Diff Tracker

Diff Tracker is a VS Code extension that records file changes and shows a Git-like inline diff directly in the editor.

Screenshots

Editor Inline View	Editor Inline View (hover effect)

Inline View 2	Side-by-side diff

Features

• Activity Bar view for tracked changes
• Recording mode to start and stop tracking
• Inline diff with added/removed highlights
• Word-level diff highlighting - precisely highlights changed words within modified lines
• Side-by-side diff on demand
• Hover details for deleted/modified content
• Multi-file tracking with timestamps
• Block-wise Revert/Keep buttons (like Cursor)
• File-level "Revert All" / "Keep All" CodeLens
• Revert per file or revert all
• Clear all tracked diffs
• Editor title buttons for inline and side-by-side diff
• Settings panel in sidebar to toggle display options

Usage

1. Open the Diff Tracker view from the Activity Bar.
2. Click Start Recording.
3. Edit any file in your workspace.
4. Click a file in the left list to open the inline diff.
5. Use the editor title buttons to open:
   • Inline Diff (single-column)
   • Side-by-Side Diff
6. Use Revert File or Revert All as needed.
7. Click Clear Diffs to remove all tracked changes.
8. Click Stop Recording when you are done.

How It Works

When recording starts, Diff Tracker:

1. Captures a baseline snapshot for files
2. Watches for content changes
3. Builds inline and side-by-side diffs
4. Updates the editor and the changes view in real time

Installation

From VSIX

1. Download the .vsix file
2. Open VS Code
3. Open Extensions (Cmd+Shift+X)
4. Click ... -> Install from VSIX...
5. Select the downloaded .vsix

Development

1. Clone the repository
2. Run npm install
3. Run npm run compile
4. Press F5 to launch the Extension Development Host

Requirements

• VS Code ^1.80.0

Extension Settings

This extension provides the following settings (toggle via the sidebar Settings panel):

Setting	Default	Description
diffTracker.showDeletedLinesBadge	true	Show a badge indicating deleted lines
diffTracker.showCodeLens	true	Show CodeLens actions (Revert/Keep) above change blocks
diffTracker.highlightAddedLines	true	Highlight added lines with green background
diffTracker.highlightModifiedLines	true	Highlight modified lines with blue background
diffTracker.highlightWordChanges	true	Highlight word-level changes within modified lines

Known Issues

None at this time. Please open an issue if you find a bug.

Release Notes

0.1.0

• Activity Bar entry
• Recording mode for change tracking
• Inline diff highlighting
• Side-by-side diff
• Multi-file tracking with timestamps
• Revert file and revert all
• Clear diffs

0.2.0

• Change from LCS-based diff to Patience Diff algorithm for more intuitive diff display

0.3.0

• Add Partial Revert/Keep buttons, just like cursor
• Add go-to-original-file button in left panel

0.3.1

• Add file-level "Revert All" / "Keep All" buttons (CodeLens at file top)
• Add settings panel in sidebar to toggle display options
• Fix block-wise keep/revert affecting all blocks instead of just one
• Fix hover showing "unknown" for deleted empty lines

0.3.2

• Tiny bug fix

0.3.3

• Add word-level diff highlighting for modified lines
• Add "Highlight Word Changes" setting to toggle word-level highlighting

License

MIT