For those of you who don’t know me, I’m Eric Amodio, creator of GitLens. I’m an innovator, leader, architect, and seasoned full-stack developer. I started developing GitLens way back in 2016 when I fell in love with Visual Studio Code and wanted to play with what was then newly released extension support. It all started with a simple question: could I add Git insights via CodeLens (hence GitLens) to any document? Which of course was yes, and a whole lot more.

GitLens has become the most popular Git extension for Visual Studio Code, with over 11 million active installs and 71 million downloads. What started as a simple prototype has evolved into a feature-rich product with a mission to help developers better understand code by unlocking the wealth of knowledge within each repository. I’m proud and truly humbled by the incredible evolution and adoption of GitLens these past 5 years, especially considering I’ve been the primary developer and maintainer in my spare time — my wife jokes about GitLens being my mistress 😂. 

Today, I’m happy to share some big news about the future of GitLens! GitKraken has acquired GitLens, and I will be joining GitKraken as the new Chief Technology Officer to lead the continued development of GitLens for VS Code users and GitKraken’s popular Git client for developers. GitLens will no longer be my spare-time project, it will be my full-time focus. By teaming up with GitKraken, GitLens will have the full support and resources of a leading software company that specializes in Git collaboration and productivity solutions for development teams.  

I’m passionate about making development easier, more accessible, and inclusive. My mission with GitLens has always been to make code easier to understand by leveraging the knowledge within each Git repository and making it accessible to everyone. As I’ve learned more about GitKraken’s mission to make Git easier, safer, and more powerful for developers and DevOps teams of all sizes, joining GitKraken feels like the perfect fit for me and GitLens. 

All of us at GitKraken, myself included, are committed to developing GitLens for the Visual Studio Code platform. GitLens users can rest assured it will remain available for free and open source, and will continue to be invested in. We’ve put together an FAQ page to provide more details about what GitLens users can expect as a result of the acquisition. I’m happy to share that users will be largely unaffected and can look forward to more rapid development and innovation of the tool they’ve come to love and rely on.

I am incredibly excited to be joining forces with the GitKraken team to accelerate our shared vision and create something truly wonderful together. I look forward to contributing my knowledge, leadership and expertise, as we strive to advance the Git user experience. This is an exciting time for GitLens and GitKraken users. The future of Git collaboration looks bright!