---
title: "Staging and committing"
description: "Stage by file, folder, hunk, or single line — then review the diff and write the message."
---

> 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.

# Staging and committing

![Staging and diff review](/screenshots/changes-staging.png)

## Staging granularity

Stage whole files, whole folders, individual hunks — or a single line. The
same controls unstage. This is the surface you'll use most, so it's built to
let you split a messy working tree into clean commits without dropping to
`git add -p`.

## Reviewing the diff

Diffs render in **unified** or **split** view with:

- Syntax highlighting
- A change minimap for long files
- Before/after previews for images
- Markdown preview for `.md` files

Review a whole commit as one scrollable stack of files, or select several
commits in the graph and review their **combined** diff the same way.

You can also pin **review notes** to a range of diff lines and hand the whole
set to an AI agent as one composed instruction.
[More →](/guides/review-notes)

## The commit composer

The composer shows you two things most clients leave implicit: **who** you're
committing as, and **where** the commit will land.

It supports:

- **Conventional Commits mode** — structured type/scope/summary entry
- **Amend** — rewrite the previous commit
- **Commit and push** — one click, when that's what you meant

### AI-drafted messages

If you have an AI CLI installed on your `PATH` — `claude`, `codex`, or
similar — GitLane can draft a commit message from your staged diff, or
improve one you've already written. Nothing is sent anywhere unless you
invoke it.

> **Who you commit as**
>
> The composer's identity comes from an identity card applied to the
> repository's local git config, or from your global config when nothing is
> pinned. It is never derived from whichever account you signed in with.
> [More →](/guides/accounts-and-identities)

## Discarding work

Discard previews exactly what would be thrown out before it runs. Like every
other destructive action, it refuses to act on stale state if the repository
changed since the preview.

And if something still goes wrong, the **Recover** button browses the reflog
so you can branch back to a lost commit — see
[Safety and recovery](/guides/safety-and-recovery).

Source: https://docs.gitlane.space/guides/staging-and-committing/index.mdx