Branch PR Viewer
Browse your local branches, newest first, and review each one's changed files exactly like a GitHub Pull Request "Files changed" view — without a remote, a PR, or the command line.
Built on VS Code's native APIs with zero runtime dependencies. It reads git through the built-in Git extension and the git CLI; nothing is checked out and no temp files are written.
How it works
- Open the Branch PR Viewer view from the Activity Bar. It lists every local branch, newest commit first, with its relative age and
+added -deleted counts vs the base.
- Expand a branch to see the files that differ from the base, using three-dot / merge-base semantics (
git diff base...branch) — the same diff GitHub shows for a PR. Commits that landed on the base after the branch diverged are excluded.
- Click a file to open VS Code's native diff editor — the base version on the left, the branch version on the right.
Files are badged A / M / D / R (added, modified, deleted, renamed) just like the Source Control view.
Base branch
By default the base is detected automatically: main, falling back to master. Set a specific base with the Select Base Branch… button in the view title, or via the branchPrViewer.baseBranch setting.
Multi-root workspaces
Open several repositories at once (e.g. a monorepo split, or api + web side by side) and each git repository gets its own section. With a single repository, the repo level is dropped and branches sit at the top.
Settings
| Setting |
Default |
Description |
branchPrViewer.baseBranch |
"" |
Branch to compare against with three-dot (merge-base) diff. When empty, the base is auto-detected: main, then master. |
Commands
| Command |
Description |
| Branch PR Viewer: Refresh |
Reload branches and diffs (title-bar refresh icon). |
| Branch PR Viewer: Select Base Branch… |
Pick the base branch to compare against. |
Notes
- Local branches only (
refs/heads) — remotes are not listed.
- Comparisons use immutable commit SHAs, so the diff editor's content is always consistent with what the tree shows.
- Binary files are listed and badged but render as empty in the text diff editor (same as any text diff tool).
License
MIT
