#2981·desktop

Feature request: show image previews for images tracked by lfs

Author: zvinlessCreated Oct 7, 2017Updated Sep 15, 2026
Labelsenhancementnot-planned

I suspect this has already been suggested/closed/written down somewhere, but I didn't find anything after a cursory search, so:

Basically, bring the GitHub site and original GitHub Desktop functionality to the cool new GitHub Desktop

  • Show image previews of lfs-tracked images as if they were plain image files
    • Show image preview when file is selected in Changes list or commit list
    • Show two images when displaying a diff with the four image diff modes
  • Indicate that the file is tracked in LFS with a badge, or maybe just by showing the LFS pointer file contents
  • Show a "Pull LFS File" button if the file does not exist locally (never downloaded, pruned, etc)

Mockup for if you have the image locally:

If the file does not exist locally:

In a diff: (Not sure about the 4 image diff options when both files aren't present; I just grayed them out but there's probably a better solution)

This would make using GitHub Desktop much more intuitive for artists or anyone dealing with images.