Barrett Ruth 045a9044b5 feat: add :Gdiff, :Gvdiff, :Ghdiff commands for unified diff view

Compares current buffer against any git revision (default HEAD), opens result
with full diffs.nvim syntax highlighting. Follows fugitive convention:
:Gdiff/:Gvdiff open vertical split, :Ghdiff opens horizontal split.

2026-02-04 19:52:17 -05:00

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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
Diff header highlighting (diff --git, index, ---, +++)
:Gdiffsplit / :Gvdiffsplit syntax through diff backgrounds
:Gdiff unified diff against any git revision with syntax highlighting
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+

Installation

Install with your package manager of choice or via luarocks:

luarocks install diffs.nvim

Documentation

:help diffs.nvim

Known Limitations

Incomplete syntax context: Treesitter parses each diff hunk in isolation without surrounding code context. When a hunk shows lines added to an existing block (e.g., adding a plugin inside return { ... }), the parser doesn't see the return statement and may produce incorrect highlighting. This is inherent to parsing code fragments—no diff tooling solves this without significant complexity.
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.
Conflicting diff plugins: diffs.nvim may not interact well with other plugins that modify diff highlighting. Known plugins that may conflict:
- diffview.nvim - provides its own diff highlighting and conflict resolution UI
- mini.diff - visualizes buffer differences with its own highlighting system
- gitsigns.nvim - generally compatible, but both plugins modifying line highlights may produce unexpected results
- git-conflict.nvim - conflict marker highlighting may overlap with diffs.nvim

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