Diff Chooser

Diff Chooser is a VS Code and Cursor extension that keeps an entire feature branch visible after work-in-progress commits. It adds a separate Source Control provider whose file list and editor gutter compare against a branch or commit you choose.

The built-in Git provider is not modified. Its normal working-tree changes can remain visible alongside Diff Chooser.

How comparisons work

• Selecting a local or remote branch compares against the merge base between that branch and the current HEAD. This shows work added on the current branch without showing newer commits that only exist on the selected branch.
• Entering a commit hash or Git revision resolves it once and uses that exact commit.
• Committed, staged, unstaged, and untracked changes are included.
• The selection is stored per repository in workspace state.
• Every Git repository detected by VS Code gets its own Diff Chooser provider.

For example, if a feature branch split from main at commit A, then main added M1 and the feature branch added F1, selecting main uses A as the baseline. The resulting comparison shows F1, not the absence of M1.

Commands

The following commands are available from the Command Palette and from each Diff Chooser provider's title bar:

• Diff Chooser: Select Baseline lists local and remote branches and allows entering an exact commit or revision.
• Diff Chooser: Refresh recalculates the selected baseline and changed files.
• Diff Chooser: Clear Baseline removes the saved selection for that repository.

Click a changed file in the Diff Chooser provider to open its full comparison. Editor gutter markers use the same baseline while you edit. Rename comparisons use the file's original path.

Requirements and limitations

• VS Code API version 1.125 or a compatible Cursor release.
• The git executable must be available on PATH.
• Diff Chooser appears as an additional Source Control provider because the public extension API cannot replace the built-in Git provider's baseline.
• Built-in Git gutter markers may coexist with Diff Chooser markers.
• Deleted files appear in Source Control and open as a comparison, but cannot display gutter markers because there is no working file to open.
• Quick diffs are text documents; binary files do not have meaningful gutter comparisons.

Development

npm install
npm run check
npm run lint
npm test

Use the Run Diff Chooser launch configuration to open an Extension Development Host when interactive testing is desired. Create a VSIX with:

npm run package

Publishing

Version tags publish independently to both extension registries:

• azure-pipelines.yml publishes to Visual Studio Marketplace for VS Code using Microsoft Entra workload identity.
• .github/workflows/publish.yml publishes to Open VSX for Cursor using an Open VSX access token.

The tag must match the version in package.json. For example, version 0.1.0 is published by pushing the v0.1.0 tag. Both pipelines type-check, lint, and test the extension before publishing.

Visual Studio Marketplace

Create an Azure DevOps Azure Resource Manager service connection named diff-chooser-publishing using workload identity federation. Its user-assigned managed identity must be a Contributor on the pprg1996 Visual Studio Marketplace publisher. Then create an Azure Pipeline from the existing azure-pipelines.yml file. No personal access token is stored.

See the official VS Code publishing guide for the managed identity, federated credential, service connection, and Marketplace publisher setup.

Open VSX

Sign the Open VSX Publisher Agreement, generate a dedicated CI access token, and create the namespace once:

read -s OVSX_PAT
export OVSX_PAT
npx ovsx create-namespace pprg1996
unset OVSX_PAT

Store that token as the OVSX_PAT GitHub Actions secret. Open VSX does not currently support OIDC trusted publishing, so this dedicated token remains required. See the official Open VSX publishing guide for account and namespace setup.