Side-by-side Git View

[spkgyk]

It would be nice to see changes side-by-side instead of vertically, with differences highlighted. For example, if I change a variable name from addtwonumbers to addTwoNumbers, the T and the N would be highlighted.

VS Code does something similar, and I think it provides a very easy viewing experience. As with vim, you could switch from the left buffer and right buffer with ctrl-w-h and ctrl-w-l.

The highlighting isn't that clear with vs code, but the side-by-side view is very nice to see. It means I can edit code in the git diff viewer, and see the changes to the original code in real time.

[Joride]

Xcode does a similar thing, and allows jumping from one change to the next with the up and down arrows, by clicking the divider between the views.
Very, very useful when going over any leftovers/remnants of a debugging session before committing.

[kotkoroid]

I've been trying the current implementation for weeks, but I haven't found it to be more useful or clearer than the VS Code version, especially for comparing staged files and resolving Git conflicts. Have you considered opening an issue? I wasn't able to find one.

[raul-gherman]

I second this request

[sporritt]

I'd vote for this too. Having just come across Zed I think it looks great, but the diff view pales in comparison with the side-by-side that I'm used to in IntelliJ.

[ArturAronov]

This feature would be a great addition. Coming from VSCode, this is something that I miss a lot...

[remorses]

This is one of the most important features for me

[widersky]

Just copy-paste IntelliJ implementation, it's the best out there.

[Trosterud]

it's so good every time I try to switch away from the editor I keep going back to the git view before pushing

[sporritt]

Me too. And then there's also changelists...

[Imamsubekti26]

I think this is a duplicate with this #4523

[remorses]

nope, completely different, this issue is for deletions and additions to be in separate panes to make it easier to read

[bkgthumanity]

Yup this is my number one missing feature. The over and above git view is really hard to get the context of the changes particular if they are more extensive. A side by side diff view where you can easily see the new file vs the old file (with changes highlighted) is so much easier to read. (It also works better when working with LLM's too as it's easier to copy past new and old files... to put into an llm).

[lasfito]

bumping this as i just switched to zed and this is currently one of my main struggles

[matthieusieben]

Also, add a panel that allows to choose what to compare with:

• HEAD
• main branch
• main branch (on remote)
• arbitrary branch

see #31961

[zhe]

It would be very helpful to support the option of Ignore Trim Whitespace.

(seen in VS Code under Settings > Text Editor > Diff Editor)

[LeoLionel]

Same here: Not having a side by side view for git changes is the one feature I am missing to fully switch over to Zed.

[ghb-enzian]

I am alsao having this issue. Especially I do not want to make the agent changes and then bulk view but I want to stay in 'ask' mode and then 'generate' a diff per 'parts' I copy into the editor and inspect the diff.

[swaroop0210]

yeah i feels like i get used to so much seeing the diff side by side in vs code. a little bit trouble viewing it vertically. of course a skill issue though.

[kotkoroid]

You can climb up the mountain using hands only, but why would you do that if you can use legs.

[kmatt]

Is it possible to use an external pager with Zed?

While waiting for a built-in, https://github.com/dandavison/delta does a good side-by-side diff presentation.

[reslear]

or https://github.com/Wilfred/difftastic

[lionel-]

You can launch a cli app like lazygit in a task and configure it to use delta. See #8665 (comment) for discussions on integrating lazygit in zed, and https://github.com/jesseduffield/lazygit/blob/master/docs/Custom_Pagers.md#delta for using Delta as pager.

[nickmealey]

Joining in here - the side by side is so much of a better experience in seeing what exactly changed. This might be the one thing holding me back from switching to Zed.

[noahschumacher]

Also tapping my vote in. I often find myself opening up VSCode just to view the side by side diff :(

[harrarz]

+1 only caviat i have with zed atm

[htor]

it's very surprising how bare bones the git integration feels. for a software that brands itself as "next-generation code editor designed for high-performance collaboration" it feels like Zed struggling to even be a "this-generation code editor".

collaboration in code starts with version control. as long as other nice-to-have features are prioritized over core features such as git Zed is never going to be a "next-generation editor". it simply feels like a toy/proof of concept focused on "something else".

this is sad, because i want zed to be my go-to editor. but as long as it does not do version control half good it's never going to be.

[widersky]

That's true, I noticed it a long time ago. I'm rooting for Zed, but I'm overwhelmed by how much the team focuses on pointless AI stuff and keeps adding new keyboard shortcuts, while highly upvoted bugs are being ignored. For example on non-Retina screens, lots of people have issues with blurry text. It's one of the most upvoted issues and has been consistently ignored for months. I won't be able to use Zed without that bug being fixed, no matter how many fancy features they add. The half-baked GIT integration is another problem for me. The UI, which looks like it was made for ants, is also an issue. Zed has massive potential, but the devs are focusing on nonsense and I'm losing interest in this editor more and more.

[sebamatusr]

+10 the only reason I still open vscode is to do git conflict resolution or comparing diffs

[braden-w]

For now as a temporary solution, I use lazygit with side-by-side diffs as configured in #155.

I wish they added support for this in the Zed editor though!

[kmatt]

A git-delta approach, which just shows the same diffs I'm used to in Vim / terminal, in the Zed center terminal instead:

https://gist.github.com/kmatt/41f3aac9e44a5cf1b27a76c83d8ded92

[o-az]

~/.config/tasks.json or .zed/tasks.json

[
  {
    "shell": "system",
    "label": "gitdiff",
    "command": "git diff $ZED_FILE"
  }
]

~/.config/keymap.json

[
  // ...
  {
    "context": "Editor",
    "bindings": {
      "alt-d": [
        "task::Spawn",
        { "task_name": "gitdiff", "reveal_target": "center" }
      ]
    }
  }
]

run with ⌥ + d on macOS

[Yves852]

Same as many other. I rely on side-by-side view and even the extension 'git lens' in vscodium to always have the context to be the closest of the code I'm reading/refactoring.

So far I can survive the lack of git lens but the split view is my last nail preventing me to make the jump.