diffpick 0.2.1

An interactive git commit picker and diff viewer, inspired by lazygit and powered by git-delta

diffpick

An interactive commit picker and diff viewer for git.

Designed as a diff-viewing companion to lazygit — built because viewing diffs felt like the rough edge in lazygit's otherwise excellent UX. Keybindings follow lazygit conventions where it makes sense; see KEYBINDINGS.md for the full table.

Rendering is done by git-delta.

What it does

• Lazygit-inspired commit picker with single-commit and range selection
• Side-by-side or unified diff view (auto-adapts to terminal width)
• Zoom into a commit to browse its file tree
• Hunk navigation, full-file context view, "open in editor" jump
• Filter by path or commit subject
• Familiar keybindings: j/k, /, v for range, F7 for next hunk, ? for help

Prerequisites

• Python ≥ 3.10
• git
• git-delta

Install delta:

macOS:        brew install git-delta
Windows:      winget install dandavison.delta   (or: scoop install delta)
Debian/Ubuntu: sudo apt install git-delta
Arch:         sudo pacman -S git-delta
Fedora:       sudo dnf install git-delta
Any:          cargo install git-delta

If you don't have Python yet:

• macOS: brew install python
• Windows: install from https://python.org or winget install Python.Python.3.12
• Linux: already there on most distros (python3 --version to check)

Install

The recommended way is pipx, which installs CLI tools into isolated environments:

pipx install diffpick

If you don't have pipx:

macOS:    brew install pipx && pipx ensurepath
Windows:  python -m pip install --user pipx && python -m pipx ensurepath
Linux:    sudo apt install pipx && pipx ensurepath   (or: python -m pip install --user pipx)

Alternative — with uv:

uv tool install diffpick

Or plain pip into a venv:

python -m venv ~/.venvs/diffpick
~/.venvs/diffpick/bin/pip install diffpick
~/.venvs/diffpick/bin/diffpick

Usage

diffpick                  # open the TUI in the current repo
diffpick path/to/file     # narrow to commits touching one path
diffpick --side-by-side   # force side-by-side layout
diffpick --unified        # force unified layout
diffpick --help

Inside the TUI, press ? for the keybinding list.

Configuration

Editor for "open file at line"

Pressing o on a focused hunk or selected file launches it in your editor at the right line. The command is resolved in this order:

1. DIFFPICK_OPEN_CMD — full format string, with {file} and {line} placeholders. Power-user override:

   export DIFFPICK_OPEN_CMD='code -g {file}:{line}'
   

2. $VISUAL or $EDITOR — if the basename matches a known editor (code, code-insiders, vim, nvim, subl, idea, pycharm, webstorm, goland, rubymine, emacs), the right "open at line" invocation is used automatically. Unknown editors are launched without a line number.
3. Fallback — code -g {file}:{line} if code is on PATH.

WSL note

If you're on WSL and use VS Code, install the WSL extension in your Windows VS Code (formerly "Remote - WSL"). With the extension and code on PATH inside WSL, opening files from diffpick "just works." If code is missing, run Shell Command: Install 'code' command in PATH from VS Code's command palette (Ctrl+Shift+P).

License

MIT — see LICENSE.