explaingit

denoby/familiar

Analysis updated 2026-05-18

3PythonAudience · developerComplexity · 2/5LicenseSetup · easy

TLDR

A set of full-screen kitty terminal overlays for macOS that add IDE-style session management, code review, and git history browsing on top of Claude Code.

Mindmap

mindmap
  root((familiar))
    What it does
      Session manager overlay
      Code review overlay
      Git log browser overlay
    Tech stack
      Python standard library
      Pygments
      kitty terminal
    Use cases
      Manage Claude Code sessions
      Review uncommitted diffs
      Browse git history
      Send comments to Claude
    Audience
      Claude Code users
      macOS terminal developers

Code map

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filefunction / class

What do people build with it?

USE CASE 1

See at a glance which Claude Code sessions are busy or waiting for approval.

USE CASE 2

Review uncommitted changes in a syntax-highlighted diff before committing.

USE CASE 3

Write line comments on a diff and paste them back into a Claude Code chat.

USE CASE 4

Browse git commit history with a branch graph inside the terminal.

What is it built with?

PythonkittyPygmentsgit

How does it compare?

denoby/familiar0marildo/imago0xdfi/glm-5.2-1m-4x-dgx-spark
Stars333
LanguagePythonPythonPython
Setup difficultyeasyeasyhard
Complexity2/52/55/5
Audiencedevelopergeneralresearcher

Figures from each repo's GitHub metadata at analysis time.

How do you get it running?

Difficulty · easy Time to first run · 5min

macOS and kitty terminal only, Claude Code required for the session overlay specifically.

Use freely for any purpose, including commercial use, as long as you keep the copyright notice.

In plain English

Familiar is a set of tools for the kitty terminal on macOS that add an IDE-like layer on top of coding sessions, especially for people using Claude Code, an AI coding assistant that runs in the terminal. It gives you three full-screen overlays, each opened with its own keyboard shortcut, that sit on top of your normal terminal work. The first overlay, called session, lets you see and manage your Claude Code sessions: which ones are currently busy, which ones are waiting for your permission to continue, and lets you resume, fork, or start new sessions, including creating a separate git worktree for one. The second overlay, review, is a two-pane code reviewer for changes you have not committed yet, showing a file tree next to a syntax-highlighted diff, letting you search across files, jump between changes, stage files, and write line comments that get collected into a note you can paste back into your chat with Claude. The third overlay, log, is a git history browser that shows a branch graph and lets you view diffs for any past commit, fetch and push, and copy commit hashes or file references to share with Claude. The review and log overlays work as plain git tools even if you are not using Claude Code at all, but the session overlay specifically needs Claude Code installed since it reads its session data. The whole thing is written in pure Python using only the standard library plus a bundled copy of Pygments for syntax highlighting, so there is nothing extra to install beyond the tool itself. Familiar only works on macOS, since it relies on Mac-style keyboard shortcuts and opens Mac IDE apps for editing files. It can be installed through Homebrew or by cloning the repository directly, and it works by adding a small block of configuration into your existing kitty terminal config file, which can be removed cleanly later.

Copy-paste prompts

Prompt 1
Walk me through installing familiar with Homebrew on macOS.
Prompt 2
Explain what each of the three familiar kitty overlays does.
Prompt 3
Show me how to use the review overlay to stage files and leave line comments.
Prompt 4
How do I switch familiar's theme to Darcula?
Prompt 5
Help me uninstall familiar and restore my original kitty config.

Frequently asked questions

What is familiar?

A set of full-screen kitty terminal overlays for macOS that add IDE-style session management, code review, and git history browsing on top of Claude Code.

What language is familiar written in?

Mainly Python. The stack also includes Python, kitty, Pygments.

What license does familiar use?

Use freely for any purpose, including commercial use, as long as you keep the copyright notice.

How hard is familiar to set up?

Setup difficulty is rated easy, with roughly 5min to a first successful run.

Who is familiar for?

Mainly developer.

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