# Separating Staged and Unstaged Git Changes in Zed

In Zed, you can use the Git Panel menu to display staged and unstaged changes separately.

In short, it gives you a Git workflow similar to VS Code.

The feature was merged only about two months ago and doesn't seem to be widely known yet, so I put together a quick guide on how to enable it and how it came to be added.

## Separating the File List

Open the display settings in the top-right corner of the Git Panel, then select **Staged & Unstaged** under **Group By**.

(I believe the default is **Tracked & Untracked**.)

![zed diff view](https://cdn.hashnode.com/uploads/covers/6aaf7a002e483eaf04eac4cd/57ad1019-8a5c-4898-907e-856e1dcd8043.png)

The file list will now be separated into **Staged** and **Unstaged** sections.

Files that are only partially staged will appear in both sections.

## Separating the Diff Views

You can also open staged and unstaged diffs in separate tabs from the command palette.

- `git: view staged changes`
- `git: view unstaged changes`

These commands open **Staged Changes** and **Unstaged Changes**, respectively. This lets you easily switch between the changes that will be included in your next commit and those that won't.

## When Was This Added?

[Issue #26560](https://github.com/zed-industries/zed/issues/26560), which requested separate staged and unstaged views, was opened in March 2025. At the time, staged and unstaged changes were mixed together in a single diff view.[^1]

As you can see in the screenshot, the issue received more than 500 thumbs-up reactions alone. It was clearly a feature people around the world had been waiting for. 🌏

![pull-req 26560](https://static.zenn.studio/user-upload/dbfeefb66613-20260929.png)

[PR #46541](https://github.com/zed-industries/zed/pull/46541) was merged on July 7, 2026, adding dedicated **Staged Changes** and **Unstaged Changes** views in [Zed 1.11.3](https://zed.dev/releases/stable/1.11.3).

Grouping files in the Git Panel was implemented separately in [PR #59884](https://github.com/zed-industries/zed/pull/59884). It was merged on July 11 of the same year and released in [Zed 1.12.0](https://zed.dev/releases/stable/1.12.0).

Both features were added in July 2026. If you've been wishing Zed would let you view staged and unstaged changes separately, check out the menu in the top-right corner of the Git Panel!

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[^1]: A [Discussion #26862](https://github.com/zed-industries/zed/discussions/26862) from around the same time also requested a VS Code-like way to list and review staged and unstaged changes separately.