difflicious 0.10.0

A sleek web-based git diff visualization tool for developers

Difflicious

A sleek web-based git diff visualization tool used when working locally on branches. Difflicious provides a lightweight local web application that transforms git diffs into an intuitive, interactive experience.

What is Difflicious?

Difflicious is a developer-focused tool that runs locally and provides a beautiful interface for viewing git changes. Instead of squinting at terminal output, you get a clean, searchable, and toggleable view of your work-in-progress changes.

Perfect for:

• Reviewing changes before committing
• Understanding complex diffs across multiple files
• Quickly navigating through modifications in your current branch
• Getting a bird's-eye view of your development progress

Features

• Side-by-Side Diff Visualization: Professional-grade side-by-side view with accurate line numbering
• Syntax Highlighting: Beautiful code highlighting for 30+ programming languages using Highlight.js
• Intelligent Diff Parsing: Advanced git diff parser with proper alignment of additions and deletions
• Smart UI Controls: Expand/collapse all buttons with intelligent disabled states
• Interactive Interface: Toggle visibility, search through changes, and filter content
• Clean File Paths: Automatic removal of git diff artifacts (a/, b/ prefixes)
• Secure Git Integration: Safe git command execution with subprocess sanitization
• Real-time Status: Live git repository status and branch information
• Modern UI: Clean Tailwind CSS design with responsive layout
• Lightweight: Minimal infrastructure using Flask backend and Alpine.js frontend
• Developer-Friendly: Designed by developers, for developers

Installation & Quick Start

Option 1: Install from PyPI (Recommended)

# Install via pip
pip install difflicious

# Run the application
difflicious

# Open your browser to localhost:5000

Option 2: Docker (Containerized)

# Pull and run the Docker image
docker run -p 5000:5000 -v $(pwd):/workspace difflicious/difflicious

# Open your browser to localhost:5000

Option 3: From Source (Development)

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/insipid/difflicious.git
cd difflicious

# Install uv if not already installed
curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | sh

# Create virtual environment and install dependencies
uv sync

# Run the application
uv run difflicious

Font Customization

Difflicious supports beautiful programming fonts via Google Fonts CDN integration. You can customize the font used for code and diff content.

Available Fonts

• JetBrains Mono (default) - Designed specifically for developers
• Fira Code - Popular programming font with ligatures
• Source Code Pro - Adobe's professional programming font
• IBM Plex Mono - Modern, clean monospace design
• Roboto Mono - Google's versatile monospace font
• Inconsolata - Humanist monospace font

Font Configuration

Set the DIFFLICIOUS_FONT environment variable to choose your preferred font:

# Use Fira Code
export DIFFLICIOUS_FONT=fira-code
difflicious

# Use Source Code Pro
export DIFFLICIOUS_FONT=source-code-pro
difflicious

# List all available fonts
difflicious --list-fonts

Available Font Keys

• jetbrains-mono - JetBrains Mono (default)
• fira-code - Fira Code
• source-code-pro - Source Code Pro
• ibm-plex-mono - IBM Plex Mono
• roboto-mono - Roboto Mono
• inconsolata - Inconsolata

Disable Google Fonts

If you prefer to use system fonts only (no external CDN requests):

export DIFFLICIOUS_DISABLE_GOOGLE_FONTS=true
difflicious

This will fall back to system monospace fonts like SF Mono, Cascadia Code, Monaco, and Consolas.

Technology Stack

• Backend: Python Flask for minimal setup and excellent git integration
• Frontend: Alpine.js + vanilla CSS for lightweight, declarative UI
• Real-time: Server-Sent Events for live git status updates
• Security: Proper subprocess sanitization for safe git command execution
• Distribution: Modern Python packaging (PyPI) and Docker containers
• Development: uv for fast Python package management and virtual environments

Development Status

✅ Production-ready diff visualization - Advanced side-by-side interface implemented!

Completed ✅

• Modern Python project structure with pyproject.toml and uv
• Flask backend with comprehensive API endpoints and blueprints
• Advanced git diff parser with side-by-side structure
• Professional side-by-side diff visualization interface
• Secure git command execution wrapper with subprocess sanitization
• Interactive Alpine.js frontend with modular architecture
• Tailwind CSS styling with light/dark theme support
• Syntax highlighting with Pygments for 100+ languages
• Docker containerization with multi-platform support
• PyPI package publishing with automated CI/CD
• Comprehensive test suite (169 tests, 86% coverage)
• Real git integration (status, diff, branch detection, parsing)
• Context expansion for viewing more code around hunks
• Font customization with 6 programming fonts

Future Enhancements 🚧

• Advanced search and filtering capabilities
• Keyboard shortcuts and accessibility improvements
• Real-time updates with Server-Sent Events
• Sticky file headers during scroll

Contributing

This project is in early development. More contribution guidelines will be available as the core functionality is completed.

License

MIT License - see LICENSE file for details.