In our 2022 year in review, we recapped the six highly-requested features that were implemented over the course of the year. We also acknowledged the five highly-requested features that “got away” – meaning we hadn’t gotten to them… yet! 

Well, GitKraken Client 9.1 is here, we’re happy to share that two of those enhancements are now accounted for, along with other requested features and improvements that represent input from over 1,000 users. We’re excited to share the highlights with you right… NOW! 

Improved WSL 2 Support

We’ve heard that WSL is an essential part of many of our users’ development setup. As WSL’s popularity continues to grow, we’re excited to offer improvements for users working in this environment. To give users an experience that feels more native as quickly as possible, we’ve improved the Linux version of GitKraken Client to fix common issues when operating within a WSL 2 environment.

With 9.1, users may now install GitKraken Client in a WSL 2 distribution with WSLg and better work with their Linux repos. For the best experience, we recommend users install GitKraken Client both on their Windows machine as well as their WSLg Linux distro. This allows users to quickly swap between GitKraken Client on each of their operating systems. 

For more information about WSL 2 / WSLg and the additional features we’ve introduced to better manage GitKraken Client in this environment, check out our “Using GitKraken Client in WSL 2” blog post. If you are a WSL 2 user and are ready to dive into setup, visit our Help Center documentation. 

Quality of Life Boosts

Quality of life improvements are crucial to making  the user experience smoother and more enjoyable. These small but meaningful enhancements can increase productivity, simplify complicated tasks, and enhance your overall experience with GitKraken Client.

Encoding Support

GitKraken Client 9.1 comes with new encoding support for ISO-8859-1, Windows-1252, and many more. This will help the app accurately display your files when viewing the diff or making commits. 

From any file diff in GitKraken Client, click this dropdown menu in the top right to change your encoding preference.

Read the complete release notes for more options on how to add the appropriate encoding support for your needs.

Amend Stash Messages

This update is my favorite. Users may now amend stash messages which will make renaming stashes a breeze. Now instead of having to pop and recreate your stash to update the stash name, you can just right click to edit the name.

Bypass Git Hooks

Another request from users, you may now bypass Git Hooks when committing. This will give you flexibility when deciding when to run your Git Hooks during your workflow, and it should save you some time, too!

To skip a Git Hook, start typing your commit message. You may then click this split button option to commit and bypass the Git Hook.

Workspace Improvements

Version 9.0 introduced Local and Cloud Workspaces, and when we asked for user feedback, you came through! Here’s what’s new with 9.1:

• Users wanted to better organize their Focus View or Team View. Now, Workspace columns can be sorted on Repositories, Issues, Pull Requests and WIP tables. 
• Users wanted GitKraken Insights for Cloud Workspaces connected to Azure DevOps. Done! 
• Users wanted more time period options with GitKraken Insights metrics. Licensed users now have a dropdown to select a 7 day or 14 day time period.

The updates covered above are just the highlights. For a complete list of improvements and bug fixes in GitKraken Client 9.1, visit the release notes. 

Keep Em Coming

Lastly, we want to say thank you again to all of you who take the time to tell us about your use cases and share feedback to improve the app. Keep sharing that feedback with us. Visit feedback.gitkraken.com to view, upvote, or submit feature requests on our feature board.