Tags

You can use the Tags tab to manage local and remote Git tags.

Navigate the Tags tab

To open the Tags tab, click Git > Tags. The tab belongs to the repository it was opened from, and opening it again brings that tab forward rather than making a second one.

Branches, Worktrees, and Tags each carry a Refs control beside their title. Use it to move between the three. The menu marks the one you are on, and choosing another opens it for this repository, or brings its tab forward when it is already open.

The header has a filter button, New Tag, and More actions (⋮). Each tag is a row that shows the following information.

• Name: The name of the tag.
• Activity: How long ago the tag was made. For a lightweight tag, this is the date of its commit. Point to it to see the full date.
• Commit hash: The commit that the tag points to. Click it to open the commit.
• Remote status: Whether the tag is on the remote. See Push tags to a remote.

See a tag’s details

Click a tag row to show its details. Click the row again to hide them. One tag shows its details at a time, and More actions > Collapse All hides them. Right-click a row for the same commands as a menu.

The details show the following groups.

• Tag: The type (annotated or lightweight), the tagger, the date, and the message.
• Commit: The commit hash, with Open Commit, Show in Commits, and Copy Hash.
• Remote: Whether the remote has the tag, with the commands for its status. Repositories without remotes do not show this group.

Below the groups are Create Branch…, Checkout…, Copy Name, and Delete.

To show a tag’s details from the keyboard, press Tab to move to the arrow beside the tag, then press Enter or Space.

Create a new tag

Use Generate in the Create Tag dialog header to draft an annotated tag message with Zide. The label stays visible when the message contains text. Existing text opens a review before replacement, and applied results offer Undo. Generation leaves the tag name and target commit as entered.

To create a new tag, complete the following steps.

1. In the Tags tab, click New Tag.
2. In the Create Tag dialog, enter the tag name in the Name field.
3. Optional: type a Message. A tag with a message is an annotated tag. A tag without a message is a lightweight tag.
4. Click Create.

You can replace tags with the same name and push the tags immediately to the remote. If Create is not available, point to it to see the reason.

Sign a tag

Zide signs tags as Git does. Sign tags in your signing settings sets which tags are signed: Never, Tags with a message, or All tags. Sign commits does not apply to tags.

To sign one tag differently, click Advanced Options in the Create Tag dialog, then select a Signing choice.

• Use Git settings follows your signing settings. The label shows what the settings do for this tag, for example Use Git settings (sign with SSH).
• Sign signs this tag.
• Do not sign creates this tag without a signature.

A signed tag needs a message. When the tag will be signed, Create is not available until you type a message.

If Git cannot sign the tag, Zide does not create it. An existing tag with the same name does not change, and Zide does not push. A notification shows the reason when available, for example Tag signing failed: key not available. Click Configure Signing to open the signing settings for the repository. Fix the problem, then try again.

Zide Assist uses the same signing settings when it creates a tag. You can ask it to sign a tag or to create a tag without a signature.

The tag details show the message of a signed tag without its signature. Zide does not show whether a tag is signed.

Create a branch from a tag

To create a branch at the commit of a tag, show the tag’s details and click Create Branch…, or right-click the tag and click Create Branch from Here…. Zide does not switch to the new branch unless you select Switch to the new branch. For the steps, see Create a branch from a commit, tag, or reflog entry.

To check out the commit of a tag without a branch, click Checkout… in the tag’s details. Zide asks you to confirm, because you are not on a branch after the checkout (detached HEAD).

Show a tag’s commit in Commits

To go to the commit of a tag in the history, click Show in Commits in the tag’s details, or right-click the tag and click Show in Commits. Commits opens and scrolls to the commit. For an annotated tag, this is the commit that the tag points to. If the commit is older than the loaded commits, Commits loads more history until it shows the commit.

Show in Commits is not available when the commit of the tag is not in your local repository, for example in a shallow clone that does not include it. Zide does not fetch history to find the commit. Hover over the command to see the reason.

Find and sort tags

Click the filter button in the header to show the filters.

• Search tags finds tags by name, message, or tagger. Press Ctrl+F to go to it.
• Remote selects the remote that Zide compares the tags with. It starts on origin, or on the first remote when there is no origin. It is not shown when the repository has only one remote.

When a filter is set, the line above the list says how many tags match the search, for example 5 matches, or how many tags there are. Each filter that is set shows as a chip above the count, for example Search: v1. and Compared with: backup. Click a chip to change the filter, or click its x to remove it. Click Clear filters at the end of the count line to clear the search and return Remote to the remote it starts on. In a narrow panel the button says Clear.

To sort the list, click the Name or Activity heading. Click the same heading again to reverse the order. Zide remembers the order for all Tags tabs.

Delete tags

To delete a tag, click the delete icon on its row, or click Delete in its details. Zide always asks you to confirm.

• For a tag that is only on your computer, the Delete Tag dialog tells you that you cannot get the tag back after you delete it. Click Delete Tag.
• For a tag that is also on the remote, the dialog names the remote and asks where to delete the tag, for example On this computer only, On origin only, or On this computer and on origin. On this computer only is selected first. The button shows what you selected, for example Delete Both Tags.

Zide deletes a remote tag from the remote that Remote selects.

To remove every local tag that is not on the selected remote, click More actions > Prune Tags Not on followed by the remote, for example Prune Tags Not on origin…. This also removes local tags that you never pushed.

Push tags to a remote

The remote status shows whether each tag is on the remote that Remote selects.

• pushed: The remote has the tag at the same commit.
• push: The remote does not have the tag. Click it to push the tag.
• local: The remote does not have the tag, and Zide did not find its commit in the remote branches it has fetched. Push the commit first, or fetch if you think the remote already has it.
• diverged: The remote has a tag with the same name at a different commit.

You can also click Push in a tag’s details. For a diverged tag, the details offer Force Push…, which replaces the tag on the remote, and Delete Local & Re-fetch. Delete Local & Re-fetch deletes your tag first, then fetches from the selected remote. The fetch brings the remote tag back only when Git fetches the commit it points to. If the fetch fails or does not bring the tag, your tag stays deleted.

To push every tag, click More actions > Push All Tags to followed by the remote, for example Push All Tags to origin…. Zide asks you to confirm.