Quick Start#

Five minimal examples that cover most of what you’ll do day-to-day.

Compare two local files#

diffyml old.yaml new.yaml

The default detailed format renders a colored, contextual diff in the terminal.

Compare two local directories#

diffyml dir-old/ dir-new/

diffyml walks both directories recursively, matches files by relative path, and shows aggregated differences. Non-YAML files are silently skipped.

Compare a local file against a remote URL#

diffyml local.yaml https://example.com/remote.yaml

from and to arguments accept HTTP/HTTPS URLs in addition to local paths.

Use in CI with an exit code#

diffyml -s before.yaml after.yaml || echo "Config drift detected"

The -s / --set-exit-code flag makes diffyml exit 1 when differences are found, 0 when files are identical, and 255 on errors. Without -s the exit code is always 0 (drift is reported but not failed).

Use as the kubectl external diff provider#

export KUBECTL_EXTERNAL_DIFF="diffyml --omit-header --set-exit-code"
kubectl diff -f manifests/

kubectl diff with diffyml

kubectl passes two temporary directories of resource manifests; diffyml compares them recursively.

What’s next#

  • Output Formats — pick compact, brief, json, or a CI-specific format
  • Filtering — narrow the diff to paths you care about
  • CI Integration — wire diffyml into GitHub Actions, GitLab, Gitea, or git
  • Reference — every flag, generated from source
Backward Install Output Formats Forward