git-difftool

List available diff tools

$ git difftool --tool-help

$ git config --global diff.tool "[meld]"

$ git difftool --staged

$ git difftool [[-t|--tool]] [opendiff] [commit]

git difftool [options] [commit]… [--no-index | --dir-diff] pathspec…

--tool=
    Use specified diff tool (e.g., meld, vimdiff); lists available with git difftool --tool-help.

--extcmd=
    Use custom external command for diffing two files.

--extcmd-config
    Like --extcmd but reads command from difftool.<tool>.cmd config.

--dir-diff
    Use tool's directory diff mode; implies one directory arg per side.

--no-index
    Compare files not in Git index (e.g., arbitrary files/directories).

--no-prompt
    Do not prompt before launching tool for each file.

--prompt
    Prompt before each file (default).

--trust-exit-code
    Respect exit code from per-file exit (advanced).

-y, --no-prompt
    Synonym for --no-prompt.

--cached, --staged
    Compare working dir/index to HEAD/index.

-R
    Reverse diff direction.

--submodule[=]
    Control submodule diff recursion.

git difftool launches an external diff tool to visually compare changes between Git trees, commits, files, or directories. Unlike git diff's text output, it opens graphical or console viewers like Meld, vimdiff, KDiff3, or Beyond Compare for easier spotting of differences.

It supports comparing:
• Working directory vs index (git difftool)
• Index vs HEAD (git difftool --cached)
• Two commits (git difftool commit1 commit2)
• Arbitrary paths (git difftool --no-index file1 file2)
• Directory diffs with --dir-diff.

Configure via git config diff.tool <tool> and difftool.<tool>.cmd. Prompts before each file by default; use --no-prompt to launch all. Inherits most git diff options for flexibility in staging, pathspecs, and more. Ideal for developers reviewing changes before commit or merge.

Requires configured diff.tool or prompts for tool; some tools may not handle binary/large files well. Inherits git diff limitations on pathspecs. Not for real-time editing—use git mergetool for merges.

git config --global diff.tool meld
git config --global difftool.meld.cmd 'meld "$LOCAL" "$REMOTE"'

Run git difftool --tool-help to list supported tools like ardiff, bc3, codecompare, deltawalker, diffuse, ecmerge, gvimdiff, kompare, meld, opendiff, p4merge, tkdiff, vimdiff, vimdifft3, winmerge.

Introduced in Git 1.6.1 (2008) to complement git diff with visual tools. Evolved with Git versions adding --dir-diff (1.7.2), --no-index support, and better config integration. Widely used in modern workflows for PR reviews and conflict resolution.

git diff(1), git mergetool(1), git config(1)