diffstory 0.4.0

Transform Git diffs into rich, interactive, self-contained HTML reports

DiffStory

Transform Git diffs into rich, interactive, self-contained HTML reports.

DiffStory turns any git diff into a beautiful, portable HTML report that answers not just what changed, but who changed it, when, and why — all offline, in a single file you can share, archive, or email.

pip install diffstory
cd my-repo
diffstory --staged -o review.html
# Open review.html in any browser — zero setup required

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Features

Three Diff Views

View	Description
Unified	Classic git-style diff with line numbers and syntax highlighting
Side-by-Side	Original (left) and modified (right) columns, visually aligned
Inline Edit	Word-level diff — shows exact token changes inline, green additions and red strikethrough removals. No more mental diffing.

Switch between views instantly with the toolbar or keyboard shortcuts — no regeneration needed.

Blame & Provenance

Every changed line carries its history. Hover any line to see a tooltip with author name, commit hash, subject, date, and relative time (e.g. "2h ago"). Click any line to open the commit drawer — a side panel with full metadata: commit body, author, committer, parents, files changed, insertions, and deletions.

Search & Filtering

• Global search — find files by name, author, commit subject, or code content with live results
• Filter chips — narrow the view by file extension (.py, .js, .html, etc.) or change type (added, deleted, modified, renamed)
• File sidebar — searchable file list with add/delete indicators and collapse/expand

Statistics Dashboard

A floating panel showing:

• Files changed, additions, deletions
• Added / deleted / modified / renamed file counts
• Author count and commit count (from blame)
• Contributor breakdown with commit counts
• Top 10 most-changed files

Keyboard Navigation

Key	Action
J / K	Next / previous file
F or /	Focus global search
U / S / I	Unified / Side-by-side / Inline view
D	Toggle light/dark theme
Esc	Close drawer → close search → close stats

Deep Linking

Link directly to specific files and lines: #file-0 scrolls to the first file, #L-0-42 scrolls to line 42 in the first file. Shareable, stable anchors.

Binary File Support

Binary files are detected and displayed with meaningful placeholders — image files get a preview icon, other binaries show metadata — preventing crashes and keeping the report clean.

Customization

• Light/Dark themes — toggle instantly, persists across sessions
• Config file — ~/.diffstory.toml or .diffstory.toml in your project sets defaults for verbose mode, debug output, and more
• --verbose / --debug flags — see what's happening under the hood

Export Formats

Alongside the HTML report, export structured data:

diffstory --staged --json --md --csv

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Installation

pip install diffstory

Requires: Python 3.10+ and Git.

To install from source:

git clone https://github.com/lakshayjindal/diffstory.git
cd diffstory
pip install -e .

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Usage

# Working tree diff
diffstory

# Staged changes (what will be committed)
diffstory --staged

# Compare commits
diffstory HEAD~3 HEAD

# Compare branches
diffstory main feature-branch

# Compare revisions with path restriction
diffstory HEAD~3 HEAD src/

# Generate from a diff file directly (no git repo needed)
diffstory --diff /path/to/patch.diff

# Custom output file
diffstory -o my-review.html

# Multiple export formats at once
diffstory --staged --json --md --csv -o release-v2.0

# Verbose mode
diffstory --staged --verbose

# Show version
diffstory --version

Config File Example

Create ~/.diffstory.toml or .diffstory.toml in your project:

[cli]
verbose = true
debug = false

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HTML Report

Every generated HTML report is fully self-contained:

• All CSS inlined — no external stylesheets
• All JavaScript inlined — no external scripts
• All data (blame, commits, search index) embedded as JSON
• Works offline in any modern browser
• Safe to email, archive, or include in audit evidence
• Zero external dependencies at runtime

Open it, share it, attach it to a PR, or file it for compliance. It just works.

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Project Structure

diffstory/
├── pyproject.toml              # Build config & CLI entry point
├── README.md
├── requirements.md             # Full product requirements & spec
├── deploy.sh                   # Build & publish script
├── .github/workflows/publish.yml  # CI/CD for PyPI publishing
├── src/diffstory/
│   ├── __init__.py             # Package version
│   ├── __main__.py             # python -m diffstory support
│   ├── cli.py                  # CLI argument parsing & orchestration
│   ├── git_utils.py            # Git subprocess wrappers (diff, blame, log)
│   ├── diff_parser.py          # Unified diff parser → structured data
│   ├── syntax.py               # Pygments syntax highlighting
│   └── html_generator.py       # Self-contained HTML report generation
└── tests/
    └── __init__.py

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Development

# Install in editable mode
pip install -e .

# Test with a quick repo
cd /tmp && mkdir test-diffstory && cd test-diffstory
git init && echo "hello" > test.py && git add -A && git commit -m "init"
echo "world" >> test.py
diffstory --staged

# Build the package
python -m build

# Deploy (version bump, build, publish)
./deploy.sh           # patch bump
./deploy.sh minor     # minor bump

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Design Philosophy

DiffStory was built to answer five questions about every changed line:

What changed? Who changed it? When? Why? How did it evolve?

It consolidates git diff, git blame, git log, and GitHub-style review UX into a single, portable artifact — no server, no accounts, no data leaving your machine.

Security

• Never uploads code or transmits data
• No telemetry, no analytics, no accounts
• No external API calls by default
• Never modifies your repository
• Generated reports are safe for air-gapped environments, client deliverables, and compliance audits

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License

MIT