How do I browse the full commit history of the current file using vim-fugitive?

Explanation

vim-fugitive's :G log -- % loads the git commit history for the current file into a quickfix-style log buffer. Each commit is an entry you can navigate and open, letting you step through every revision of the file without leaving Vim — no terminal pane required.

How it works

• :G runs any git subcommand inside Vim; here it runs git log
• -- % means "only show commits that touched this file" (the % expands to the current buffer's path)
• The resulting fugitive log buffer lists commits chronologically, newest first
• Press <CR> on a commit line to open that revision of the file as a read-only buffer
• From there, press o to open a diff against the previous revision

Example

:G log -- %

You'll see output like:

commit a3f9c12  Fix off-by-one error in parser
commit 87d1e44  Add unit tests for tokenizer
commit 3c0029a  Initial implementation

Navigate with j/k, hit <CR> to inspect any version.

Tips

• Add -p flag (:G log -p -- %) to include the full patch diff inline in the log
• Use :G log --follow -- % to trace the history even through file renames
• Combine with :Gclog -- % (older syntax) to load results into the quickfix list instead, enabling :cnext/:cprev navigation through commits