How to Browse Projects and Branches on Launchpad Branches

Updated

Launchpad Branches (code.launchpad.net) is a code-hosting service where you can browse public projects and their branches without logging in. The homepage gives you several ready-made entry points: a list of the most active projects in the last month, recent imports, recently registered branches, and recently changed branches. If you want to explore a specific project or branch, use those lists as starting points or jump straight to a project page. Note that Bazaar is being deprecated in September 2025, and Launchpad now hosts source code using Git.

What the homepage shows you

The front page is organized around discovery rather than search-first navigation. It surfaces:

  • Most active projects in the last month — projects with recent branch activity, such as animal-farm, snapd-glib, ubuntu-release-upgrader, openshot, and linuxmint.
  • Recent imports — Git projects imported into Launchpad, shown with lp: references like lp:juju-core, lp:gcc, and lp:viking.
  • Recently registered — newly created branches, often personal or team branches such as lp:~true-sight/true-sight/focal.
  • Recently changed — branches with recent commits, for example lp:openshot/website and lp:steadyflow.

Each list is truncated. Click see all projects... or the corresponding more... link to view the full list.

How to read a branch reference

Launchpad uses a shorthand that tells you who owns a branch and where it lives:

Reference form Meaning
lp:project-name The default branch of a registered project
lp:~user/project/branch A personal branch owned by user for project
lp:~team/project/branch A team-owned branch
lp:~user/+junk/branch A personal branch not tied to a project

For example, lp:~marcusti/libvterm/utf8-split-write is a personal branch by marcusti on the libvterm project, while lp:juju-core is the main branch of the juju-core project.

Steps to browse a project or branch

  1. Start from a list. Pick a project from "Most active projects" or a branch from "Recently changed."
  2. Open the project page. Clicking a project name takes you to its overview, where you can see its branches, repositories, and related activity.
  3. Open a branch. Clicking a branch reference shows its commit history, files, and merge information.
  4. Use "see all projects" for the full directory. If nothing on the short list matches your interest, the full project list is the broader index.
  5. Check imports if you're looking for mirrored upstream code. The "Recent imports" section links to projects that Launchpad pulls from external Git repositories.

Scale of the service

As of the page data, Launchpad Branches hosts:

  • 1,009,209 branches registered across 24,968 projects
  • 4,384 imported branches

This matters for browsing: the homepage lists are only a sample, so for anything specific you'll usually want the full project list or a direct branch reference rather than scrolling the front page.

Related things you can do from a branch

Launchpad can build Ubuntu packages directly from branches using recipes. If you find a branch you want to turn into a package, the recipes feature is the path for that. The site also notes it uses Breezy 3.2.0 as its client tooling.

Common sticking points

  • The homepage is not a search engine. It shows activity snapshots, not a search box. Use the full project list or a known lp: reference to reach a specific branch.
  • +junk branches aren't part of a project. If a branch reference contains +junk, it won't appear under any project's branch list.
  • Bazaar references still exist but are being phased out. Since Bazaar is deprecated in September 2025, expect Git to be the version control system for current and future work.