A Rust + ratatui TUI for reviewing local git changes like a GitHub PR — without
pushing or opening a PR. Comments are written to a REVIEW.md at the repo root,
in a format a coding agent (or another human) can act on directly.
- Auto-detects what to diff — working changes if dirty, else current branch vs.
the first trunk that exists, probed in order:
upstream/main→upstream/master→origin/main→origin/master→ localmain→ localmaster. (Fork workflows withupstreamas the canonical remote diff against canonical, not your fork's possibly-stale copy.) - Unified diff view with syntax highlighting (via
syntect) and intra-line word-level emphasis. - File tree sidebar (
e), fuzzy file picker (t), per-file "viewed" checkmark (v) that persists across runs. - Per-file and per-hunk collapse/expand, with
expand 20 above/belowbuttons to load more file context lazily. - Inline comments with a yellow-bordered composer: click a line (or press
c) to write markdown. Click an existing comment for an actions menu (reply / edit, resolve, mark read, react, delete);xdeletes from the diff. - Range comments via mouse drag or
V(visual select), reactions (K), resolve / unresolve (r). While editing a comment,ctrl-rhides (resolves) it andctrl-ddeletes it. - Live re-render: edits and new commits to the reviewed code are picked up automatically and re-rendered in place, keeping your scroll position.
- Threads pane (
R) listing every open comment;Ssubmits all threads toREVIEW.md. Threads auto-persist to.gitdiff/threads.json. - Review verdict (
Vcycles: comment / approve / request changes) shown in the header bar. - Whitespace toggle (
w), context-line +/- (=/-), tab width (,/.). - Yank current file path (
y). - Mouse-driven everywhere: click to move, click headers to collapse, wheel to scroll.
ctrl-cexits from anywhere, including the composer.
cargo install gitdiffOr from source:
git clone https://github.com/zemse/gitdiff-tui
cd gitdiff-tui
cargo install --path .From any git repo:
gitdiff # auto-detects: working changes, else branch vs upstream
gitdiff base..head # explicit rangeThe same comment store the TUI uses is exposed as non-interactive subcommands
so a coding agent (claude-code, codex, gemini, …) can read the diff, list
threads, post comments, reply, and resolve — without launching a terminal UI.
Every subcommand accepts an optional <base>..<head> argument anywhere; if
omitted, the same auto-detection as the TUI is used.
gitdiff diff [<range>] # print the unified diff to stdout
gitdiff list [<range>] [--all] [--json] # list open threads (--all incl. resolved)
gitdiff show <tid> [<range>] [--json] # print one thread with replies
gitdiff comment <file> <line> --body ... # add a new thread
gitdiff reply <tid> --body ... # reply to an existing thread
gitdiff edit <tid> [--reply N] --body ... # edit a thread body or its Nth reply
gitdiff resolve <tid> | reopen <tid> # toggle resolved
gitdiff delete <tid> [--reply N] # delete a thread or just one reply
gitdiff watch [<range>] [--author you] [--json] # stream thread activityBody input takes --body <text>, --body-file <path>, or --body-stdin
(read from stdin). Thread ids accept any unique prefix (git SHA-style).
comment and reply default to --author agent, so an agent's writes are
never mis-attributed to the human; the human reviewer then sees the thread
highlighted as "awaiting your reply" in the TUI. Pass --author claude-code
(or your own handle) to be specific, or --author you when a human drives the
CLI. Run gitdiff --help (or gitdiff <subcommand> --help) for the full
clap-generated reference plus a live "what diff would I auto-detect right
now" trailer.
gitdiff watch streams thread activity for an agent to react to. It opens
with a system event (response etiquette — don't reply unless you have
something concrete and important to say) and one awaiting_response event per
thread still owed an agent reply, then streams deltas; every event carries an
awaiting_response boolean. Use --author you to follow human activity (new
threads, replies, and the awaiting-response backlog) without seeing the
agent's own writes.
Example agent loop:
gitdiff list --json # see open threads
gitdiff show t_a1b2c3 --json # read one thread
# ... agent makes the requested code change ...
gitdiff reply t_a1b2c3 --author claude-code \
--body 'addressed in commit c0ffee1'
gitdiff resolve t_a1b2c3Press ? inside the app for the same list.
Keybindings
j / ↓ move down one line
k / ↑ move up one line
ctrl-d/u half page down/up
g / G top / bottom
] / [ next / prev file
} / { next / prev hunk
space collapse / expand current hunk (on @@) or file (elsewhere)
z / Z collapse all / expand all files
v toggle viewed (auto-collapses)
y yank current file path to clipboard
e toggle file tree sidebar
R toggle threads pane
t fuzzy file picker
w toggle ignore-whitespace
= / - expand / shrink context lines
, / . decrease / increase tab width
r toggle resolved (on a commented line)
K / 0 add reaction / clear reactions (on a thread)
V cycle review verdict (comment / approve / request changes)
c add / edit comment on current line
x delete comment on current line
ctrl-r hide (resolve) comment from the composer
ctrl-d delete comment from the composer
S submit threads → REVIEW.md at repo root
mouse click to move cursor, click header to collapse, wheel to scroll
click a comment → actions menu (reply / resolve / delete / …)
? toggle this help
q quit (threads auto-persist to .gitdiff/threads.json)