Diff View

The diff view lets you review changes between your working directory and a base branch (like main), then edit files directly.

Opening Diff View

From the main screen, press D to open the diff view. It shows:

• Left panel: List of changed files with status indicators (M=modified, A=added, D=deleted)
• Right panel: Diff content for the selected file

The diff is computed against the base branch (defaults to main or your repo's default branch).

Navigation

Editing Files

Press e or Enter to open the selected file in your editor ($EDITOR, or vim/nano if not set).

After saving and exiting, the diff view refreshes automatically to show your changes.

Other Commands

Configuration

In your config file (~/.config/agent-of-empires/config.toml on Linux, ~/.agent-of-empires/config.toml on macOS):

[diff]
# Default branch to compare against (auto-detected if not set)
default_branch = "main"

# Lines of context around changes (default: 3)
context_lines = 3

Tips: See Changes While Editing

The diff view shows you where changes are before you edit. For an even better experience, you can install editor plugins that show git diff markers in the gutter while you edit:

Vim

Install vim-gitgutter or vim-signify. These show +, -, and ~ markers in the sign column for added, removed, and modified lines.

With vim-plug:

Plug 'airblade/vim-gitgutter'

Nano

Nano doesn't have a plugin system, so there's no equivalent. Use the diff view to note line numbers before editing, or consider switching to vim for this workflow.

Other Editors

• Emacs: git-gutter
• VS Code: Built-in git gutter support
• Sublime Text: GitGutter

Workflow Example

1. Press D to open diff view
2. Use j/k to browse changed files
3. Scroll to review each file's changes
4. Press e to edit a file that needs work
5. Save and exit the editor
6. Continue reviewing (diff auto-refreshes)
7. Press Esc when done