# jeffkaufman/icdiff

improved colored diff

Repository: https://github.com/jeffkaufman/icdiff
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/icdiff
Homepage: http://www.jefftk.com/icdiff
Language: Python
License: NOASSERTION
License Family: other
Last push: 2026-02-08T15:02:54+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 62/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-02T17:46:02.011165+00:00)
- activity 66, release rhythm 35, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 5875, "days_push": 206, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: no_releases, no_license
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 4388, forks 180 (observed 2026-08-28T04:08:47.183179+00:00)

## What it is
icdiff is a Python command-line tool that shows side-by-side, color-highlighted diffs between files. It complements standard diff by making small in-line changes easier to see rather than replacing diff in all situations.

## Use cases
- compare two files side by side with color highlighting
- see small changes within lines that plain diff obscures
- recursively diff directories
- generate readable colored diffs during code review
- view diffs with line numbers and custom colors

## When to choose
- you want a clearer, side-by-side colored view of file differences than unified diff provides
- you need a lightweight standalone diff tool installable via pip, apt, brew, or nix

## When to avoid
- you need a diff replacement that outputs machine-readable patches for all workflows
- you need GUI-based visual diffing or IDE integration

## Facets
- artifact type: cli-tool
- maturity: stable
- function: developer-tools, cli
- domain: developer-tools, version-control
- platform: windows, cli, python
- tags: diff, colored-output, side-by-side-comparison, file-comparison, command-line, linux, macos

## Member repositories
- jeffkaufman/icdiff (main) score 62

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:08:47.183179+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-29T18:21:13.762219+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/jeffkaufman/icdiff (fetched 2026-08-28T04:08:47.183179+00:00, sha ec987fdc7f52)
  - homepage: http://www.jefftk.com/icdiff (fetched 2026-08-29T09:09:18.287579+00:00, sha b90de416a264)
  - registry_pypi: https://pypi.org/pypi/icdiff/json (fetched 2026-08-29T09:09:18.296935+00:00, sha 4a043b3915ca)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.