Install gitk on Mac

The Git Mac version comes without gitk, but if you do brew install git you get instant access to gitk.

I'm using macOS v10.12.5 (Sierra).

But this stopped working. You must install brew install git-gui

I just had the same problem and solved it as follows:

1. Download the official Git package for Mac from http://git-scm.com/download/mac
2. Install the package. This places all the binaries in folder /usr/local/git/bin.
3. Optionally, run the included script to make gitk accessible outside of terminals
4. Either add /usr/local/git/bin to your PATH or use an alias (alias gitk='/usr/local/git/bin/gitk')

Correct, the 1.7.12.4 (Apple Git-37) does not come with gitk. You can install a more recent version of Git + git-ui as a separate formula by using Homebrew (executable brew). More thorough instructions are located on The fastest and easiest way to install Ruby on a Mac in 2022 (see this commit extracting git-gui/gitk into its own formula: git-gui: split from git formula.)

Run the following commands at the terminal:

brew update
brew install git
brew install git-gui

If you get an error indicating it could not link Git, then you may need to change permissions/owners of the files it mentions.

Once completed, run:

type -a git

And make sure it shows:

/usr/local/bin/git

If it does not, run:

brew doctor

And make the path change to put /usr/local/bin earlier in the path. Now, gitk should be on your path (along with an updated version of Git).