Anvil
fangorn/anvil-cli public
ref:main

anvil pr diff <num> — print PR diff to stdout #11

closed Opened by cole.christensen@gmail.com

Links

No links yet.

Problem

No way to print a PR’s diff from the CLI. Common use: pipe to `less`, AI tools, custom review scripts.

Proposal

`anvil pr diff ` prints the unified diff between PR base and head to stdout.

Implementation options:

  1. Fetch base + head from the remote, run local `git diff base..head`. No new server endpoint; relies on `anvil repo clone` setup or working git remote.
  2. New server endpoint `GET /api/v1/:org/:repo/pulls/:n.diff` returning the diff.

Option 1 is cheapest and good for the v1.

Acceptance criteria

  • `anvil pr diff ` prints unified diff to stdout, exits 0
  • Works in a repo cloned via `anvil repo clone`
  • `–name-only` flag for just file list
  • Errors gracefully if not in a repo cwd

Origin

CLI gap audit.

colechristensen cole.christensen@gmail.com commented 2026-07-26 20:08

Implemented — shipped in commit 0430ea2 (“feat(cli): –json flag, pr diff/checkout, commit view, milestone create”), before the PR-per-change convention.

Verified on main: anvil pr diff <num> resolves the PR’s base/head, fetches both, and prints the three-dot diff (<remote>/<base>...<remote>/<head>) so the patch is against the merge-base. Acceptance criteria:

  • prints unified diff to stdout, exits 0 ✅
  • --name-only flag ✅ (plus --remote, default origin)
  • works in a cloned repo ✅
  • errors when git can’t fetch (surfaces git fetch <remote> <base> <head> failed) ✅

Also honours --json (the patch is captured and returned as a payload field rather than streamed), per #32.

Back to issues