Open Diff

Open Diff is a cross-platform comparison and merge tool for files, folders, tables, images, and binary data. It is designed for developers, content editors, data analysts, and anyone who needs to inspect changes clearly before copying, merging, synchronizing, or reporting them.

Linux smoke screenshots (Home / Text / Table / Image / Hex / Folder):

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Download the latest installer or platform bundle from the GitHub Releases page.

Release assets are published for supported desktop platforms through the Tauri release workflow.

Requirements:

• Node.js LTS
• pnpm through Corepack
• Rust stable toolchain
• Platform dependencies required by Tauri

Install dependencies:

corepack enable
corepack pnpm install

Run the web app during development:

corepack pnpm dev

Run the desktop app during development:

corepack pnpm tauri:dev

Build the frontend:

corepack pnpm build

Build desktop bundles:

corepack pnpm tauri:build

Run the full local quality gate before opening a pull request:

corepack pnpm quality
corepack pnpm test

The quality gate includes formatting checks, ESLint, Stylelint, TypeScript type checking, Rust formatting checks, and Clippy.

Issues and pull requests are welcome. Please read CONTRIBUTING.md before submitting code changes.

• Use the bug report template for reproducible problems.
• Use the feature request template for workflow and product suggestions.
• Report security vulnerabilities privately according to SECURITY.md.

Open Diff uses semantic version tags such as v1.0.0.

When a v* tag is pushed, GitHub Actions builds Tauri bundles for Windows, macOS (Apple Silicon and Intel), and Linux, creates a GitHub Release, uploads the generated desktop assets, and generates release notes.

Before creating a release tag, make sure the version is synchronized across:

• package.json
• src-tauri/tauri.conf.json
• src-tauri/Cargo.toml

Open Diff provides a focused side-by-side text comparison workflow.

• Compare two text files line by line.
• Highlight inserted, deleted, and modified lines.
• Highlight character-level changes inside modified lines.
• Support syntax highlighting for common programming and markup languages.
• Ignore whitespace-only changes when needed.
• Ignore case-only changes when needed.
• Ignore comments for source-code focused comparisons.
• Navigate to the next or previous difference.
• Search within compared content.
• Jump directly to a line number.
• Display line numbers for both sides.
• Support word wrap for long lines.
• Select file encoding when content is not UTF-8.

Open Diff can compare two folders and show their differences in a structured tree/table view.

• Scan left and right folders recursively.
• Show files that are identical, modified, left-only, or right-only.
• Compare files by size, modified time, or content checksum.
• Filter the view to show all items, only differences, only identical files, left-only files, or right-only files.
• Exclude files by simple glob-like patterns.
• Open matching files from the folder comparison in text comparison mode.
• Copy left-only files to the right side.
• Copy right-only files to the left side.
• Refresh comparison results after file operations.
• Display file size and modified time for both sides.

Open Diff includes a synchronization workflow for applying folder changes safely.

• Preview synchronization actions before execution.
• Update the right folder from the left folder.
• Update the left folder from the right folder.
• Update both folders using newer or missing files.
• Mirror the right folder from the left folder.
• Mirror the left folder from the right folder.
• Show planned copy and delete actions.
• Track synchronization progress.
• Show operation logs after execution.

Open Diff supports comparing structured tabular data.

• Compare CSV files.
• Compare TSV files.
• Compare spreadsheet-style data.
• Detect added, deleted, modified, and equal rows.
• Highlight changed cells inside modified rows.
• Show a side-by-side table view.
• Show a unified text-like view for table differences.
• Toggle whether the first row should be treated as headers.
• Choose common delimiters such as comma, tab, and semicolon.

Open Diff supports pixel-oriented image comparison.

• Load two images side by side.
• Compare images at pixel level.
• Show the percentage of differing pixels.
• Detect image size mismatches.
• Optionally include alpha channel differences.
• Display image previews for manual inspection.

Open Diff includes a hexadecimal comparison view for binary files.

• Load two binary files.
• Show byte offsets.
• Display hexadecimal byte values.
• Display ASCII representation beside byte values.
• Highlight changed bytes.
• Mark left-only and right-only byte ranges.
• Show basic difference statistics.

Open Diff is designed to support conflict-resolution workflows.

• Use a base version, a left version, and a right version.
• Detect conflicting changes.
• Present resolved and conflicting output sections.
• Help users build a final merged result.

Open Diff can save and restore comparison work.

• Save comparison sessions.
• List recent sessions.
• Reopen previous sessions.
• Delete old sessions.
• Import session data from JSON.
• Export session data to JSON.
• Store comparison configuration with each session.

Open Diff is intended to generate shareable comparison summaries.

• Generate HTML comparison reports.
• Include file labels, statistics, and side-by-side differences.
• Provide print-friendly report styling.
• Use reports for review, audit, or handoff workflows.

Open Diff includes command-line and scripted workflows for the commands that are already implemented.

• Run comparisons from the command line, including shell-compare / open-diff-cli shell-compare [--select-left] <path>.
• Install optional macOS/Linux shell helpers (.desktop Open With or Open With .app stub) from Settings; Windows Explorer verbs remain available.
• Generate machine-readable results.
• Execute supported script commands such as LOAD, COMPARE, REPORT, and SYNC.
• Generate Git difftool, Git mergetool, and Subversion external diff setup commands.

These items stay unimplemented and are labeled as such in the UI:

• S3, Dropbox, OneDrive, FTPS, and SVN remote protocols.
• 7z archive comparison (ZIP and TAR are live).
• Align With from folder compare.
• A full Beyond Compare script language. Supported commands run; others return unsupported.
• Live Windows registry hives (exported .reg files compare).
• Custom keyboard shortcuts and additional report formats.

• Review source code changes before committing.
• Compare generated files or configuration snapshots.
• Synchronize project folders.
• Inspect deployment package differences.
• Compare exported CSV or spreadsheet data.
• Check whether two images are visually or pixel-wise different.
• Inspect binary file changes at byte level.
• Save recurring comparison sessions for repeated work.

Open Diff ships working desktop compare, merge, sync, archive, remote, and script sessions. Unfinished items are disabled or labeled unimplemented instead of showing fake success. Download installers from GitHub Releases.

Open Diff is licensed under the Apache License 2.0.