The Source Control Panel

The Source Control panel provides a complete Git workflow inside Studio. The panel is available whenever a project that belongs to a Git repository is open. It is docked to the left of the designer together with other panels (Explorer, Activities, Snippets, etc.).

The Source Control panel works only with Git repositories. Projects managed with TFS and SVN are still managed from the Team backstage tab.

The first time you open the panel, you are instructed to initialize a local Git repository. This step is mandatory and is performed automatically by selecting the Initialize Repository button.

The panel contains two distinct sections:

1. Changes: Lists all files that have been modified, added, deleted, or renamed in the working tree and hosts the commit controls.
2. Graph: Renders the repository's commit history as an interactive visual graph.

Clicking each section header collapses or expands the corresponding section. When a section is collapsed, its header displays the number of items it contains, allowing you to monitor activity at a glance.

The Changes section

The Changes section lists all pending file changes, separated into staged and unstaged groups.

Each file entry features a color-coded status letter (M – modified, A – added, D – deleted, R – renamed, U – untracked).

Hover over or right-click a file to access file-specific options:

• Open File, to open the file in the Designer panel.
• Discard Changes, to revert the file to its last committed state.
• Stage or Unstage.
• Add to .gitignore, to exclude the file from future tracking.
• Reveal in File Explorer, to open the file's location on your machine.
• Reveal in Explorer View, to open the Explorer panel.

Use the Message field to write your commit message. After writing your message, select Commit or use the CTRL + Enter keyboard shortcut. If no files are explicitly staged when you commit, all changes are staged automatically.

Select the arrow next to the Commit button to access more options:

• Commit: Commits staged changes locally.
• Commit (Amend): Adds staged changes to the most recent commit.
• Commit and Push: Commits then pushes to the remote branch.
• Commit and Sync: Commits staged changes, then pulls and pushes to sync with the remote branch.

Select the Refresh button at the top of the Changes section to reload the section.

You can also select the More options button to:

• Access the Pull, Push, and Fetch all remotes operations.
• Stage all changes.
• Open the Manage Branches window.

An ahead/behind badge next to the branch name in the toolbar shows the number of commits your local branch is ahead of and behind the remote tracking branch.

The Graph section

The Graph section renders your repository's commit history as a visual, multi-lane graph. The section displays up to 200 commits, with branch and tag labels, color-coded branch lines, and Bezier curves to illustrate merge connections.

Select the branch filter button to switch between which commits to display:

• Auto: commits on the current branch.
• All: commits across all branches.
• Commits only on a specific branch.

Separate buttons allow you to access functions such as:

• Fetch all remotes: Downloads remote changes without merging them.
• Pull: Downloads and merges remote changes into the current branch.
• Push: Uploads committed local changes to the remote branch.

You can also Refresh the section from the dedicated button.

Each row in the Graph section represents one commit. Hovering over a commit shows you the commit author, date, message, and abbreviated SHA. You can also copy the full SHA to the clipboard.

Files that have been changed are listed under the Changed files list. Right-click a file to from the list and select Compare with Previous Commit to open a diff view in the designer.

Right-clicking a commit gives you access to the following options:

• Checkout Commit: Checks out the repository at the selected commit.
• Cherry-Pick Commit: Applies the commit's changes to the current branch.
• Compare with Working Tree: Opens a diff between the commit and your current local files.
• Compare with Previous Commit: Opens a diff between the commit and its parent commit.
• Copy Commit SHA: Copies the full commit SHA to the clipboard.

Clicking a file anywhere in the Source Control panel (in the Changes area or in an expanded commit row in the Graph area) opens the diff view.