Side-by-side Git View

[spkgyk]

It would be nice to see changes side-by-side instead of vertically, with differences highlighted. For example, if I change a variable name from addtwonumbers to addTwoNumbers, the T and the N would be highlighted.

VS Code does something similar, and I think it provides a very easy viewing experience. As with vim, you could switch from the left buffer and right buffer with ctrl-w-h and ctrl-w-l.

The highlighting isn't that clear with vs code, but the side-by-side view is very nice to see. It means I can edit code in the git diff viewer, and see the changes to the original code in real time.

[Joride]

Xcode does a similar thing, and allows jumping from one change to the next with the up and down arrows, by clicking the divider between the views.
Very, very useful when going over any leftovers/remnants of a debugging session before committing.

[kotkoroid]

I've been trying the current implementation for weeks, but I haven't found it to be more useful or clearer than the VS Code version, especially for comparing staged files and resolving Git conflicts. Have you considered opening an issue? I wasn't able to find one.

[raul-gherman]

I second this request

[sporritt]

I'd vote for this too. Having just come across Zed I think it looks great, but the diff view pales in comparison with the side-by-side that I'm used to in IntelliJ.

[ArturAronov]

This feature would be a great addition. Coming from VSCode, this is something that I miss a lot...

[remorses]

This is one of the most important features for me

[widersky]

Just copy-paste IntelliJ implementation, it's the best out there.

[Trosterud]

it's so good every time I try to switch away from the editor I keep going back to the git view before pushing

[sporritt]

Me too. And then there's also changelists...

[stychu]

Exactly. The points which make me keep using inteliij 😩😩😩 Dev team. Please copy onteliij git handling and u automatically get huge userbase

[Imamsubekti26]

I think this is a duplicate with this #4523

[remorses]

nope, completely different, this issue is for deletions and additions to be in separate panes to make it easier to read

[bkgthumanity]

Yup this is my number one missing feature. The over and above git view is really hard to get the context of the changes particular if they are more extensive. A side by side diff view where you can easily see the new file vs the old file (with changes highlighted) is so much easier to read. (It also works better when working with LLM's too as it's easier to copy past new and old files... to put into an llm).

[lasfito]

bumping this as i just switched to zed and this is currently one of my main struggles

[matthieusieben]

Also, add a panel that allows to choose what to compare with:

• HEAD
• main branch
• main branch (on remote)
• arbitrary branch

see #31961

[zhe]

It would be very helpful to support the option of Ignore Trim Whitespace.

(seen in VS Code under Settings > Text Editor > Diff Editor)

[LeoLionel]

Same here: Not having a side by side view for git changes is the one feature I am missing to fully switch over to Zed.

[ghb-enzian]

I am alsao having this issue. Especially I do not want to make the agent changes and then bulk view but I want to stay in 'ask' mode and then 'generate' a diff per 'parts' I copy into the editor and inspect the diff.

[swaroop0210]

yeah i feels like i get used to so much seeing the diff side by side in vs code. a little bit trouble viewing it vertically. of course a skill issue though.

[kotkoroid]

You can climb up the mountain using hands only, but why would you do that if you can use legs.

[kmatt]

Is it possible to use an external pager with Zed?

While waiting for a built-in, https://github.com/dandavison/delta does a good side-by-side diff presentation.

[reslear]

or https://github.com/Wilfred/difftastic

[lionel-]

You can launch a cli app like lazygit in a task and configure it to use delta. See #8665 (comment) for discussions on integrating lazygit in zed, and https://github.com/jesseduffield/lazygit/blob/master/docs/Custom_Pagers.md#delta for using Delta as pager.

[TuanManhCao]

As we are using AI more and more, code reviewing is so much more important than in the past. This is the only thing that keeping me from uninstall vscode and fully switch to Zed.

Also would be nice if we can see highlight change to specific part in each line ra than just line diff.

And ignore white space is also important. I don't want to doubt AI code change just because some diff in indenting.

[tesmond]

This is the top voted discussion by some margin. Is there no plan to implement this feature?

[widersky]

There are plenty of highly voted reports on functionality, bugs, and issues that haven't been addressed. And we keep getting some AI nonsense. If only the creators of Zed would communicate anything about these issues - but they communicate practically nothing.

[raul-gherman]

at this moment, implementing git diff AND arbitrary files diff view seems a should-do thing
now, for me, doing things the right way would be something like GitKraken has implemented -- hunk, inline and / or split view, with or without leading and trailing whitespace
now that would be something
still, I am not sure how much attention is given to these topics and suggestions... kinda sad

[stychu]

This one missing feature keeps so many people — including me — from switching to Zed. 😩😩 WebStorm/IntelliJ has been driving me crazy for years, and I’m desperate to switch to Zed, but I just can’t because of the Git handling. 😭

[Trosterud]

Nothing beats Webstorms git handling unfortunately. It's ironic, I pay for Webstorm for the git integration. And use another free editor for coding 🤷‍♂️

[dariodjuric]

A big +1 for this feature.

Also, would be great to have a "Compare with branch" option. What Webstorm does well is easily allow you to compare your current state of the codebase with any branch easily, in a side-by-side way, for each file that is different. Not even VS Code can do that without extensions I believe.

[MurtadhaInit]

I'd like to register my interest in this feature as well. An Intellij-like side-by-side diff view would be incredibly useful.

[Radu-Raicea]

This is the top upvoted feature request by far:

Could we please get an update on this?

[godismyjudge95]

Love PHPStorm's diff viewer, even better than VSC*de's imo. Would be great if Zed could have something similar.

[Askath]

Jetbrains diff view is by far the best

[lukehinds]

Just adding support to this, its the one thing that makes me pine for vscode - I have really tried to get used to the view, but its just not gelling cognitively.

[dev00-hq]

make this happen guys

[Arthurmtro]

won't be using Zed as main until this is done :(

[patkepa]

PLEASE! That is literally the most annoying thing about zed, the current view is just unusuable! I want to daily drive zed so much, but this makes it really hard.

[terretta]

Another source of inspiration: three way merge and changeset views in Kaleidoscope.

But I'm not sure Zed should try to be all things to Git workflows including diff resolution, taking on the likes of Git Tower or GitKraken, as many of these are preferences formed through a lifetime of coding, making it tough to please everyone beyond compare with a core set of common denominators.

Of course, the debate whether it's sublime to merge text is not new.

[LivioGama]

I don't understand how this is the most upvoted feature ever and nobody tried to implement it and open a PR. Is there something I am missing ?

[LivioGama]

@LivioGama So you can just use AI and open pull request 🤷‍♂️ No need to wait on anyone.

Exactly what I started to do. But it's less easy than I thought. Almost there though.

[LivioGama]

I have fragments everywhere that I need to combine to get the hardest part done.

[somtooo]

Respect for talking and doing

[somtooo]

You should read the updated contribution guide tho.
"If you are making a larger change, or need advice on how to finish the change
you're making, please open the PR early. We would love to help you get
things right, and it's often easier to see how to solve a problem before the
diff gets too big."

Also has "we won't merge anything that seems completely ai generated"
https://github.com/zed-industries/zed/pull/38016/files

[LivioGama]

Thank you, that will be helpful 🙏