GitKraken (formerly Axosoft), a Scottsdale-based Git productivity and collaboration company, has acquired GitLens, a Git extension for Microsoft’s Visual Studio Code (VS Code). The acquisition is GitKraken’s second in less than a month, as it acquired Git integration for Jira in September.
GitLens was created by Eric Amodio in 2016. It’s a free, open source Git extension that has seen more than 11 million active installs and 71 million downloads over the past five years. It’s become one of the most popular VS Code extensions and is relied upon by developers, DevOps professionals and enterprise teams around the world.
Eric Amodio
Since 2016, Amodio has developed and maintained GitLens himself as a passion project. Now, Amodio will be Chief Technology Officer at GitKraken, leading GitLens and GitKraken’s entire suite of Git collaboration and productivity tools.
“My mission with GitLens has been to make code easier to understand by leveraging the knowledge within each Git repository and making it accessible to everyone,” Amodio said in a statement. “I am incredibly excited to join the GitKraken team to take our shared vision and accelerate it to create something truly wonderful together”.
GitKraken CEO Wayne Williams expressed his confidence in Amodio’s abilities, noting that Amodio “could not be a better fit.”
“His knowledge, vision, and leadership will help us advance the Git user experience across developer and DevOps surfaces,” said Williams.
This move is another step in GitKraken’s growth strategy. With the company’s acquisition of BigBrassBand, a Git integration for Jira, the GitKraken user base increased to more than 6 million Git users. Now with GitLens, the company’s user base is more than 10 million developers from more than 100,000, according to the company’s press release.
With Amodio’s help, GitKraken is committed to developing GitLens for the VS Code platform, and the company promises to keep the product free and open source.
“I’ve always been passionate about making software development easier, more accessible, and inclusive,” Amodio said. “I am incredibly excited to join the GitKraken team to take our shared vision and accelerate it to create something truly wonderful together.”