Diff

A devtools logging and tracking toolkit. Record, search, and export entries across multiple development categories — check, validate, generate, format, lint, explain, convert, template, diff, preview, fix, and report. Each command stores timestamped entries locally and maintains a full activity history.

Commands

check — Record or view check entries

Log a check result or review recent check entries. Called with no arguments, shows the last 20 entries.

bash scripts/script.sh check "build passed for commit abc123"
bash scripts/script.sh check "unit tests: 42 passed, 0 failed"
bash scripts/script.sh check

validate — Record or view validation entries

Log validation results (schema checks, input validation, data integrity).

bash scripts/script.sh validate "JSON schema valid against draft-07"
bash scripts/script.sh validate "input validation: 3 fields missing constraints"
bash scripts/script.sh validate

generate — Record or view generation entries

Track code generation, scaffold creation, or output generation tasks.

bash scripts/script.sh generate "generated TypeScript types from GraphQL schema"
bash scripts/script.sh generate "scaffolded new microservice: order-processor"

format — Record or view formatting entries

Log code formatting operations.

bash scripts/script.sh format "ran gofmt on pkg/ — 8 files reformatted"
bash scripts/script.sh format

lint — Record or view lint entries

Track linting results and code quality checks.

bash scripts/script.sh lint "golangci-lint: 0 errors, 2 warnings"
bash scripts/script.sh lint "shellcheck: all scripts clean"

explain — Record or view explanation entries

Save explanations of code behavior, error messages, or design decisions.

bash scripts/script.sh explain "diff algorithm: Myers O(ND) used for line-level comparison"
bash scripts/script.sh explain "merge conflict in config.yaml — both branches added same key"

convert — Record or view conversion entries

Track format conversions and data transformations.

bash scripts/script.sh convert "converted unified diff to side-by-side format"
bash scripts/script.sh convert "transformed XML config to YAML"

template — Record or view template entries

Log template creation or usage.

bash scripts/script.sh template "created diff report template for PR reviews"
bash scripts/script.sh template "applied changelog template to release notes"

diff — Record or view diff entries

Track diff comparisons and change summaries.

bash scripts/script.sh diff "config v1 vs v2: 3 keys added, 1 removed, 2 changed"
bash scripts/script.sh diff "schema migration: 5 columns added across 3 tables"

preview — Record or view preview entries

Log preview/dry-run results before applying changes.

bash scripts/script.sh preview "merge preview: 12 files changed, 3 conflicts detected"
bash scripts/script.sh preview "patch dry-run: applies cleanly to target branch"

fix — Record or view fix entries

Track bug fixes and patches.

bash scripts/script.sh fix "resolved merge conflict in routes.ts"
bash scripts/script.sh fix "patched off-by-one in line number calculation"

report — Record or view report entries

Log report generation or summary observations.

bash scripts/script.sh report "PR diff summary: +342 -128 across 14 files"
bash scripts/script.sh report "weekly change report: 23 commits, 8 PRs merged"

stats — Summary statistics

Show entry counts per category, total entries, data size, and earliest recorded activity.

bash scripts/script.sh stats

export — Export all data

Export all logged entries to JSON, CSV, or plain text format.

bash scripts/script.sh export json
bash scripts/script.sh export csv
bash scripts/script.sh export txt

search — Search across all entries

Search all log files for a keyword (case-insensitive).

bash scripts/script.sh search "merge"
bash scripts/script.sh search "conflict"

recent — View recent activity

Show the last 20 entries from the global activity history.

bash scripts/script.sh recent

status — Health check

Display version, data directory, total entries, disk usage, and last activity timestamp.

bash scripts/script.sh status

help / version

bash scripts/script.sh help
bash scripts/script.sh version

Data Storage

All data is stored locally in ~/.local/share/diff/:

• Per-command logs: check.log, validate.log, generate.log, format.log, lint.log, explain.log, convert.log, template.log, diff.log, preview.log, fix.log, report.log
• Activity history: history.log — global log of all operations with timestamps
• Exports: export.json, export.csv, or export.txt (generated on demand)

Each entry is stored as YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM|<value> with pipe-delimited fields.

Requirements

• bash 4+
• grep, wc, du, tail, head, cat, date, basename (standard coreutils)
• No external dependencies

When to Use

1. Code review documentation — Use check, validate, and report to log PR review findings and change summaries
2. Change tracking — Record file and schema diffs with diff to maintain a history of what changed and when
3. Merge conflict resolution — Log conflicts found (preview), how they were resolved (fix), and explanations (explain)
4. Release management — Track formatting, linting, and validation before each release with a full audit trail
5. Template-driven workflows — Use template and generate to log scaffolding and code generation across projects

Examples

# Log a code review workflow
bash scripts/script.sh check "PR #301: all tests passing"
bash scripts/script.sh lint "eslint clean, no new warnings"
bash scripts/script.sh diff "PR #301: +89 -23 across 5 files"
bash scripts/script.sh report "approved PR #301 with minor suggestions"

# Track a merge conflict resolution
bash scripts/script.sh preview "merge develop→main: 2 conflicts in api/routes.ts"
bash scripts/script.sh fix "resolved conflict: kept develop version of auth middleware"
bash scripts/script.sh explain "conflict caused by parallel refactor of auth flow"

# View stats and export
bash scripts/script.sh stats
bash scripts/script.sh export json

# Search for historical entries
bash scripts/script.sh search "conflict"
bash scripts/script.sh recent

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