hunk

Hunk is a review-first terminal diff viewer for agent-authored changesets, built on OpenTUI and Pierre diffs.

• multi-file review stream with sidebar navigation
• inline AI and agent annotations beside the code
• split, stack, and responsive auto layouts
• watch mode for auto-reloading file and Git-backed reviews
• keyboard, mouse, pager, and Git difftool support

Split view with sidebar and inline AI notes

Stacked view and mouse-selectable menus

Install

npm i -g hunkdiff

Requirements:

• Node.js 18+
• macOS or Linux
• Git recommended for most workflows

Quick start

hunk           # show help
hunk --version # print the installed version

Working with Git

Hunk mirrors Git's diff-style commands, but opens the changeset in a review UI instead of plain text.

hunk diff                      # review current repo changes, including untracked files
hunk diff --watch              # auto-reload as the working tree changes
hunk show                      # review the latest commit
hunk show HEAD~1               # review an earlier commit

Working with raw files and patches

hunk diff before.ts after.ts                # compare two files directly
hunk diff before.ts after.ts --watch        # auto-reload when either file changes
git diff --no-color | hunk patch -          # review a patch from stdin

Working with agents

Load the skills/hunk-review/SKILL.md skill in your coding agent (e.g. Claude, Codex, Opencode, Pi).

You can get the absolute path to the skill file from your local install by running hunk skill path. Prefer loading or symlinking that file in your agent instead of copying it so Hunk upgrades stay in sync automatically.

Open Hunk in another window, then ask your agent to leave comments. For the full live-session and --agent-context workflow guide, see docs/agent-workflows.md.

Feature comparison

Capability	hunk	lumen	difftastic	delta	diff-so-fancy	diff
Review-first interactive UI	✅	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌
Multi-file review stream + sidebar	✅	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌
Inline agent / AI annotations	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌
Responsive auto split/stack layout	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌
Mouse support inside the viewer	✅	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌
Runtime view toggles	✅	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌
Syntax highlighting	✅	✅	✅	✅	❌	❌
Structural diffing	❌	❌	✅	❌	❌	❌
Pager-compatible mode	✅	❌	✅	✅	✅	✅

Hunk is optimized for reviewing a full changeset interactively.

Advanced

Config

You can persist preferences to a config file:

• ~/.config/hunk/config.toml
• .hunk/config.toml

Example:

theme = "graphite"   # graphite, midnight, paper, ember
mode = "auto"        # auto, split, stack
exclude_untracked = false
line_numbers = true
wrap_lines = false
agent_notes = false

exclude_untracked affects working-tree hunk diff sessions only.

Git integration

Set Hunk as your Git pager so git diff and git show open in Hunk automatically:

Note

Untracked files are auto-included only for Hunk's own hunk diff working-tree loader. If you open git diff through hunk pager, Git still decides the patch contents, so untracked files will not appear there.

git config --global core.pager "hunk pager"

Or in your Git config:

[core]
    pager = hunk pager

If you want to keep Git's default pager and add opt-in aliases instead:

git config --global alias.hdiff "-c core.pager=\"hunk pager\" diff"
git config --global alias.hshow "-c core.pager=\"hunk pager\" show"

Agent workflows

Hunk supports two agent workflows:

• steer a live Hunk window from another terminal with hunk session ... (recommended)
• load agent comments from a file with --agent-context

Start by loading the Hunk review skill: skills/hunk-review/SKILL.md.

You can get the absolute path to the skill file from your local install by running hunk skill path.

A good generic prompt is:

Load the Hunk skill and use it for this review.

That skill teaches the agent how to inspect a live Hunk session, navigate it, reload it, and leave inline comments.

For more, see docs/agent-workflows.md.

OpenTUI component

Hunk also publishes HunkDiffView from hunkdiff/opentui for embedding the same diff renderer in your own OpenTUI app.

See docs/opentui-component.md for install, API, and runnable examples.

Examples

Ready-to-run demo diffs live in examples/.

Each example includes the exact command to run from the repository root.

Contributing

For source setup, tests, packaging checks, and repo architecture, see CONTRIBUTING.md.

License

MIT