If you use Emacs, give magit (https://magit.vc) a try.
It is so much better than Git CLI, which probably is too low level for daily usage.
It is so much better than Git CLI, which probably is too low level for daily usage.
I sometimes turn to magit when I want to navigate a file's history through git-blame, though.
(Also, whether it's good or not, rebasing in all of its forms becomes your second nature because it becomes so easy...)
Also, firing up the editor for things like editing diffs when doing git add -p or when editing operations when doing git rebase -i, is not that big of a deal if you keep your editor light. Vim, for me, loads in an instant.
But you noted the two main differences yourself: (1) you don’t have to think in terms of git hunks if you don’t want to, lines or any blocks are as easy to deal with and (2) you don’t have to think about whether it would be quick or not to fire an editor because you don’t have to fire an editor.
This, plus everything’s lightning fast due to shortcuts. I use Magit in spacemacs and rebasing is very easy. I’ve done it so many hundreds of times that I can tell it from memory - e.g., fixup-merging the last two commits to the third one: “lljjriff,,” (maybe there’s a quicker way) - that’s less than typing git rebase -i.
Not trying to preach, just sharing why magit users are so happy about it.
If you don’t like using ediff and really need to edit tons of hunks before staging, you could always commit/stash your dirty copy, revert back, edit files, check them in the way you want, possibly in multiple commits, then rebase your previously staged working copy on a new head and soft reset the head (it’s easier than it sounds) - which is the way I would do it in the terminal too if there was a lot to edit since it’s more fail-proof.