partial-diff.nvim

A Neovim plugin for performing partial diffs on selected code regions with advanced character-level diff highlighting powered by VSCode's diff algorithm.

Features

• 🎯 Partial Diff: Compare any two selected regions of code

Demo

Screen.Recording.2025-10-05.at.16.58.38.mov

partial-diff-demo.mov

Installation

Using lazy.nvim

  {
    "ryutaro-asada/partial-diff.nvim",
  },

Configuration

require('partial-diff').setup({
  -- Debug options
  debug = false,
  -- Highlight customization
  highlights = {
    -- Link to existing highlight groups
    line_change = 'DiffChange',
    line_add = 'DiffAdd',
    line_delete = 'DiffDelete',
    -- Specify custom colors
    char_add = {
      bg = '#2d5a2d',   -- Background color
      fg = '#a9dc76',   -- Foreground color
      bold = true,      -- Bold
      italic = false,   -- Italic
      underline = false -- Underline
    },
    char_delete = {
      bg = '#5a2d2d',
      fg = '#ff6188',
    },
    char_change = {
      bg = '#4a4a0e',
      fg = '#ffd866',
      bold = true
    }
  }
})

VSCode Diff Algorithm (Optional but Recommended)

For better character-level diff highlighting, install the VSCode diff algorithm:

1. Ensure Node.js is installed on your system
2. Run :PartialDiffInstallVSCode in Neovim
3. This will install the required npm packages in the plugin directory

Without this, the plugin will fall back to Neovim's built-in diff.

Commands

Primary Commands

• :PartialDiffFrom - Mark a range of lines as the source (what you're diffing from)
• :PartialDiffTo - Mark a range of lines as the target (what you're diffing to) and display the diff
• :PartialDiffDelete - Close the current diff view
• :PartialDiffInstallVSCode - Install VSCode diff algorithm dependencies

Legacy Commands (Backward Compatibility)

• :PartialDiffA - Alias for :PartialDiffFrom
• :PartialDiffB - Alias for :PartialDiffTo

Debug Commands

• :PartialDiffShowLog - Show the debug log file
• :PartialDiffClearLog - Clear the debug log file

Usage

Basic Workflow

1. Select the first range of lines in visual mode
2. Execute :PartialDiffFrom (or use your keymap)
3. Select the second range of lines in visual mode
4. Execute :PartialDiffTo (or use your keymap)
5. View the diff in a new tab with side-by-side comparison

Example

" Select lines 10-20 in visual mode
:'<,'>PartialDiffFrom

" Select lines 30-40 in visual mode
:'<,'>PartialDiffTo

" Close the diff when done
:PartialDiffDelete

Powered By

• vscode-diff - Advanced character-level diff computation

Requirements

• Neovim 0.10.0 or later
• (Optional) Node.js for VSCode diff algorithm

Contributing

If you have any suggestions or improvements, feel free to open an issue or submit a pull request.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License.