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). Auto-detection considers every configured remote, not just origin, so a fork plus upstream layout compares against the branch point rather than a stale fork-main. When the base resolves to a local branch that is strictly behind its origin/ tracking counterpart (your local main drifted behind origin/main), the diff compares against the remote tip, so upstream commits you haven’t pulled don’t show up as session changes.

Key	Action
`j` / `k` or `↑` / `↓`	Navigate between files
Scroll wheel	Scroll through diff content
`PgUp` / `PgDn`	Page through diff
`g` / `G`	Jump to top / bottom of diff

Split view

Diffs can be shown in a split layout (side-by-side: old on the left, new on the right) in addition to the default unified layout. Pure additions and deletions appear on their own side with an aligned placeholder opposite them; context lines show on both sides.

TUI: press s to toggle split vs unified. The choice is saved to [diff].split_view and restored on the next launch (also editable in the settings TUI under Diff). On a narrow diff pane the view falls back to unified automatically.
Web dashboard: use the Unified/Split toggle in the diff header, or Settings → Diff. The preference is stored per browser and the view falls back to unified on narrow screens. Inline comments work in either layout.

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

Key	Action
`s`	Toggle split/unified layout
`b`	Change base branch (persists per-session as `base_branch_override`)
`r`	Refresh the diff
`y`	Copy the selected file’s relative path to the clipboard
`?`	Show help
`Esc`	Close diff view

Copying a file’s path

Copy a changed file’s repo-relative path to the clipboard:

TUI: press y (yank) on the selected file. A Copied <path> confirmation shows in the footer.
Web dashboard: right-click a file in the Changes list (or a folder row in tree view) and choose Copy relative path. A Copied <path> toast confirms it.

The path is relative to the file’s repository root, so it pastes straight into commands or comments.

Commenting on the diff (web only, structured view sessions)

The web dashboard lets you annotate diff lines and send the comments to the agent as a single prompt.

Hover a line and click the + in the left gutter to start a comment. Click + on another line in the same hunk to extend the range (cross-hunk ranges are not allowed).
Write the comment in the inline form (markdown supported). Cmd/Ctrl+Enter saves, Esc cancels. Saved comments render inline as cards with edit/delete.
Once you have a comment, a banner appears above the file list with a Send button (or Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+S). The send dialog has an editable intro, a preview of the assembled comments (each with its captured snippet), and an editable outro. Comments clear on success unless you uncheck “Clear comments after sending”.

Comments persist in localStorage per session (browser-local). If the agent edits a file so a range no longer matches, the comment moves to a “stale comments” block with a [stale] chip; the captured snippet still goes to the agent. The feature is hidden for non-structured view sessions, and Send is disabled while the worker isn’t running.

Per-session base override

Each session can override the branch it diffs against. Use it when the eventual PR target differs from the project default (stacked PRs, hotfix off release/*, branch rename). The override is sticky across restarts and only changes the comparison, not the worktree (no rebase).

Comparison precedence: per-session override, then the branch the worktree was forked from, then diff.default_branch, then auto-detection.

Web dashboard: click the vs <ref> chip in the diff header, pick a branch from the typeahead, or reset to clear the override.
TUI diff view: press b, pick a branch.
CLI: aoe session set-base <session> <branch> to set, aoe session set-base <session> --clear to clear.

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

# Show diffs in a split layout instead of unified (default: false)
split_view = false

Tips: See Changes While Editing

To show git diff markers in your editor’s gutter while editing:

Vim: vim-gitgutter or vim-signify (Plug 'airblade/vim-gitgutter').
Emacs: git-gutter.
VS Code: built-in.
Sublime Text: GitGutter.
Nano: no plugin system; note line numbers from the diff view before editing.

Workflow Example

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