critique

A beautiful terminal UI for reviewing git diffs with syntax highlighting, split view, and word-level diff.

Diff Viewer Demo

Installation

Note: critique requires Bun - it does not work with Node.js.

# Run directly with bunx (no install needed)
bunx critique

# Or install globally
bun install -g critique

Usage

View Git Diff

# View unstaged changes (includes untracked files)
critique

# View staged changes
critique --staged

# View changes since a ref (like git diff)
critique HEAD~1         # shows last 1 commit (changes since HEAD~1)
critique HEAD~3         # shows last 3 commits
critique main           # shows changes since main (your branch's additions)

# View a specific commit only (what that commit introduced)
critique --commit HEAD~1
critique --commit abc1234

# Compare two refs (PR-style, shows what head added since diverging from base)
critique HEAD~3 HEAD    # shows all changes from 3 commits ago to now

# Compare two branches (PR-style, shows what head added since diverging from base)
critique main feature-branch    # what feature-branch added vs main
critique main HEAD              # what current branch added vs main

# Watch mode - auto-refresh on file changes
critique --watch

# Filter files by glob pattern (can be used multiple times)
critique --filter "src/**/*.ts"
critique --filter "src/**/*.ts" --filter "lib/**/*.js"

Navigation

Key	Action
`←` / `→`	Navigate between files
`↑` / `↓`	Scroll up/down
`Ctrl+P`	Open file selector dropdown
`Option` (hold)	Fast scroll (10x)
`Esc`	Close dropdown

Git Difftool Integration

Configure critique as your git difftool:

git config --global diff.tool critique
git config --global difftool.critique.cmd 'critique difftool "$LOCAL" "$REMOTE"'

Then use:

git difftool HEAD~1

Lazygit Integration

Use critique as a custom pager in lazygit:

# ~/.config/lazygit/config.yml
git:
  pagers:
    - pager: critique --stdin

For more details, see lazygit's Custom Pagers documentation.

AI-Powered Diff Explanation

Generate AI-powered explanations of code changes using OpenCode or Claude Code as the backend agent.

What it does:

Orders hunks in logical reading order (types before implementation, etc.)
Splits large hunks into digestible chunks with focused explanations
Explains each change with diagrams, tables, and markdown
Groups related changes across files

Best for reviewing AI-generated changes: Pass --session to include the coding session context, so the AI understands why changes were made and can explain them better.

# Review unstaged changes (uses OpenCode by default)
critique review

# Use Claude Code instead
critique review --agent claude

# Review staged changes
critique review --staged

# Review changes since a ref (like git diff)
critique review HEAD~1         # review last 1 commit
critique review main           # review changes since main

# Review a specific commit only (what that commit introduced)
critique review --commit HEAD~1
critique review --commit abc1234

# Review commit range (like a PR): critique review <base> <head>
# Shows what <head> added since diverging from <base>
critique review main HEAD          # what current branch added vs main
critique review main feature-branch

# Include session context (from opencode or claude sessions)
critique review --agent opencode --session <session-id>
critique review --agent claude --session <session-id>

# Generate web preview instead of TUI
critique review --web
critique review --web --open

Options:

Flag	Description
`--agent <name>`	AI agent to use: `opencode` (default) or `claude`
`--staged`	Review staged changes
`--commit <ref>`	Review changes from a specific commit
`--session <id>`	Include session(s) as context (can be repeated)
`--web`	Generate web preview instead of TUI
`--pdf [filename]`	Generate PDF instead of TUI. Great for reading on e-ink devices — see e-reader guide
`--open`	Open in browser/viewer (with --web/--pdf)
`--filter <pattern>`	Filter files by glob pattern

Pick Files from Another Branch

Selectively apply changes from another branch to your current HEAD:

critique pick feature-branch

Use the interactive UI to select files. Selected files are immediately applied as patches, deselected files are restored.

Selective Hunk Staging

Non-interactive hunk staging for scripts and AI agents. Similar to git add -p but scriptable.

# List all unstaged hunks with stable IDs
critique hunks list

# List staged hunks
critique hunks list --staged

# Filter by file pattern
critique hunks list --filter "src/**/*.ts"

# Stage specific hunks by ID
critique hunks add 'src/main.ts:@-10,6+10,7'

# Stage multiple hunks
critique hunks add 'src/main.ts:@-10,6+10,7' 'src/utils.ts:@-5,3+5,4'

Hunk ID format: file:@-oldStart,oldLines+newStart,newLines

The ID is derived from the @@ header in unified diff format, making it stable across runs (unlike incremental IDs).

Example workflow:

# 1. List available hunks
$ critique hunks list
src/main.ts:@-10,6+10,7
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@
+import { newFeature } from './feature'
---
src/main.ts:@-50,3+51,5
@@ -50,3 +51,5 @@
+  newFeature()
+  return result
---

# 2. Stage just the import hunk
$ critique hunks add 'src/main.ts:@-10,6+10,7'
Staged: src/main.ts:@-10,6+10,7

# 3. Commit it separately
$ git commit -m "Add newFeature import"

# 4. Stage and commit the usage
$ critique hunks add 'src/main.ts:@-50,3+51,5'
$ git commit -m "Use newFeature in main"

Web Preview

Generate a shareable web preview of your diff that you can send to anyone - no installation required.

Example: critique.work/v/b8faf4362c247bfc46f5098a028e00f0

Great for background agents that can't render terminal UIs, like kimaki.xyz which runs OpenCode in Discord.

Web Preview

# Upload to critique.work and get a shareable URL
critique web

# View staged changes
critique web --staged

# View changes since a ref (like git diff)
critique web HEAD~1         # last 1 commit
critique web main           # changes since main

# View a specific commit only (what that commit introduced)
critique web --commit HEAD~1

# Compare branches (PR-style diff)
critique web main feature-branch

# Filter specific files
critique web -- src/api.ts src/utils.ts

# Custom title for the HTML page
critique web --title "Fix authentication bug"

Features:

Mobile optimized - Automatically detects mobile devices and serves a unified diff view optimized for smaller screens. Add ?v=mobile to any URL to force mobile view.
Dark/Light mode - Automatically adapts to your system's color scheme preference using CSS prefers-color-scheme.
Syntax highlighting - Full syntax highlighting for 20+ languages, same as the terminal UI.
Split view - Side-by-side diff on desktop, unified view on mobile.
Fast loading - HTML is streamed for quick initial render, cached for 24 hours.

Options:

Flag	Description	Default
`--staged`	Show staged changes	-
`--commit <ref>`	Show changes from a specific commit	-
`--cols <n>`	Terminal width for rendering	`240`
`--mobile-cols <n>`	Terminal width for mobile version	`100`
`--filter <pattern>`	Filter files by glob (can be used multiple times)	-
`--title <text>`	Custom HTML document title	`Critique Diff`
`--theme <name>`	Theme for rendering (disables auto dark/light mode)	-

How it works:

Renders the diff using opentui's test renderer to capture structured frame data
Converts the captured spans to styled HTML with syntax highlighting
Generates both desktop (240 cols, split view) and mobile (100 cols, unified view) versions
Uploads to critique.work (Cloudflare Worker + KV storage)
Returns a shareable URL that expires after 7 days

Raw Patch Access:

Every uploaded diff is also available as a raw unified diff (patch) by appending .patch to the URL:

# View the patch in your terminal
curl https://critique.work/v/b8faf4362c247bfc46f5098a028e00f0.patch

# Apply the patch directly to your repo
curl -s https://critique.work/v/b8faf4362c247bfc46f5098a028e00f0.patch | git apply

# Reverse the patch (undo the changes)
curl -s https://critique.work/v/b8faf4362c247bfc46f5098a028e00f0.patch | git apply --reverse

This makes critique URLs useful for programmatic tools — share the HTML link for humans, use the .patch URL for machines.

Tips:

The URL is based on a SHA-256 hash of the content, so identical diffs produce the same URL (deduplication)
Use ?v=desktop or ?v=mobile query params to force a specific version
If upload fails, critique automatically saves the HTML locally as a fallback

E-Ink Reading

Generate PDFs from diffs and AI reviews to read on Kindle or Boox e-readers. Useful when you have background agents writing code — tools like kimaki (runs coding agents from Discord) or clawdbot (self-hosted AI assistant connected to Discord/Slack/Telegram) — and you want to review their changes away from your desk on an e-ink device.

critique --pdf                    # diff as PDF
critique review --pdf             # AI review as PDF
critique review main --pdf --open # review branch changes, open in viewer

The PDF preserves syntax highlighting and diff formatting. Email it to your Kindle, drop it in BooxDrop, or save to a synced Google Drive folder. See docs/e-reader-guide.md for detailed setup for each device.

Features

Syntax Highlighting - Powered by Tree-sitter via opentui with support for 20+ languages
Split View - Side-by-side comparison for wide terminals (auto-switches to unified view on narrow terminals)
Word-Level Diff - Highlights specific word changes within modified lines
File Navigation - Quick file switcher with fuzzy search
Click to Open - Click line numbers to open in your editor (set REACT_EDITOR env var)
Watch Mode - Live updates as you edit files
Web Preview - Generate shareable HTML previews hosted on critique.work
Cherry Pick - Interactive file picker to apply changes from other branches

Supported Languages

TypeScript, JavaScript, TSX, JSX, JSON, Markdown, HTML, CSS, Python, Rust, Go, Java, C, C++, C#, Ruby, PHP, Scala, Haskell, Julia, OCaml, Clojure, Swift, Nix, YAML, Bash

Configuration

Environment Variable	Description	Default
`REACT_EDITOR`	Editor command for click-to-open	`zed`
`CRITIQUE_WORKER_URL`	Custom worker URL for web preview	`https://critique.work`

Ignored Files

Lock files are automatically hidden from diffs:

pnpm-lock.yaml
package-lock.json
yarn.lock
bun.lockb
Cargo.lock
poetry.lock
Gemfile.lock
composer.lock

Files with more than 6000 lines of diff are also hidden for performance.

Built With

opentui - React-based terminal UI framework
Tree-sitter - Syntax highlighting
diff - Diff algorithm
Hono - Web framework for the preview worker

MIT

critique

Installation

Usage

View Git Diff

Navigation

Git Difftool Integration

Lazygit Integration

AI-Powered Diff Explanation

Pick Files from Another Branch

Selective Hunk Staging

Web Preview

E-Ink Reading

Features

Supported Languages

Configuration

Ignored Files

Built With

Sponsors

License

关于 About

语言 Languages

提交活跃度 Commit Activity

核心贡献者 Contributors