tongs 1.0.0

Released 2026-09-10. This is the first stable release of tongs, a terminal inbox for code review across GitHub and GitLab: one inbox, real diffs, inline comments, discussions, suggestions, durable review drafts, pipeline and CI drill-down, an SQLite cache, a plugin system and an MCP server. It also carries the first beta of the optional desktop app.

Install

pipx install tongs==1.0.0

pip install tongs==1.0.0 and uv tool install tongs==1.0.0 work the same way. To add the desktop app beta, run this after the core is installed:

tongs --install-desktop

It downloads and verifies the desktop archive attached to this release, the one that matches the core you installed. Plain tongs never downloads or starts the desktop app on its own.

The terminal app

Everything from earlier releases is here, plus two features:

• Split diff view. Press v to switch between unified and split diffs. In split view, h and l move focus between the old and new side.
• Durable review drafts. Press Ctrl+G to start a review. Comments collect locally, and the whole set submits as one review with a verdict. Drafts survive a crash, and an interrupted submission is reconciled rather than sent twice.

The desktop app (beta)

The desktop app is an optional Electron workspace over the same repositories, reviews and drafts. The terminal app stays the default.

You review on the diff. Hover a line for the gutter control, and the composer opens under that line. Two buttons keep the same meaning throughout: Start a review or Add to review is the primary action, and Add comment now is the secondary one, so a pending comment and an immediate one are never the same gesture.

• Pending comments appear under their line with a Pending badge, and you can edit or delete them in place.
• Insert suggestion fills a suggestion block from the selected new-side lines.
• The Your review button shows the pending count. It opens a drawer with the pending comments, the summary, the verdict, Submit review and Discard review, and the progress of a submission.
• When a draft changed elsewhere, the app shows both texts and lets you choose.

Release assets

The desktop app is built for Linux on Fedora 44, x86_64, GNU ABI. The GitHub Release carries:

• tongs-desktop-1.0.0-fedora44-x86_64.tar.gz, the per-user archive, with desktop-manifest-v1.json and desktop-manifest-v1.sigstore.json: the release manifest and its GitHub-managed Sigstore attestation. tongs --install-desktop downloads and verifies these.
• tongs-desktop-1.0.0-*.rpm, python3-tongs-1.0.0-*.rpm and python3-tongs+mcp-1.0.0-*.rpm, the Fedora 44 packages, with the source-built companion packages they require. Install them together with dnf install ./*.rpm. They are not GPG signed, and there is no COPR repository.
• tongs-desktop-1.0.0.spdx.json and tongs-desktop-1.0.0.spdx.sigstore.json, the archive SBOM and its attestation.
• SHA256SUMS, covering every asset above.

Every asset was checked against the installer’s own release policy before the release was published. The release is immutable.

Fixed

• Split diff navigation no longer crashes the terminal app.
• Log search opens correctly in the terminal pipeline view.
• The per-user installer accepts a real pipx installation.
• The installed menu entry launches the desktop app.
• Diff reads no longer fail on an empty field.
• Every redesigned review surface in the desktop app has its own background and color tokens in the dark theme.
• A merge the forge refuses with HTTP 405 is reported as a known conflict instead of an unknown outcome.

Known issues

The most visible ones:

• Merge, Close, Reopen and Remove approval are reachable only from the Discussions tab in the desktop app.
• Retry on a failed read does not restart the desktop app’s stopped Python process.
• A rotated token is not picked up until you restart tongs.
• Large diffs that are mostly additions render without syntax color in the desktop app.

Known issues has the full list, with the issue and milestone for each fix.