diffs.nvim

Syntax highlighting for diffs in Neovim

Enhance vim-fugitive and Neovim's built-in diff mode with language-aware syntax highlighting.

Features

• Treesitter syntax highlighting in :Git diffs and commit views
• :Gdiffsplit / :Gvdiffsplit syntax through diff backgrounds
• Background-only diff colors for any &diff buffer (:diffthis, vimdiff)
• Vim syntax fallback for languages without a treesitter parser
• Hunk header context highlighting (@@ ... @@ function foo())
• Configurable debouncing, max lines, and diff prefix concealment

Requirements

• Neovim 0.9.0+
• vim-fugitive (optional, for unified diff syntax highlighting)

Installation

Using lazy.nvim:

{
  'barrettruth/diffs.nvim',
  dependencies = { 'tpope/vim-fugitive' },
  opts = {},
}

Documentation

:help diffs.nvim

Highlight Groups

diffs.nvim defines the following highlight groups. All use default = true, so colorschemes can override them.

Group	Purpose
DiffsAdd	Background for + lines in fugitive unified diffs
DiffsDelete	Background for - lines in fugitive unified diffs
DiffsAddNr	Line number highlight for + lines
DiffsDeleteNr	Line number highlight for - lines
DiffsDiffAdd	Background-only DiffAdd for &diff windows
DiffsDiffDelete	Background-only DiffDelete for &diff windows
DiffsDiffChange	Background-only DiffChange for &diff windows
DiffsDiffText	Background-only DiffText for &diff windows

By default, these are computed from your colorscheme's DiffAdd, DiffDelete, DiffChange, DiffText, and Normal groups. To customize, define them in your colorscheme before diffs.nvim loads, or link them to existing groups.

Known Limitations

• Syntax "flashing": diffs.nvim hooks into the FileType fugitive event triggered by vim-fugitive, at which point the buffer is preliminarily painted. The buffer is then re-painted after debounce_ms milliseconds, causing an unavoidable visual "flash" even when debounce_ms = 0.

Acknowledgements

• vim-fugitive
• codediff.nvim
• diffview.nvim