Stashes View

The Stashes view manages git stashes — temporary snapshots of your working tree that let you save uncommitted changes and restore them later. Useful when you need to switch branches without committing work in progress.

Accessing the Stashes View

• Click the Layers icon in the activity bar
• Stashes are only available for local repositories

Layout

The Stashes view contains:

• Toolbar — Stash button and Refresh
• Stash list — entries ordered most-recent-first (stash@{0}, stash@{1}, etc.) with their description message
• Empty state — when no stashes exist, a message prompts you to use the Stash button

Features

Stash List

Each stash entry shows:

• Ref — stash@{0}, stash@{1}, etc. (most recent first)
• Message — the stash description (auto-generated or custom)

Creating a Stash

Click + Stash in the toolbar:

• Saves all uncommitted changes (staged + unstaged)
• Optionally include untracked files
• Optionally provide a custom message
• Working tree is restored to a clean state

Stash Operations

Apply

Restores the stash's changes to the working tree without removing the stash from the list. Useful when you want to apply the same changes to multiple branches.

Pop

Restores the stash's changes and removes the stash from the list. This is the most common operation — "I'm done with the detour, give me my changes back."

If applying the stash causes conflicts, the stash is NOT removed (you'll need to resolve conflicts first, then manually drop it).

Drop

Permanently deletes a stash without applying it. A confirmation dialog prevents accidental deletion.

Crab Pointer Compatibility

Crab pointer-tracked files survive stash/pop correctly because git stash operates on blob content (the pointer blob), not on hydrated file bytes. After popping a stash that includes pointer files, the hydration state is preserved.

Context Menu

Right-click a stash entry for:

• Apply — restore without removing
• Pop — restore and remove
• Drop — delete permanently
• Copy ref — copy stash@{N} to clipboard

Keyboard Shortcuts

Auto-Refresh

The stash list refreshes automatically when:

• The file watcher detects changes to .git/refs/stash
• A stash operation completes
• The view gains focus

Error Handling

• Apply/pop with conflicts: Shows a warning toast and navigates to the Conflicts view
• Drop confirmation: Requires explicit confirmation since the operation is irreversible
• Empty stash: The "Stash" button is disabled when the working tree is clean (nothing to stash)