Jujutsu gets me into VCS

For years, git has been the undisputed champion of version control systems (VCS). It’s powerful, ubiquitous, and the industry standard. But as a newcomer, it felt difficult to get used to its functioning and to perform even the simplest tasks. Concepts like the “staging area,” “detached HEAD,” and the sheer terror of rebase was a labyrinth where I get lost.

Jujutsu (jj) is a younger contender that aims to demystify version control. It’s built with a fresh perspective, prioritizing a more intuitive workflow and a gentler learning curve, especially for those just dipping their toes into the world of code management. So, let’s see why jj may be a more delightful starting point for a beginner.

A saner approach to history

While I could see how powerful Git is, I was just a little bit scared and couldn’t work my head around its approach. One of its most impressive features is the “immutable history” model. Sure, you can change the history with things like git rebase -i or git commit --amend, but doing so as a beginner often feels like walking a tightrope over a pit of lava. So many opportunties to mess up and suddenly made my commit history looks like spaghetti.

With jj, I can safely edit the history. I can tweak a commit, reorder a few, combine them… And everything feels natural and easy. Also, no more fear to mess something up because a simple jj undo will bring me back. As a beginner, jj makes me more comfortable to explore, learn, and reshape my commit graph.

At the end, jj history feels more linear and more intuitive. Instead of focusing on where your branch pointer is pointing, you focus on the story your work is telling. That’s a big difference for someone just trying to ship their first feature.

The staging area

In Git, the staging area is one of those concepts that may eventually make sense… but not soon anough for me. I missed the point to have this step between changing files and committing them. I have no doubt it exists for a good reason but it just adds another layer of complexity when you start with VCS.

Jujutsu removes the explicit staging area entirely. Running jj commit commits the changes. That’s it. It’s a “commit what you see” model, and it dramatically simplifies the mental overhead.

Fast, friendly, and still git-compatible

Jujutsu is built with performance in mind and can be especially snappy when dealing with larger repositories or complex history edits. But the best part is that it’s fully compatible with Git.
Yes, you can use jj inside an existing Git repository. You’re not abandoning Git. You’re just putting a friendlier interface on top of it.

My last word

Git’s learning curve can be steep, often causing newcomers to feel overwhelmed or lose their way.
Jujutsu offers a refreshing alternative. It’s forgiving. It encourages experimentation. It removes unnecessary friction. And most importantly, it lowers the fear factor.
Instead of treating version control like a minefield, it turns it into a playground.

If you’re just starting your journey, or if Git still makes you nervous, Jujutsu might be the smoother on-ramp you didn’t know you needed.

A member of the community spent an incredible amount of time to write an astonished jj tutorial .