Install Mergepond and open your first repo
In ten minutes you will have Mergepond installed, a repository open, and a first commit made from the Changes view. You will also know the three views and the handful of shortcuts that move between them.
Install it
Mergepond runs on macOS 13 or later, on Apple silicon and Intel Macs. It is free for local repositories; nothing in this guide needs Pro.
- Download the disk image and drag Mergepond into Applications.
- Open it. macOS asks once whether you want to open an app downloaded from the internet; say yes.
- Open a repository, as the next section shows. There is no account to create and nothing to sign in to.
Mergepond checks for updates when it opens, and you can check by hand from Mergepond › Check for Updates…. Updates install with one click and a relaunch.
Open a repository
- Press ⌘O, or choose File › Open Repository…. The sheet is called "Open a repository".
- Type a path on this Mac, such as
~/src/api, or click "Choose folder…" and pick the folder that holds the.gitdirectory. - Press ⏎ or click "Open repository".
The same sheet takes host:path for a machine you reach over SSH, which is a Pro feature covered in Use a Git GUI on repos over SSH. For now, stick to a local folder.
Mergepond remembers what you open. Next time, ⌘P opens the repository switcher, with your open tabs, your worktrees and your recent repositories a few keystrokes away.
Learn the three views
Everything in a repository window happens in one of three views, switched with the tabs at the top or with ⌘1, ⌘2 and ⌘3.
Changes (⌘1) lists what you have edited, in three groups: Conflicted, Not staged and Staged. Click a file to see its diff on the right, stage a file or a single hunk, write a message and commit.
History (⌘2) is the commit graph. Each row is a commit with its description, author, date and short hash. The top row, "Uncommitted changes", takes you straight to the Changes view. Click a commit to see it in the inspector; right-click it for merge, rebase, cherry-pick, revert and tag.
Worktrees (⌘3) is the worktree board. Until you add a worktree it shows only your main folder, and a sentence about what a worktree is. Come back to it when you read the Git worktrees tutorial.
The sidebar on the left lists your repositories, branches, remotes, tags, stashes and submodules. Toggle it with ⌘⌥S. The inspector on the right shows the selected commit or file; toggle it with ⌘⌥I.
Make your first commit
- Change a file in your editor, then press ⌘1. The file appears under "Not staged".
- Click the file to read the diff. Click "Stage file" at the top of the diff, or press Space with the file selected in the list, to move it to "Staged".
- Type a message in the box whose placeholder reads "Summary of the change". Under it, "Committing as" shows the name and email the commit will carry.
- Press ⌘⏎, or click "Commit 1 file".
The commit lands at the top of History. If you staged nothing, the button tells you "Stage a file or a hunk first." rather than committing an empty change.
Fetch, pull and push
The toolbar has Fetch, Pull and Push buttons, and the menu has the same under Repository: ⌘⌥F fetches, ⌘⇧↓ pulls and ⌘⇧↑ pushes. Mergepond uses your own Git, SSH keys and credential helpers, so if git push works in Terminal it works here.
Get more from it
- Press ⌘K from anywhere and start typing. The command palette runs every command in the app and switches branches, and a commit hash jumps straight to that commit. See Everything from the keyboard with ⌘K.
- ⌘T opens another repository in a new tab of the same window; ⌘⇧] and ⌘⇧[ move between tabs.
- ⌘⇧R shows the repository in Finder and ⌘⌥T opens it in Terminal, for the moments a GUI is the wrong tool.
- View › Appearance… picks a colour scheme. Pond is the default; Light, Dark and Greyscale are there too, and by default Mergepond switches between Light and Dark with macOS.
- Esc closes whatever is on top: a sheet, the palette, the find bar.