htc

README

htc

Here / There Compare — interactively sync a single file between local and a remote host over SSH.

htc opens a side-by-side diff in your terminal. For each hunk you pick the local side, the remote side, or hand-merge in your $EDITOR. When you commit, both sides are atomically rewritten to match, with backups stashed in ~/.local/share/htc/backups/.

Install

go install github.com/orutherfurd/htc@latest

Or from source:

git clone https://github.com/orutherfurd/htc
cd htc
just install   # → ~/.local/bin/htc

Usage

htc <local-path> <[user@]host[:remote-path]>

Examples:

htc ~/.config/nvim/init.lua dev
htc ~/.zshrc me@server:.zshrc
htc ./notes.md server:projects/notes.md

If the remote path is omitted (htc ~/.zshrc dev), htc mirrors the local path relative to $HOME on the remote.

If the file exists on only one side, you'll be prompted to copy it across.

Key bindings

While in the TUI:

key	action
j / k	next / previous hunk
l	pick the local side
r	pick the remote side
e	edit the current hunk in $EDITOR
E	edit the whole file in $EDITOR
u	unset the current hunk
c	commit (writes both sides atomically)
q	abort, no changes written

Editor integration

htc resolves your editor via $VISUAL → $EDITOR → nvim → vim → vi.

For vim and nvim, hunks open in 3-way diff mode (-d local merged remote); the cursor lands in the merged buffer. Use :diffg 1 to pull from local, :diffg 3 to pull from remote, then :wqa.

For other editors, the file opens with git-style conflict markers (<<<<<<< local / ======= / >>>>>>> remote); strip the markers, save, and the result is used as the merged content.

Safety

• Both writes are atomic (temp file + rename locally; mktemp + mv on the remote).
• Pre-merge contents of both sides are stashed in ~/.local/share/htc/backups/<timestamp>-{local,remote}-<basename> at mode 0600. The directory grows unbounded — clean it up periodically.
• Hosts beginning with - are rejected (CVE-2017-1000117 class).
• Control bytes in displayed content are stripped to prevent ANSI smuggling from the remote.

Built with

• bubbletea and lipgloss for the TUI
• gotextdiff for line-based hunk computation

License

MIT — see LICENSE.