---
title: "First run"
description: "Open a repository, read the graph, and make your first commit."
---

> Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.gitlane.space/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# First run

1. **Open or clone a repository**

   On first launch GitLane asks for a repository. Point it at any folder
   inside a git worktree — it discovers the repository root from a
   subdirectory, so you don't have to find the exact top level.

   Each open repository gets its own tab, and your tabs are restored the
   next time you launch.

2. **Read the graph**

   The center pane is the commit tree. Every line of history gets its own
   lane and colour. Branches, remotes, tags, stashes, and your uncommitted
   work all live in the same view — stashes sit at the point in history
   where you made them, and uncommitted changes float on top as a WIP row.

   [More on the commit graph →](/guides/commit-graph)

3. **Drag one branch onto another**

   This is the thing to try first. Grab a branch pill in the graph and drop
   it on another one. GitLane offers exactly the operations that make sense
   for how those two branches actually relate — fast-forward, merge, rebase,
   or reset. No flags to remember.

   [More on branch operations →](/guides/branch-operations)

4. **Jump anywhere**

   Press <kbd>Cmd/Ctrl</kbd> + <kbd>Alt</kbd> + <kbd>F</kbd> to open the
   branch navigator: branches, remotes, worktrees, tags, and stashes in one
   searchable, pinnable palette. Click anything to move the graph to it.

5. **Stage and commit**

   Edit a file and it appears in the working-changes panel. Stage whole
   files, folders, individual hunks — or a single line. The commit composer
   shows you exactly who you're committing as and where the commit will
   land.

   [More on staging and committing →](/guides/staging-and-committing)

## Set your commit identity

Before your first commit, it's worth checking who GitLane will commit as.
Open Settings → Identities.

GitLane keeps two things deliberately separate:

- **Accounts** authenticate. They handle clone, fetch, pull, push, and
  pull-request API calls.
- **Identities** author. An identity card is a name, an email, and an
  optional GPG/SSH signing key, applied to a repository's **local** git
  config.

The practical payoff: you can't accidentally commit to a client repository
with your personal email, or push an unverified signature, because the
identity is pinned per repository rather than inherited from whichever
account you happen to be signed in as.

If you do nothing, GitLane commits as "this computer" — your global git
config, exactly as a terminal would.

[More on accounts and identities →](/guides/accounts-and-identities)

## Connect a forge (optional)

To review pull requests in-app, sign in to your forge. GitHub goes through
the `gh` CLI (including multiple accounts and GitHub Enterprise). GitLab
works through `glab` or a personal access token; Bitbucket through an
Atlassian API token. Tokens are added in Settings → Accounts and stored in
your OS keychain.

[More on pull requests →](/guides/pull-requests)

Source: https://docs.gitlane.space/getting-started/first-run/index.mdx