Press Kit

Summary

Retcon is a developer tool for rewriting Git history extremely fast, with no headaches.

Git veterans can wrangle commits far faster than with conventional tools, while beginners gain access to powerful workflows that would otherwise require months to master.

To achieve this, Retcon combines drag-and-drop interaction, pervasive ⌘Z support, instant feedback, and a reinvented display of many common Git concepts. Retcon's cohesive, innovative design dramatically lowers cognitive load, and makes rewriting Git history a pleasure, rather than a chore.

Why rewrite Git history?

The Git history is a communication tool. Commits don't only describe code changes, but also their circumstances: both the reasons and the reasoning behind each modification. Commits attach rich context to otherwise opaque source code revisions.

Commits created on the fly typically lack this information, however: they reflect the trial and error process of writing code, instead of forming a coherent whole. That's where rewriting comes in: before code changes are shared with teammates, rewriting their Git history means embedding all of the context surrounding the changes into the commits themselves, making it available for all to browse.

A clear Git history yields many benefits. Code changes (“pull requests”) can be peer-reviewed much faster when their contents are self-explanatory. Team leads and stakeholders can follow along with development thanks to plain English commit messages. And, all that institutional knowledge is retained, to be accessed later on, instead of quickly being lost to time.

Features

Rewrite Git history much faster, with a clear view of the repository's state.
Manipulate commits directly: no need to switch to a different mode or window.
Reword commits as easily as you rename files, by editing messages in place.
Undo almost anything with a press of ⌘Z, including commits reorders, complex rebases, and even remote pushes.
Rewrite, pull, or switch branches without having to stash+unstash your changes. Even staged changes are transparently preserved.

See the full context when paused for a conflict: successfully-applied commits, to-be-applied commits.
Keep making changes even when a conflict awaits resolution.
Use the built-in sandbox repository to freely experiment with rewriting history.

No lock-in. Use Retcon in tandem with your favorite IDE, generalist Git client, and Git host.
Mature: Retcon 1.0 was built and perfected over more than two years of development. The app benefits from extensive automated testing, a year-long closed beta—which welcomed hundreds of testers—and UX testing sessions with users.

Images

Directly save the images below, or download retcon-press-kit.zip, which contains extra versions. (transparent screenshots, extra resolutions)

App screenshots (light)

App screenshots (dark)

Spreads

Other

Factsheet

App name	Retcon
Price	$7.99/month or $49.99/year (varies by country)
Free trial	All features enabled for 14 days. App then becomes read-only.
Minimum system version	macOS 14.3 Sonoma
Website	https://retcon.app
Download	Direct download on https://retcon.app.
Release notes	https://retcon.app/releases (from the first beta in 2022, to the 1.0 release in 2024, to now)
Mastodon account	https://indieapps.space/@Retcon
Developer	Nathan Manceaux-Panot
Press contact	nathan൫retcon.app

About the developer

Nathan Manceaux-Panot is an independent macOS developer. He's obsessed with making user interfaces welcoming and empowering, and with thoughtfulness in general. He can be found on Mastodon.