A refined, personal Git desktop client crafted for Windows
Embracing history, branching, and repair — powered by Electron, TypeScript, and React.
About • Features • Visual Tour • Installation • Building • Design • License
Kintsugi (金継ぎ, "golden joinery") is the traditional Japanese art of mending broken pottery with lacquer dusted in powdered gold, silver, or platinum. Rather than disguising wear and fissures, Kintsugi illuminates them — making the piece stronger and more unique through its history.
In software development and version control, our branches, merges, rebases, and resolved conflicts are our golden seams.
Kintsugi is a standalone, customized Windows x64 build of GitHub Desktop designed for developers seeking a focused, privacy-conscious, and self-contained Git workflow:
- 🪟 Independent Windows Application: Uses its own identity, application name, executable (
Kintsugi.exe), Windows shortcut icons, and isolated application data directory (%APPDATA%\Kintsugi). - 🛡️ Privacy & Autonomy: Upstream usage reporting, telemetry pings (
central.github.com), and automatic background update checks are removed or deactivated. - 💻 Offline & Local-First: Work with any local Git repository immediately—no sign-in or remote account required.
- 🤝 Seamless Cloud Compatibility: Supports GitHub authentication whenever you wish to push, pull, or manage pull requests on remote repositories.
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Inspect code diffs with syntax highlighting, stage individual hunks or entire files, and craft granular, meaningful commits. |
Switch, create, rename, and merge branches effortlessly with clear visualization of your project's commit tree. |
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Drag, drop, and cherry-pick specific commits across branches with intuitive conflict resolution helpers. |
Launch directly from PowerShell, Windows Terminal, or CMD using the lightweight |
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Easily attribute contributions and pair-programming sessions with automatic GitHub co-author suggestions. |
Bespoke obsidian disc and gold seam branding, Windows installer splash art, and polished dark/light themes. |
Easily track branch states, undo changes, and recover unreachable or amended commits through an intuitive timeline.
Port changes cleanly across branches without touching messy command-line flags.
Custom installer branding and splash screen built specifically for Kintsugi on Windows.
Run the generated Windows installer:
dist/KintsugiSetup-x64.exeUpon installation, Kintsugi configures:
- Start Menu and Desktop shortcuts with the custom gold-and-obsidian icon.
- A dedicated user data folder at
%APPDATA%\Kintsugi(isolated from standard GitHub Desktop installations). - The
kintsugicommand-line utility in your environment path.
Open any repository directly from your terminal:
# Open current working directory
kintsugi .
# Open a specific repository path
kintsugi C:\Work\my-projectEnsure the following tools are installed on your Windows machine:
- Node.js (v24+; project-local Node in
.tools/node-v24.22.1-win-x64is used when present) - Python (required for compiling native Node modules)
- Visual Studio C++ Build Tools (Desktop development with C++)
- Git for Windows
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Clone the repository:
git clone https://github.com/projectGloria/Kintsugi.git cd Kintsugi
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Compile and package Kintsugi: Run the automated PowerShell build script:
./script/build-kintsugi.ps1
This script handles production compilation, bundle optimization, and installer creation. The resulting package will be output to:
dist/KintsugiSetup-x64.exe -
Verify with the Automated Test Suite: Run the end-to-end smoke test to confirm packaging, identity isolation, and telemetry suppression:
node script/test-kintsugi.mjs
"A dark charcoal ceramic circular disc repaired with bold elegant gold seams, the seams subtly suggesting a branching Git graph and the letter K."
The icon embodies the spirit of Kintsugi:
- Obsidian Ceramic: Represents the solid foundation of your codebase.
- Warm Gold Veins: Symbolize branches, merges, and iterative improvements that make code resilient and enduring.
- Distraction-Free: Clean silhouette engineered for high contrast and legibility across all Windows taskbar, system tray, and desktop resolutions (16px to 256px).
Kintsugi is built on top of GitHub Desktop, distributed under the MIT License.
- Attribution: Original code and architecture © GitHub, Inc. and its community contributors.
- Trademarks: GitHub® and the Octocat logo are trademarks of GitHub, Inc. Kintsugi uses its own original icon and branding and is not sponsored or endorsed by GitHub, Inc.
- License: See the full LICENSE file for terms and conditions.