Coming from other Git clients

If you already live in another Git client, this page maps its vocabulary onto Birch’s and tells you where your daily tools moved. The one real mental shift is the worktree-first model — everything else is familiar Git-client furniture.

Concept mapping

Coming from	You know	In Birch
GitHub Desktop / Fork	one checkout per repository, switched between branches	the same checkout, registered as-is in the sidebar — extra work happens in separate worktrees, so you stop branch-switching under uncommitted changes
GitButler	virtual branches: several lines of work multiplexed in one working directory	worktrees: several lines of work in several real working directories, one branch each — plain git underneath
Conductor	agent workspaces with copied-in local files	agent workspaces: the same idea — an isolated worktree with an agent terminal; Birch reads the same .worktreeinclude file

Your existing checkout is untouched

Birch registers your clone where it already is and never rewrites how you clone or where your repositories live. New work — yours or an agent’s — happens in worktrees under Birch’s own data folder. Repositories are only ever added explicitly; there is no background folder scanning.

Where your daily tools live

Tool	Where in Birch
Stage / commit / discard	the Git view’s Changes tab → Commit changes
History and commit graph	the History tab → History
Branches, merge	Branches — branch creation (⌘⇧N / Ctrl+Shift+N) is live; the merge, rebase, rename, and delete dialogs currently are not (see the caution below)
Stash — apply / pop / drop	the Stash tab → Stash
Stash — create	Stash
Blame and file history	right-click a file on the Changes tab → Power tools
Interactive rebase	Interactive rebase
Tags, reflog, bisect	Power tools

Warning

Creating a stash, interactive rebase, tags, reflog, bisect, and the branch merge, rebase, rename, and delete dialogs currently have no way to be reached in the shipped build — the menu that hosted them is hidden. (Branch creation — ⌘⇧N / Ctrl+Shift+N — is still live.) The linked pages document the features because they exist in the app; new entry points are planned.

What Birch adds on top

• The Inbox — assigned issues, PR activity, and waiting agents in one triage list.
• Agent workspaces — run Claude Code, Codex, or OpenCode in isolated worktrees with live status.
• AI code review — automatic review of new PRs. How the AI pieces fit together: AI in Birch.

What Birch deliberately lacks

• Linux support — Windows and macOS only.
• External diff/merge tool integration — the Settings controls exist but are marked “coming soon”.
• Repository auto-discovery — Birch never scans your disk; you add each repository yourself.

The FAQ explains the reasoning behind these choices.