs_core for SSH/remote operations) and links them in. Your data survives rebuilds:

• Projects: ~/.config/lazydesktop/projects.yaml
• Settings (API key, theme, model, system prompt): ~/.config/lazydesktop/lazydesktop.conf
• Custom themes: ~/.config/lazydesktop/themes/*.theme.yaml
• Local AI models: ~/.config/lazydesktop/models/

Note on Qt versions: if both Qt 5 and Qt 6 are installed, xmake may pick Qt 5 from your PATH. Point it at Qt 6 before configuring, for example PATH=/usr/lib/qt6/bin:$PATH xmake f -c -m debug.

See build from source for the full guide, or use the included justfile recipes (just setup, just build, just run, …).

Run in Docker

The Docker image builds the C++ UI and the bundled Rust crates (ai_core, vcs_core), then ships only the runtime (no toolchain). The Qt window either connects to your host's X server or falls back to a browser-accessible VNC session.

docker compose build            # build the image

# Linux host with an X server -> native window
docker compose up -d

# Any OS (macOS/Windows) or headless -> open http://localhost:6080 in a browser
VNC_MODE=1 docker compose up -d

By default the container mounts:

• /tmp/.X11-unix — host X socket for the native window
• lazydesktop-config (named volume) — settings, projects, themes, models
• ./repos → /workspace — bind-mount your Git repositories, e.g. REPO_DIR=~/code/myrepo docker compose up -d

Set PUID/PGID to your host UID/GID if the mounted config is owned by root. Shortcuts: just docker-build, just docker-up, just docker-shell, just docker-logs. Full details in docker.

Installation

Arch Linux

makepkg -si

Debian / Ubuntu

sudo dpkg -i lazydesktop_*.deb

AppImage

Grab the latest lazydesktop-*-x86_64.AppImage from the Releases page, make it executable, and run it.

From source

See build from source.

AI setup (one minute)

1. Open Settings → AI.
2. Toggle Enable AI.
3. Choose a provider and paste an API key, or pick a local GGUF model and let LazyDesktop download it from HuggingFace.
4. Click the AI button next to the commit panel to generate a message.

See the AI documentation for details.

Requirements

• Qt 6 (Core, Gui, Widgets, Network) — Qt 6.7+ recommended
• xmake (build system)
• Rust stable toolchain (builds the bundled ai_core and vcs_core crates automatically)
• yaml-cpp
• Git
• A C++23 compiler (GCC 14+ or Clang 18+)

Documentation

The full documentation lives in docs/:

Area	Guide
Getting started	Installation · Build from source · Docker · Configuration
User guide	Git workflow · Branches & history · Projects · Themes
AI	Overview · Cloud providers · Local models · Editor skills
Development	Architecture · Source layout · ai_core · Build & test · Packaging

Other resources: Roadmap · Implementation details · Contributing · FAQ · Release process

License

MIT — see the repository license file for details.