gitby

Gitby is built around a simple rule: one file, one person at a time. Instead of cleaning up merge conflicts after two developers edit the same file, it lets a teammate claim a file before touching it, so ownership is visible to everyone on the project from the start.

The core workflow runs from the keyboard. Pressing a key on a file or folder assigns your name to it, and that claim appears both in teammates’ terminals and on a shared dashboard. Files you have not claimed remain read-only in your editor, which removes the temptation to make a quick unplanned edit. Releasing a claim is just as fast, and handoffs are explicit rather than implied.

Beyond claiming, Gitby folds chat, notes, and git operations into the same terminal window, so coordination happens where the code work already is. It works with GitHub and runs on macOS, Linux, and Windows, making it easy to slot into an existing setup without changing editors or hosting.

It is aimed at small development teams sharing branches, especially those who lose time to repeated conflicts on the same files. Teams can try it free for three teammates, which makes it straightforward to test the claiming habit on a real project before rolling it out further.

Start by claiming files on your next shared task and see whether the read-only guardrail fits how your team already works.