A NeoVim plugin that replicates the Git source-control UX of VSCode's SCM sidebar — with an enhanced code-review annotation feature.

• NeoVim ≥ 0.9
• git on $PATH
• No external plugin dependencies

{
  "zion-off/diff",
  config = function()
    require("diff").setup()
  end,
}

use {
  "zion-off/diff",
  config = function()
    require("diff").setup()
  end,
}

Call require("diff").setup(opts) once from your config. All fields are optional.

require("diff").setup({
  -- Sidebar position: "left" (default) or "right"
  sidebar_position = "left",

  -- Sidebar width in columns (default: 40)
  sidebar_width = 40,

  -- Notes panel width in columns (default: 40)
  notes_width = 40,

  -- Auto-refresh panels on FocusGained / BufWritePost (default: true)
  -- Also watches .git/index via libuv fs_event for immediate refresh.
  auto_refresh = true,

  -- Mouse interactivity in the sidebar (default: true). Clicking a file opens
  -- its diff; clicking a commit expands/collapses it; clicking a section header
  -- toggles it. Only enables Neovim's 'mouse' option while the interface is
  -- open (if not already enabled) and restores it on close.
  mouse = true,

  -- Keybinding overrides (set any to false/"" to disable)
  keymaps = {
    toggle_sidebar       = "<leader>gs",
    toggle_sidebar_panel = "<leader>gS",
    copy_notes_path      = "<leader>gy",
    open_diff            = "<CR>",
    stage_file           = "s",
    unstage_file         = "u",
    collapse             = "z",
    next_hunk            = "]c",
    prev_hunk            = "[c",
    leave_note           = "<leader>n",
    toggle_notes         = "<leader>N",
    preview_branch       = "<leader>gb",
  },

  -- Highlight colour overrides — any valid :hi attribute table
  highlights = {
    -- e.g. { bg = "#0d1f0d" }
  },
})

Opened with <leader>gb (or :DiffNvimPreviewBranch).

Press <leader>gb (or run :DiffNvimPreviewBranch) to open a floating picker listing all local and remote branches, sorted by most recent commit. Selecting a branch puts the interface into preview mode:

• The commit panel is re-sourced from the chosen branch (git log <branch>), so you can browse its history and open per-file diffs — all without checking it out and without touching your working tree.
• The file status panel shows a Preview: <branch> header instead of changes, since uncommitted working-tree changes belong only to the branch you actually have checked out.

The picker marks your current branch with (current); selecting it returns to normal live mode. Preview mode is read-only and is cleared when the interface is closed.

Notes are stored in a per-session Markdown file at:

$XDG_DATA_HOME/diff.nvim/<repo-name>_<timestamp>.md

(Falls back to ~/.local/share/diff.nvim/ when XDG_DATA_HOME is unset.)

The timestamp (YYYYMMDDTHHmmss) is captured once when the plugin first writes a note in the session. The file is created lazily — only when the first note is actually written. Each Neovim session produces its own file.

Example filename: diff_20260507T142301.md

Each note looks like:

## Note — path/to/file.py, lines 42–57 (new side)

> The context manager here should use `contextlib.suppress` instead of bare
> except.

*2025-01-15 14:23:01*

---

Copy the session file path to the clipboard with <leader>gy, then paste it directly into a coding-agent prompt.

Override any group via vim.api.nvim_set_hl after setup(), or use the highlights config table:

MIT