Hunk is a review-first terminal diff viewer for agent-authored changesets, built on OpenTUI and Pierre diffs.
- multi-file review stream with sidebar navigation
- inline AI and agent annotations beside the code
- split, stack, and responsive auto layouts
- watch mode for auto-reloading file and Git-backed reviews
- keyboard, mouse, pager, and Git difftool support
Split view with sidebar and inline AI notes |
Stacked view and mouse-selectable menus |
npm i -g hunkdiffRequirements:
- Node.js 18+
- macOS or Linux
- Git recommended for most workflows
hunk # show help
hunk --version # print the installed versionHunk mirrors Git's diff-style commands, but opens the changeset in a review UI instead of plain text.
hunk diff # review current repo changes, including untracked files
hunk diff --watch # auto-reload as the working tree changes
hunk show # review the latest commit
hunk show HEAD~1 # review an earlier commitHunk auto-detects Jujutsu checkouts, so hunk diff [revset] and hunk show [revset] use jj revsets inside a jj workspace. To override VCS detection, set vcs = "git" or vcs = "jj" in config.
hunk diff before.ts after.ts # compare two files directly
hunk diff before.ts after.ts --watch # auto-reload when either file changes
git diff --no-color | hunk patch - # review a patch from stdin- Open Hunk in another terminal with
hunk difforhunk show. - Tell your agent to add the skill file returned by
hunk skill path. - Ask your agent to use the skill against the live Hunk session.
A good generic prompt is:
Load the Hunk skill and use it for this review.
For the full live-session and --agent-context workflow guide, see docs/agent-workflows.md.
| Capability | hunk | lumen | difftastic | delta | diff-so-fancy | diff |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Review-first interactive UI | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Multi-file review stream + sidebar | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Inline agent / AI annotations | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Responsive auto split/stack layout | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Mouse support inside the viewer | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Runtime view toggles | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Syntax highlighting | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Structural diffing | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Pager-compatible mode | ✅ | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
Hunk is optimized for reviewing a full changeset interactively.
You can persist preferences to a config file:
~/.config/hunk/config.toml.hunk/config.toml
Example:
theme = "graphite" # graphite, midnight, paper, ember
mode = "auto" # auto, split, stack
vcs = "git" # git, jj
exclude_untracked = false
line_numbers = true
wrap_lines = false
agent_notes = falseexclude_untracked affects Git working-tree hunk diff sessions only.
Set Hunk as your Git pager so git diff and git show open in Hunk automatically:
Note
Untracked files are auto-included only for Hunk's own hunk diff working-tree loader. If you open git diff through hunk pager, Git still decides the patch contents, so untracked files will not appear there.
git config --global core.pager "hunk pager"Or in your Git config:
[core]
pager = hunk pagerIf you want to keep Git's default pager and add opt-in aliases instead:
git config --global alias.hdiff "-c core.pager=\"hunk pager\" diff"
git config --global alias.hshow "-c core.pager=\"hunk pager\" show"To use Hunk as jj's pager, run jj config edit --user and update:
[ui]
pager = ["hunk", "pager"]
diff-formatter = ":git"Hunk also publishes HunkDiffView from hunkdiff/opentui for embedding the same diff renderer in your own OpenTUI app.
See docs/opentui-component.md for install, API, and runnable examples.
Ready-to-run demo diffs live in examples/.
Each example includes the exact command to run from the repository root.
For source setup, tests, packaging checks, and repo architecture, see CONTRIBUTING.md.
Sponsored by Modem.
