Patchers: TUI for diff & patch file creation

I'm tired of scrolling long diff patch files.

A fast, minimal terminal UI for interactively selecting hunks from a unified diff and writing out a filtered patch.
This tool allows you to curate large patches into smaller, reviewable, or cherry-pickable subsets with immediate visual feedback.

Built with Rust, powered by ratatui and crossterm.

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Features

• Parse standard unified diffs (git diff, git format-patch, etc.)
• Interactive TUI hunk browser
• Live preview with colored additions/removals
• Toggle hunks on/off and auto-save the filtered patch
• Preserves original file headers and metadata
• Fully keyboard-driven
• Lightweight and dependency-minimal

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Demo Workflow

1. Load a patch file
2. Navigate between hunks
3. Toggle only the changes you want
4. Instantly produce a clean filtered patch for:
   • Partial code reviews
   • Stacked diffs
   • Backports
   • Cherry-picking across branches

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Installation

Install with Git

cargo install --git https://github.com/vimkim/patchers.git patchers

Install with Git Clone

git clone https://github.com/yourname/patchers.git
cd patchers
cargo install --path .

Build from Source

git clone https://github.com/yourname/patchers.git
cd patchers
cargo build --release

Binary will be available at:

target/release/patchers

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Usage

patchers <INPUT_PATCH> --output <OUTPUT_PATCH>

Example

git diff > diff.patch
patchers diff.patch -o filtered.patch

While running:

Key	Action
↑ / k	Move up
↓ / j	Move down
Space / Enter	Toggle hunk & save
q	Quit

Each toggle immediately writes the output file, so your filtered patch is always up to date.

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Input Format

• Expects a standard unified diff

• Fully compatible with:

  • git diff
  • git show
  • git format-patch

• Handles:

  • Multi-file patches
  • Arbitrary metadata sections
  • \ No newline at end of file

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Output Format

• Writes a valid unified diff

• Preserves:

  • diff --git headers
  • index, ---, +++ lines

• Includes only selected hunks

• Safe to apply with:

git apply filtered.patch

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UI Overview

• Left panel: Hunk list with file labels and previews
• Right panel: Colored diff preview
• Bottom panel: Status & key bindings
• [x] indicates selected hunks
• [ ] indicates unselected hunks

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Error Handling

• Graceful parsing of malformed diffs
• Live status feedback on save errors
• Clean terminal teardown on panic or exit

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Dependencies

• anyhow
• clap
• crossterm
• ratatui

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Use Cases

• Preparing minimal review patches
• Splitting large diffs into logical commits
• Creating safe hotfix patches
• Extracting specific features from large changes
• Teaching and demonstration of patch mechanics

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Development

cargo run -- diff.patch -o filtered.patch

Formatting:

cargo fmt

Linting:

cargo clippy

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License

MIT License. You are free to use, modify, and distribute this tool.

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Contributing

Pull requests are welcome. Please follow standard Rust formatting and keep commits focused.

Suggested areas for improvement:

• File-level toggling
• Search / filter hunks
• Unified scroll for large hunks
• Mouse support
• Git integration mode

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Acknowledgments

• ratatui for the TUI framework
• crossterm for cross-platform terminal control
• Git’s unified diff format