revdiff

README

 revdiff  

TUI for reviewing diffs, files, and documents with inline annotations. Outputs structured annotations to stdout on quit, making it easy to pipe results into AI agents, scripts, or other tools.

Built for a specific use case: reviewing code changes, plans, and documents without leaving a terminal-based AI coding session (e.g., Claude Code). Just enough UI to navigate diffs and files, annotate specific lines, and return the results to the calling process - no more, no less.

Features

• Structured annotation output to stdout - pipe into AI agents, scripts, or other tools
• Full-file diff view with syntax highlighting
• Collapsed diff mode: shows final text with change markers, toggle with v
• Word wrap mode: wraps long lines at viewport boundary with ↪ continuation markers, toggle with w
• Line numbers: side-by-side old/new line number gutter, toggle with L
• Git blame gutter: shows author name and commit age per line, toggle with B
• Annotate any line in the diff (added, removed, or context) plus file-level notes
• Single-file auto-detection: when a diff contains exactly one file, hides the tree pane and gives full terminal width to the diff view
• Two-pane TUI: file tree (left) + colorized diff viewport (right)
• Vim-style / search within diff with n/N match navigation
• Hunk navigation to jump between change groups
• Annotation list popup (@): browse all annotations across files, jump to any annotation
• Filter file tree to show only annotated files
• Status line with filename, diff stats, hunk position, line number, and mode indicators
• Help overlay (?) showing all keybindings organized by section
• Markdown TOC navigation: single-file markdown files in context-only mode show a table-of-contents pane with header navigation and active section tracking
• All-files mode: browse and annotate all git-tracked files with --all-files, filter with --exclude
• No-git file review: --only files outside a git repo (or not in any diff) are shown as context-only with full annotation support
• Scratch-buffer review: annotate arbitrary piped or redirected text with --stdin, optionally naming it with --stdin-name
• Pi package: launch revdiff from pi, capture annotations, and keep them visible in a widget and right-side panel until you apply or clear them
• Review history: auto-saves annotations and diffs to ~/.config/revdiff/history/ on quit as a safety net
• Fully customizable colors via environment variables, CLI flags, or config file
• Custom keybindings: remap any key via config file, export defaults with --dump-keys

Requirements

• git (used to generate diffs; optional when using --only or --stdin)

Installation

Homebrew (macOS/Linux):

brew install umputun/apps/revdiff

Binary releases: download from GitHub Releases (deb, rpm, archives for linux/darwin amd64/arm64).

Claude Code Plugin

revdiff ships with a Claude Code plugin for interactive code review directly from a Claude session. The plugin launches revdiff as a terminal overlay, captures annotations, and feeds them back to Claude for processing.

The plugin requires one of the following terminals since Claude Code itself cannot display interactive TUI applications - the overlay runs revdiff in a separate terminal layer on top of the current session:

Terminal	Overlay method	Detection
tmux	display-popup (blocks until quit)	$TMUX env var
Zellij	zellij run --floating	$ZELLIJ env var
kitty	kitty @ launch --type=overlay	$KITTY_LISTEN_ON env var
wezterm	wezterm cli split-pane	$WEZTERM_PANE env var
Kaku	kaku cli split-pane (same API as wezterm)	$WEZTERM_PANE env var
cmux	cmux new-split + cmux send	$CMUX_SURFACE_ID env var
ghostty	AppleScript split + zoom (macOS only)	$TERM_PROGRAM + AppleScript probe
iTerm2	osascript split pane (macOS only)	$ITERM_SESSION_ID env var
Emacs vterm	New frame via emacsclient	$INSIDE_EMACS env var

Priority: tmux → Zellij → kitty → wezterm/Kaku → cmux → ghostty → iTerm2 → Emacs vterm (first detected wins). If none are available, the plugin exits with an error.

Note: cmux is detected before ghostty because cmux also sets $TERM_PROGRAM=ghostty. The cmux block uses the cmux CLI (new-split + send --surface) instead of Ghostty's AppleScript API.

Note: iTerm2 uses a split pane (vertical or horizontal, auto-detected from terminal dimensions) rather than a full-screen overlay. The iTerm2 AppleScript API does not expose a zoom command, so the split view shares screen space with the invoking session.

Install:

# add marketplace and install
/plugin marketplace add umputun/revdiff
/plugin install revdiff@umputun-revdiff

Use with /revdiff command:

/revdiff                  -- smart detection: uncommitted, last commit, or branch diff
/revdiff HEAD~1           -- review last commit
/revdiff main             -- review current branch against main
/revdiff --staged         -- review staged changes only
/revdiff HEAD~3           -- review last 3 commits

Use with free text (no slash command needed):

"review diff"                     -- smart detection, same as /revdiff
"review diff HEAD~1"              -- last commit
"review diff against main"        -- branch diff
"review changes from last 2 days" -- Claude resolves the ref automatically
"revdiff for staged changes"      -- staged only

When no ref is provided, the plugin detects what to review automatically:

• On main/master with uncommitted changes — reviews uncommitted changes
• On main/master with clean tree — reviews the last commit
• On a feature branch with clean tree — reviews branch diff against main
• On a feature branch with uncommitted changes — asks whether to review uncommitted only or the full branch diff

The plugin includes built-in reference documentation and can answer questions about revdiff usage, available themes, keybindings, and configuration options. It can also create or modify the local config file (~/.config/revdiff/config) on request:

"what chroma themes does revdiff support?"
"switch revdiff to dracula theme"
"what are the revdiff keybindings?"
"set tree width to 3 in revdiff config"

The plugin supports the full review loop: annotate → plan → fix → re-review until no more annotations remain.

Plan Review Plugin

A separate revdiff-planning plugin automatically opens revdiff when Claude exits plan mode, letting you annotate the plan before approving it. If you add annotations, Claude revises the plan and asks again — looping until you're satisfied.

/plugin install revdiff-planning@umputun-revdiff

This plugin is independent from the main revdiff plugin and does not conflict with other planning plugins (e.g., planning from cc-thingz).

Pi Package

revdiff also ships as a pi package. The extension launches the existing revdiff binary, captures annotations on exit, and renders them inside pi as a persistent widget plus a right-side results panel.

Install:

pi install https://github.com/umputun/revdiff

Commands inside pi:

/revdiff                         -- detect uncommitted, staged, or branch changes, then open revdiff
/revdiff HEAD~1                  -- review last commit
/revdiff --all-files             -- browse all tracked files
/revdiff --only README.md        -- review a single file in context-only mode
/revdiff --pi-overlay            -- use the existing overlay launcher script instead of same-terminal mode
/revdiff-rerun                   -- rerun the last review with remembered args
/revdiff-rerun --pi-overlay      -- rerun the last review in overlay mode
/revdiff-results                 -- reopen the last results panel
/revdiff-apply                   -- insert the last annotations into the pi chat context
/revdiff-clear                   -- clear stored review state
/revdiff-reminders on            -- enable post-edit review reminders

Notes:

• Requires the revdiff binary on PATH
• Set REVDIFF_BIN=/absolute/path/to/revdiff if pi can't find the binary
• Same-terminal mode is the default: pi temporarily suspends, revdiff takes over the terminal, and pi resumes on exit
• Optional overlay mode (--pi-overlay or REVDIFF_PI_MODE=overlay) reuses the existing launch-revdiff.sh script from the Claude plugin integration
• Optional post-edit reminders are available via /revdiff-reminders on and suggest running /revdiff or /revdiff-rerun after agent edits
• In the repo, the pi-specific resources live under plugins/pi/ to keep harness integrations clearly separated

Integration with Other Tools

The structured stdout output works with any tool that can read text:

# capture annotations for processing
annotations=$(revdiff main)
if [ -n "$annotations" ]; then
  echo "$annotations" | your-tool
fi

Usage

revdiff [OPTIONS] [base] [against]

Positional arguments support several forms:

• revdiff — uncommitted changes
• revdiff HEAD~3 — diff a single ref against the working tree
• revdiff main feature — diff between two refs
• revdiff main..feature — same as above, using git's dot-dot syntax
• revdiff main...feature — changes since feature diverged from main

Options

Option	Description	Default
base	Git ref to diff against	uncommitted changes
against	Second git ref for two-ref diff
--staged	Show staged changes, env: REVDIFF_STAGED	false
--tree-width	File tree panel width in units (1-10), env: REVDIFF_TREE_WIDTH	2
--tab-width	Number of spaces per tab character, env: REVDIFF_TAB_WIDTH	4
--no-colors	Disable all colors including syntax highlighting, env: REVDIFF_NO_COLORS	false
--no-status-bar	Hide the status bar, env: REVDIFF_NO_STATUS_BAR	false
--wrap	Enable line wrapping in diff view, env: REVDIFF_WRAP	false
--collapsed	Start in collapsed diff mode, env: REVDIFF_COLLAPSED	false
--cross-file-hunks	Allow [ and ] to continue into adjacent files, env: REVDIFF_CROSS_FILE_HUNKS	false
--line-numbers	Show line numbers in diff gutter, env: REVDIFF_LINE_NUMBERS	false
--blame	Show git blame gutter on startup, env: REVDIFF_BLAME	false
--no-confirm-discard	Skip confirmation when discarding annotations with Q, env: REVDIFF_NO_CONFIRM_DISCARD	false
--chroma-style	Chroma color theme for syntax highlighting, env: REVDIFF_CHROMA_STYLE	catppuccin-macchiato
--theme	Load color theme from ~/.config/revdiff/themes/, env: REVDIFF_THEME
--dump-theme	Print currently resolved colors as theme file to stdout and exit
--list-themes	Print available theme names to stdout and exit
--init-themes	Write bundled theme files to themes dir and exit
--init-all-themes	Write all gallery themes (bundled + community) to themes dir and exit
--install-theme	Install theme(s) from gallery or local file path and exit (repeatable)
-A, --all-files	Browse all git-tracked files, not just diffs	false
--stdin	Review stdin as a scratch buffer (piped or redirected input only)	false
--stdin-name	Synthetic file name for stdin content; enables extension-based highlighting/TOC	scratch-buffer
-X, --exclude	Exclude files matching prefix, may be repeated, env: REVDIFF_EXCLUDE (comma-separated)
-F, --only	Show only matching files by exact path or suffix, may be repeated (e.g. --only=model.go)
-o, --output	Write annotations to file instead of stdout, env: REVDIFF_OUTPUT
--history-dir	Directory for review history auto-saves, env: REVDIFF_HISTORY_DIR	~/.config/revdiff/history/
--config	Path to config file, env: REVDIFF_CONFIG	~/.config/revdiff/config
--keys	Path to keybindings file, env: REVDIFF_KEYS	~/.config/revdiff/keybindings
--dump-keys	Print effective keybindings to stdout and exit
--dump-config	Print default config to stdout and exit
-V, --version	Show version info

Config File

All options can be set in a config file at ~/.config/revdiff/config (INI format). CLI flags and environment variables override config file values.

Generate a default config file:

mkdir -p ~/.config/revdiff
revdiff --dump-config > ~/.config/revdiff/config

Then uncomment and edit the values you want to change.

Themes

revdiff ships with seven bundled color themes: catppuccin-latte, catppuccin-mocha, dracula, gruvbox, nord, revdiff, and solarized-dark. Themes are stored in ~/.config/revdiff/themes/ and are automatically created on first run.

Press T inside revdiff to open the interactive theme selector with live preview — browse themes, see colors applied instantly, and persist your choice to the config file on confirm.

# apply a theme
revdiff --theme dracula

# list available themes
revdiff --list-themes

# re-create bundled theme files (overwrites bundled, keeps custom themes)
revdiff --init-themes

# install a specific theme from the gallery
revdiff --install-theme catppuccin-latte

# install all gallery themes (bundled + community)
revdiff --init-all-themes

# export current colors as a custom theme
revdiff --dump-theme > ~/.config/revdiff/themes/my-custom

Creating custom themes — two approaches:

1. From current colors: customize individual colors in your config file or via --color-* flags, then dump the resolved result as a theme: revdiff --dump-theme > ~/.config/revdiff/themes/my-custom
2. From scratch: copy a bundled theme and edit it directly — each file defines all 21 color keys plus chroma-style in INI format:

# name: my-custom
# description: custom color scheme
chroma-style = dracula
color-accent = #bd93f9
color-border = #6272a4
...all 21 color keys...

Set a default theme in the config file:

theme = dracula

Or via environment variable: REVDIFF_THEME=dracula.

Contributing themes — community themes live in the themes/gallery/ directory. See themes/README.md for the contribution guide, format requirements, and validation instructions.

Precedence: When --theme is set, it takes over completely — all 21 color fields and chroma-style are overwritten by the theme, ignoring any --color-* flags or env vars. Without --theme: built-in defaults → config file → env vars → CLI flags. --theme + --no-colors prints a warning and applies the theme.

Color customization flags (click to expand)

All color options accept hex values (#rrggbb) and have corresponding REVDIFF_COLOR_* env vars.

Option	Description	Default
--color-accent	Active pane borders and directory names	#D5895F
--color-border	Inactive pane borders	#585858
--color-normal	File entries and context lines	#d0d0d0
--color-muted	Divider lines and status bar	#585858
--color-selected-fg	Selected file text	#ffffaf
--color-selected-bg	Selected file background	#D5895F
--color-annotation	Annotation text and markers	#ffd700
--color-cursor-fg	Cursor indicator color	#bbbb44
--color-cursor-bg	Cursor indicator background	terminal default
--color-add-fg	Added line text	#87d787
--color-add-bg	Added line background	#123800
--color-remove-fg	Removed line text	#ff8787
--color-remove-bg	Removed line background	#4D1100
--color-modify-fg	Modified line text (collapsed mode)	#f5c542
--color-modify-bg	Modified line background (collapsed mode)	#3D2E00
--color-tree-bg	File tree pane background	terminal default
--color-diff-bg	Diff pane background	terminal default
--color-status-fg	Status bar foreground	#202020
--color-status-bg	Status bar background	#C5794F
--color-search-fg	Search match text	#1a1a1a
--color-search-bg	Search match background	#4a4a00

Available chroma styles (click to expand)

Dark themes: aura-theme-dark, aura-theme-dark-soft, base16-snazzy, catppuccin-frappe, catppuccin-macchiato (default), catppuccin-mocha, doom-one, doom-one2, dracula, evergarden, fruity, github-dark, gruvbox, hrdark, monokai, modus-vivendi, native, nord, nordic, onedark, paraiso-dark, rose-pine, rose-pine-moon, rrt, solarized-dark, solarized-dark256, tokyonight-moon, tokyonight-night, tokyonight-storm, vim, vulcan, witchhazel, xcode-dark

Light themes: autumn, borland, catppuccin-latte, colorful, emacs, friendly, github, gruvbox-light, igor, lovelace, manni, modus-operandi, monokailight, murphy, paraiso-light, pastie, perldoc, pygments, rainbow_dash, rose-pine-dawn, solarized-light, tango, tokyonight-day, trac, vs, xcode

Other: RPGLE, abap, algol, algol_nu, arduino, ashen, average, bw, hr_high_contrast, onesenterprise, swapoff

Examples

# review uncommitted changes
revdiff

# review changes against a branch
revdiff main

# review staged changes
revdiff --staged

# review last commit
revdiff HEAD~1

# diff between two refs
revdiff main feature

# same with git dot-dot syntax
revdiff main..feature

# review only specific files
revdiff --only=model.go --only=README.md

# browse all git-tracked files in a project
revdiff --all-files

# browse all files, excluding vendor and mocks directories
revdiff --all-files --exclude vendor --exclude mocks

# exclude paths in normal diff mode
revdiff main --exclude vendor

# review a file outside a git repo (context-only, no diff markers)
revdiff --only=/tmp/plan.md

# review a file that has no git changes (context-only view with annotations)
revdiff --only=docs/notes.txt

# review arbitrary piped text as a scratch buffer
printf '# Plan\n\nShip it\n' | revdiff --stdin --stdin-name plan.md

# capture annotations from generated output
some-command | revdiff --stdin --output /tmp/annotations.txt

All-Files Mode

Use --all-files (or -A) to browse all git-tracked files in a project, not just files with changes. This turns revdiff into a general-purpose code annotation tool. All files are shown in context-only mode (no +/- markers) with full annotation and syntax highlighting support.

--all-files requires a git repository (uses git ls-files for file discovery) and is mutually exclusive with refs, --staged, and --only.

Combine with --exclude (or -X) to filter out unwanted paths:

revdiff --all-files --exclude vendor --exclude mocks

--exclude uses prefix matching: --exclude vendor skips vendor/, vendor/foo.go, etc. It works in both --all-files and normal diff modes. The exclude option can be persisted in the config file:

exclude = vendor
exclude = mocks

Or via environment variable (comma-separated): REVDIFF_EXCLUDE=vendor,mocks.

Context-Only File Review

When --only specifies a file that has no git changes (or when no git repo exists at all), revdiff shows the file in context-only mode: all lines are displayed without +/- gutter markers, with full annotation and syntax highlighting support. This enables reviewing arbitrary files without requiring git context.

Two scenarios trigger this mode:

1. Inside a git repo - --only files not in the diff are read from disk and shown alongside any changed files
2. Outside a git repo - --only is required; files are read directly from disk

Scratch-Buffer Review

Use --stdin to review arbitrary piped or redirected text as a single synthetic file. All lines are shown as context, so the normal single-file review flow still works: annotations, file-level notes, search, wrap, collapsed mode, and structured output.

--stdin is explicit and mutually exclusive with refs, --staged, --only, --all-files, and --exclude. stdin mode requires piped or redirected input; plain terminal stdin is rejected to avoid accidentally launching an empty scratch buffer.

Use --stdin-name to control the synthetic filename. This gives annotation output a stable key and enables filename-based syntax highlighting or markdown TOC activation:

echo "plain text" | revdiff --stdin
printf '# Plan\n\nBody\n' | revdiff --stdin --stdin-name plan.md
git show HEAD~1:README.md | revdiff --stdin --stdin-name README.md

Markdown TOC Navigation

When reviewing a single markdown file in context-only mode (e.g., revdiff --only=README.md or printf '# title\n' | revdiff --stdin --stdin-name plan.md), revdiff shows a table-of-contents pane on the left listing all markdown headers. Use Tab to switch focus between the TOC and diff panes, j/k to navigate headers, and Enter to jump to a header in the diff. The TOC automatically highlights the current section as you scroll through the file.

This mode activates when all three conditions are met: single file, markdown extension (.md/.markdown), and all lines are context (no diff changes). Headers inside fenced code blocks are excluded from the TOC.

Beyond Code Review

The --only flag enables use cases beyond git diffs. Any text file can be loaded for annotation — no git repo required.

Reviewing AI-generated drafts — When an AI assistant drafts text to be posted publicly (PR comments, issue responses, release notes), write it to a temp file and review in revdiff. Annotate specific lines with changes, the assistant reads annotations and rewrites, re-open to verify. Same annotate-fix-verify loop as code review.

Reviewing documentation and specs — Markdown files, API specs, config files, and plan documents can all be reviewed with inline annotations. Useful for reviewing RFCs, annotating configs before deployment, or marking up plans with questions.

revdiff --only=docs/plans/feature.md
revdiff --only=/tmp/draft-comment.md

Reviewing generated output — CI configs, Terraform plans, generated migrations, or command output. Load files with --only or stream ephemeral output with --stdin, annotate what needs fixing, feed annotations back to the generator.

Review History

When you quit with annotations (q), revdiff automatically saves a copy of the review session to ~/.config/revdiff/history/<repo-name>/<timestamp>.md. This is a safety net — if annotations are lost (process crash, agent fails to capture stdout), the history file preserves them.

Each history file contains:

• Header with path, git refs, and commit hash
• Full annotation output (same format as stdout)
• Raw git diff for annotated files only

History auto-save is always on and silent — errors are logged to stderr, never fail the process. No history is saved on discard quit (Q) or when there are no annotations. For --stdin mode, files are saved under stdin/ subdirectory; for --only without git, the parent directory name is used instead of a repo name.

Override the history directory with --history-dir, REVDIFF_HISTORY_DIR env var, or history-dir in the config file.

Key Bindings

Navigation:

Key	Action
j/k or up/down	Navigate files (tree) / scroll diff (diff pane)
h/l	Switch between file tree and diff pane
left/right	Horizontal scroll in diff pane
Tab	Switch between file tree and diff pane
PgDown/PgUp	Page scroll in file tree and diff pane
Ctrl+d/Ctrl+u	Half-page scroll in file tree and diff pane
Home/End	Jump to first/last item
Enter	Switch to diff pane (tree) / start annotation (diff pane)
n/p	Next/previous changed file; next/prev header in markdown TOC mode (n = next match when search active)
[ / ]	Jump to previous/next change hunk in diff; add --cross-file-hunks to continue into the previous/next file at the boundary

Search:

Key	Action
/	Start search in diff pane
n	Next search match (overrides next file when search active)
N	Previous file (previous search match when searching)
Esc	Cancel search input / clear search results

Annotations:

Key	Action
a or Enter (diff pane)	Annotate current diff line
A	Add file-level annotation (stored at top of diff)
@	Toggle annotation list popup (navigate and jump to any annotation)
d	Delete annotation under cursor
Esc	Cancel annotation input

View:

Key	Action
v	Toggle collapsed diff mode (shows final text with change markers)
w	Toggle word wrap (long lines wrap with ↪ continuation markers)
t	Toggle tree/TOC pane visibility (gives diff full terminal width)
L	Toggle line numbers (side-by-side old/new numbers in gutter)
B	Toggle git blame gutter (author name + commit age per line)
.	Expand/collapse individual hunk under cursor (collapsed mode only)
T	Open theme selector with live preview
f	Toggle filter: all files / annotated only (shown when annotations exist)
?	Toggle help overlay showing all keybindings
q	Quit, output annotations to stdout
Q	Discard all annotations and quit (confirms if annotations exist)

Custom Keybindings

All keybindings can be customized via a keybindings file at ~/.config/revdiff/keybindings. Override the path with --keys flag or REVDIFF_KEYS env var.

The file uses a simple map/unmap format (blank lines and # comments are ignored):

# ~/.config/revdiff/keybindings
map ctrl+d half_page_down
map ctrl+u half_page_up
map x quit
unmap q

• map <key> <action> — binds a key to an action (additive, defaults are kept unless explicitly unmapped)
• unmap <key> — removes a default binding

Generate a template with all current bindings:

mkdir -p ~/.config/revdiff
revdiff --dump-keys > ~/.config/revdiff/keybindings

Then edit to taste. Modal keys (annotation input, search input, confirm discard) are not remappable.

Available actions (click to expand)

Navigation: down, up, page_down, page_up, half_page_down, half_page_up, home, end, scroll_left, scroll_right

File/Hunk: next_item, prev_item, next_hunk, prev_hunk

Pane: toggle_pane, focus_tree, focus_diff

Search: search

Annotations: confirm (annotate line / select file), annotate_file, delete_annotation, annot_list

View: toggle_collapsed, toggle_wrap, toggle_tree, toggle_line_numbers, toggle_hunk, theme_select, filter

Quit: quit, discard_quit, help, dismiss

Output Format

## handler.go (file-level)
consider splitting this file into smaller modules

## handler.go:43 (+)
use errors.Is() instead of direct comparison

## handler.go:43-67 (+)
refactor this hunk to reduce nesting

## store.go:18 (-)
don't remove this validation

When annotation text contains the keyword "hunk" (case-insensitive, whole word), the output header automatically expands to include the full hunk line range (e.g., handler.go:43-67 (+) instead of handler.go:43 (+)). This gives AI consumers the range context without any extra steps.

Contributing

See CONTRIBUTING.md for details.

License

MIT License - see LICENSE file for details.