diffbubble

Side-by-Side Git Diff TUI

A Terminal User Interface (TUI) application written in Go to display a side-by-side git diff with synchronized scrolling, multi-file navigation, customizable themes, search functionality, and beautiful color-coded statistics.

Note: Currently at v0.5.0.

Features

• Intro animations: Stunning pixel-art animations on startup with cyberpunk effects:
  • Glitch: RGB chromatic aberration with scan lines, corruption, and screen shake
  • Scan: Red-to-green scanner effect with progress bar
• Multi-file navigation: Sidebar showing all modified files with colored stats
• Side-by-side diff display: View old and new versions simultaneously
• Synchronized scrolling: Both panes scroll together for easy comparison
• Branch comparison: Compare current branch against any other branch (local or remote)
• Untracked files support: Toggle display of new/untracked files with 'u'
• Search functionality: Press '/' to search, real-time highlighting, navigate with 'n'/'N'
• Customizable themes: 9 built-in themes with interactive cycling (press 't')
• Configuration file support: User and per-repository config files
• Line numbers toggle: Show/hide line numbers with 'n' key
• Context mode toggle: Switch between focus mode (changes only) and full context (entire file)
• Beautiful statistics: Color-coded additions (green), deletions (red), and delta (yellow)
• Focus indicators: Visual cues show which pane is active (file list or diff)
• Syntax highlighting: Added lines in green, removed lines in red
• Mouse support: Click and scroll with your mouse
• Keyboard navigation: Use arrow keys, j/k, or mouse wheel

Installation

Option 1: Download Binary (Easiest)

Download the latest pre-built binary for your platform from the Releases page.

Supported platforms:

• Linux (x86_64, ARM64)
• macOS (x86_64, ARM64/Apple Silicon)
• Windows (x86_64)

After downloading:

# Linux/macOS: Make it executable and move to PATH
chmod +x diffbubble
sudo mv diffbubble /usr/local/bin/

# Windows: Add the directory to your PATH

Option 2: Install with Go

If you have Go installed, you can install diffbubble directly:

go install github.com/titobsala/diffbubble@latest

Note: Make sure $GOPATH/bin (typically ~/go/bin) is in your PATH. Add this to your shell config:

export PATH="$PATH:$HOME/go/bin"

Then run it from anywhere:

diffbubble

Option 3: Build from Source

1. Prerequisites: Ensure you have Go (1.25+) and git installed.
2. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/titobsala/Diffbubble.git
   cd Diffbubble
   

3. Install dependencies:

   go mod tidy
   

4. Build the binary:

   go build -o diffbubble main.go
   

5. Run it:

   ./diffbubble
   

Option 4: Run without installing

For development or quick testing:

git clone https://github.com/titobsala/Diffbubble.git
cd Diffbubble
go run main.go

Themes

Diffbubble comes with 9 beautiful built-in themes to customize your diff viewing experience:

• dark (default) - Classic dark theme with green/red diffs
• light - Clean light background for bright environments
• high-contrast - Maximum contrast for accessibility
• solarized - Popular Solarized Dark color scheme
• dracula - Dracula theme with purple accents
• github - GitHub-style light diffs
• catppuccin - Catppuccin Mocha theme
• tokyo-night - Tokyo Night color scheme
• one-dark - Atom's One Dark theme

Using Themes

List all available themes:

diffbubble --list-themes

Preview a theme's colors:

diffbubble --show-theme-colors catppuccin

Start with a specific theme:

diffbubble --theme=tokyo-night

Cycle through themes interactively: Press t while the app is running to cycle through all available themes in real-time!

Theme Configuration

You can set a default theme in your configuration file:

User config: ~/.config/diffbubble/config.yaml

theme: catppuccin

Repository config: .diffbubble.yml (in your git repo root)

theme: github

See .config.example.yaml for a complete configuration example.

Usage

Basic Usage

Navigate to any git repository with changes and run:

diffbubble

CLI Options

diffbubble [flags]

Available flags:

• --help, -h - Show help message
• --version, -v - Show version information
• --file=<filename> - Open with specific file selected
• --staged - Show only staged changes (git diff --cached)
• --unstaged - Show only unstaged changes
• --compare=<branch> - Compare current branch to specified branch
• --branch=<branch> - Alias for --compare
• --theme=<name> - Set color theme (default: dark)
• --list-themes - List all available themes
• --show-theme-colors <name> - Preview colors for a specific theme

Examples:

# Show all changes (staged + unstaged)
diffbubble

# Show only staged changes
diffbubble --staged

# Show only unstaged changes
diffbubble --unstaged

# Open with README.md selected
diffbubble --file=README.md

# Compare current branch to main
diffbubble --compare=main

# Compare to remote branch
diffbubble --compare=origin/develop

# Use a specific theme
diffbubble --theme=catppuccin

# Combine flags
diffbubble --staged --file=main.go --theme=tokyo-night

# List all available themes
diffbubble --list-themes

# Preview theme colors
diffbubble --show-theme-colors dracula

Controls

Navigation

• File list navigation: When file list is focused, use j/k or ↑/↓ to select different files
• Diff scrolling: When diff is focused, use j/k or ↑/↓ to scroll through the diff. Both panes scroll simultaneously.
• Switch pane: Press tab to switch focus between file list and diff panes (purple border indicates focused pane)

Search

• Enter search: Press / to activate search mode and type your query
• Execute search: Press Enter to search and highlight matches
• Navigate matches: Press n for next match, N for previous match
• Exit search: Press Esc to cancel search mode
• Match status: Current match shown in gold/underline, others in orange; footer shows "Match X of Y"

Branch Comparison

• Open branch selector: Press b to open branch selector modal
• Filter branches: Type to filter branches (case-insensitive)
• Navigate branches: Use j/k or ↑/↓ to select a branch
• Compare: Press Enter to compare current branch with selected branch
• Cancel: Press Esc to close branch selector without selecting
• Exit comparison: Press x to exit branch comparison mode and return to normal diff view

Toggles

• Line numbers: Press n to toggle line numbers on/off (or next match when search is active)
• Context mode: Press c to toggle between focus mode (changes only) and full context (entire file)
• Untracked files: Press u to toggle display of untracked files
• Theme cycling: Press t to cycle through all available themes interactively

General

• Quit: Press q, esc, or ctrl+c to exit the application

File List

The sidebar shows:

• Status icon: M (modified in yellow), A (added in green), D (deleted in red)
• Filename
• +n additions in green
• -n deletions in red
• (±delta) net change in yellow

Acknowledgments

This project is built with the excellent TUI libraries from Charm:

• Bubble Tea - The Elm Architecture framework for Go
• Bubbles - Reusable TUI components
• Lipgloss - Terminal styling and layout

Special thanks to the Charm team for creating such wonderful tools for building terminal interfaces!

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.