jesseduffield/lazygit · warning

You have local modifications for the file(s) you are trying

Error message

You have local modifications for the file(s) you are trying to check out. You need to stash or discard these first.

What it means

Thrown by CommitFilesController.checkout when checking out a file (or directory) from a commit would overwrite locally modified files. helpers.AnyTrackedFilesInPathExceptSubmodules finds tracked files under the node's path that currently have modifications in the working tree; git checkout of the historical version would clobber them, so lazygit demands you stash or discard first.

Source

Thrown at pkg/gui/controllers/commits_files_controller.go:318

	return self.c.Menu(types.CreateMenuOptions{
		Title: self.c.Tr.CopyToClipboardMenu,
		Items: []*types.MenuItem{
			copyNameItem,
			copyRelativePathItem,
			copyAbsolutePathItem,
			copyFileDiffItem,
			copyAllDiff,
			copyFileContentItem,
		},
	})
}

func (self *CommitFilesController) checkout(node *filetree.CommitFileNode) error {
	hasModifiedFiles := helpers.AnyTrackedFilesInPathExceptSubmodules(node.GetPath(),
		self.c.Model().Files, self.c.Model().Submodules)
	if hasModifiedFiles {
		return errors.New(self.c.Tr.CannotCheckoutWithModifiedFilesErr)
	}

	self.c.LogAction(self.c.Tr.Actions.CheckoutFile)
	_, to := self.context().GetFromAndToForDiff()
	if err := self.c.Git().WorkingTree.CheckoutFile(to, node.GetPath()); err != nil {
		return err
	}

	self.c.Refresh(types.RefreshOptions{})
	return nil
}

func (self *CommitFilesController) discard(selectedNodes []*filetree.CommitFileNode) error {
	prompt := lo.Ternary(self.c.Git().Patch.PatchBuilder.Active(),
		self.c.Tr.DiscardFileChangesPromptResetPatch,
		self.c.Tr.DiscardFileChangesPrompt)

	self.c.Confirm(types.ConfirmOpts{

View on GitHub (pinned to c477a2959b)

Solutions

1. Stash your changes ('s' menu in the files panel), check out the file, then pop the stash and resolve
2. Discard the local modifications ('d' on the file) if they are not needed, then check out
3. Commit the local changes first so they are recoverable, then check out the historical version

Example fix

# before: file has local edits, checkout from commit errors
# after
git stash
git checkout <commit> -- path/to/file
git stash pop

// Mirror the controller's check before checking out paths from a commit:
if helpers.AnyTrackedFilesInPathExceptSubmodules(node.GetPath(), model.Files, model.Submodules) {
    return fmt.Errorf("stash or discard local modifications to %s first", node.GetPath())
}

When it happens

Trigger: In the commit-files view (files of a selected commit), pressing the checkout-file key ('c' / space depending on keybindings) on a path that overlaps files with uncommitted local changes.

Common situations: Trying to restore an old version of a file you are mid-edit on, or checking out a whole directory from a commit while the working tree is dirty in that directory.

Related errors

• Cannot stage/unstage directory containing files with inline
• Git version must be at least %s. Please upgrade your git ver
• Lazygit does not support bare repos.
• unexpected git output
• Must specify a remote if specifying a branch

AI-assisted analysis of jesseduffield/lazygit@c477a2959b (2026-08-15). Data as JSON: /api/errors/a216897374bc7f2e. Report an issue: GitHub.