Git Blame (On hover)

🚀 Instant git blame information on hover - lightweight, zero-config, with smart tooltips

🎯 What Makes This Different?

Unlike other git blame extensions that clutter your status bar or add inline annotations, Git Blame Hover provides blame information exactly when and where you need it - on hover.

Git Blame Hover ✨	Other Extensions 😑
🎯 Hover-based - Info appears only when needed	📊 Status bar clutter - Always visible
🚫 Zero UI clutter - No persistent visual elements	📝 Inline annotations - Text everywhere
⚡ Performance optimized - Smart caching & debouncing	🐌 Continuous processing - CPU intensive
🎨 Smart tooltips - Rich formatting with emojis	📋 Plain text - Basic information
⚙️ Fully configurable - Show exactly what you want	🔒 Fixed format - Limited customization

✨ Key Features

🎯 Hover-First Design

Non-intrusive: Information appears only when you hover over a line
Context-aware: Shows relevant details exactly where your cursor is
Clean workspace: No permanent UI elements cluttering your editor

⚡ Performance Optimized

Smart debouncing: Prevents excessive git calls during rapid mouse movement
Intelligent caching: Reuses blame data for better performance
Cancellation support: Respects VS Code's cancellation tokens

🎨 Rich Tooltips

Visual formatting: Uses emojis and markdown for better readability
Relative time: Shows "2 hours ago" instead of cryptic timestamps
Platform detection: Identifies GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket, Azure Repos
Error handling: Clear, user-friendly error messages

⚙️ Highly Configurable

Selective display: Choose exactly what information to show
Custom formatting: Control tooltip appearance and content
Performance tuning: Adjust hover delays and message lengths
Quick toggle: Enable/disable with status bar button

🚀 Getting Started

Installation

Open VS Code
Go to Extensions (Ctrl+Shift+X)
Search for "Git Blame Hover"
Click Install

Usage

Open any file in a git repository
Hover over any line of code
See instant blame info in a beautiful tooltip!

That's it! No configuration required. 🎉

📸 Screenshots

Hover Tooltip in Action

When you hover over line 42:

┌─────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ 👤 Author: John Doe                     │
│ 📅 Date: 2 hours ago                    │
│ 📝 Message: Fix authentication bug      │
│ #️⃣ Commit: a1b2c3d                      │
│ 🌐 Platform: GitHub                     │
└─────────────────────────────────────────┘

Error Handling

For non-git files:

┌─────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ ⚠️ Error: Not a git repository          │
└─────────────────────────────────────────┘

Status Bar Toggle

Bottom right corner: [$(git-commit) Blame: On]
Click to toggle On/Off

⚙️ Configuration

Quick Settings

Setting	Default	Description
`gitBlameHover.enable`	`true`	Enable/disable the extension
`gitBlameHover.showRelativeTime`	`true`	Show "2 hours ago" vs "1/8/2026"
`gitBlameHover.hoverDelay`	`200`	Delay before tooltip appears (ms)

Tooltip Customization

Setting	Default	Description
`gitBlameHover.showAuthor`	`true`	Show 👤 author name
`gitBlameHover.showDate`	`true`	Show 📅 commit date
`gitBlameHover.showMessage`	`true`	Show 📝 commit message
`gitBlameHover.showCommitId`	`true`	Show #️⃣ commit hash
`gitBlameHover.showPlatform`	`true`	Show 🌐 platform info
`gitBlameHover.maxCommitMessageLength`	`100`	Max message length (0 = no limit)

Example Configuration

{
  "gitBlameHover.enable": true,
  "gitBlameHover.showRelativeTime": true,
  "gitBlameHover.hoverDelay": 150,
  "gitBlameHover.showAuthor": true,
  "gitBlameHover.showDate": true,
  "gitBlameHover.showMessage": true,
  "gitBlameHover.showCommitId": false,
  "gitBlameHover.showPlatform": false,
  "gitBlameHover.maxCommitMessageLength": 80
}

🎨 Customization Examples

Minimal Setup (Author + Time only)

{
  "gitBlameHover.showMessage": false,
  "gitBlameHover.showCommitId": false,
  "gitBlameHover.showPlatform": false
}

Detailed Setup (Everything visible)

{
  "gitBlameHover.showRelativeTime": false,
  "gitBlameHover.maxCommitMessageLength": 0,
  "gitBlameHover.hoverDelay": 100
}

Performance Setup (Slower devices)

{
  "gitBlameHover.hoverDelay": 500,
  "gitBlameHover.maxCommitMessageLength": 50
}

🛠️ Commands

Command	Keybinding	Description
`Git Blame Hover: Toggle Enable/Disable`	None	Toggle extension on/off

Access via:

Command Palette (Ctrl+Shift+P)
Status bar button click

🔧 Troubleshooting

Common Issues

"Git not found in PATH" Error

Cause: Git is not installed or not in system PATH Solution:

Install Git from git-scm.com
Restart VS Code
Verify with git --version in terminal

"Not a git repository" Error

Cause: File is not in a git repository Solution: Initialize git in your folder: git init

No hover tooltip appears

Possible causes:

Extension is disabled - Check status bar or settings
File is not git-tracked - Add file to git: git add filename
Hover delay is too high - Reduce hoverDelay setting

Slow performance

Solutions:

Increase hoverDelay to 300-500ms
Reduce maxCommitMessageLength to 50-80
Disable less important info (platform, commit ID)

Debug Steps

Check extension is enabled in status bar
Open Developer Tools (Help > Toggle Developer Tools)
Look for error messages in Console tab
Try toggling extension off/on

🚀 Performance Tips

Optimize for Large Repositories

{
  "gitBlameHover.hoverDelay": 300,
  "gitBlameHover.maxCommitMessageLength": 60,
  "gitBlameHover.showPlatform": false
}

Optimize for Remote Work (Slow Git)

{
  "gitBlameHover.hoverDelay": 500,
  "gitBlameHover.showMessage": false,
  "gitBlameHover.showPlatform": false
}

🤔 FAQ

Q: How is this different from the popular Git Blame extension?

A: The popular extension shows blame info in the status bar and inline. Git Blame Hover shows info only when you hover, keeping your workspace clean.

Q: Does it work with all Git platforms?

A: Yes! Detects GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket, Azure Repos, and shows "Local/Other" for custom setups.

Q: Will it slow down my editor?

A: No! It uses smart debouncing and caching. Git commands only run when you actually hover over lines.

Q: Can I use both this and other git blame extensions?

A: Yes! This extension doesn't conflict with others since it only uses hover events.

Q: What about uncommitted changes?

A: Shows "You" as author, "just now" as time, and "Uncommitted changes" as message.

🎯 Supported Platforms

Platform	Status	URL Format
🐙 GitHub	✅ Full support	`github.com`
🦊 GitLab	✅ Full support	`gitlab.com`
🪣 Bitbucket	✅ Full support	`bitbucket.org`
🔵 Azure Repos	✅ Full support	`dev.azure.com`, `visualstudio.com`
🏠 Self-hosted	✅ Basic support	Shows as "Local/Other"

📋 Requirements

VS Code: Version 1.90.0 or higher
Git: Must be installed and available in PATH
Repository: Must be a valid git repository

🐛 Known Limitations

Large files: Very large files (>10MB) may have slower git blame performance
Binary files: No blame information for binary files
Merge conflicts: Limited info during active merge conflicts
Shallow clones: May show incomplete history information

🔄 Changelog

v0.0.12 - Latest

✨ Added relative time display ("2 hours ago")
⚡ Implemented hover debouncing for better performance
🛠️ Improved error messages and handling
⚙️ Added configurable tooltip format options
🎨 Enhanced tooltip formatting with emojis

v0.0.11

🐛 Fixed platform detection issues
📝 Updated documentation

v0.0.10

🚀 Initial release
✨ Basic hover functionality
🎯 Status bar toggle

🤝 Contributing

We welcome contributions! Here's how you can help:

Report Issues

Found a bug? Create an issue with:

Steps to reproduce
Expected vs actual behavior
VS Code version & OS

Suggest Features

Have an idea? Open a feature request with:

Detailed description
Use case examples
Mockups if applicable

📄 License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

🙏 Acknowledgments

Thanks to the VS Code team for the excellent extension API
Inspired by the need for cleaner git blame UX
Community feedback and feature requests

📞 Support

🐛 Issues: GitHub Issues

Developed by Canarys Automations

If you find this extension helpful, please ⭐ star the repository and leave a review on the marketplace!

Name		Name	Last commit message	Last commit date
Latest commit History 6 Commits
README.md		README.md
Tooltip-guide.md		Tooltip-guide.md
logo.png		logo.png

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