Installation

Differens ships as an npm CLI plus five published libraries. It is built with Bun, TypeScript, and Turborepo, and runs on any platform that supports Bun or Node.

Prerequisites

Bun >= 1.3 or Node >= 18.17 to run the CLI and install the libraries
A package manager (npm, bun, or your tool of choice) to install from npm

Install the CLI

Install globally, or add it to your project as a dev dependency:

npm install -g differens

bun install -g differens

npm install -D differens

git clone https://github.com/ossl-dev/differens
cd differens
bun install
bun run build
bun link

Install the libraries

Each stage of the pipeline is published as a separate package under the @ossl-dev scope. Install only the pieces you use:

npm install @ossl-dev/differens-core

bun add @ossl-dev/differens-core

npm install \
  @ossl-dev/differens-core \
  @ossl-dev/differens-tiers \
  @ossl-dev/differens-narrate \
  @ossl-dev/differens-correlate \
  @ossl-dev/differens-git

The six packages

Package	Description
`differens`	The CLI: working tree, file, directory, and commit-range diffs with terminal, JSON, markdown, and LLM output
`@ossl-dev/differens-core`	The semantic diff core: GumTree-lineage tree matching over postorder arrays, emitting typed edit scripts
`@ossl-dev/differens-tiers`	Content-tier adapters that parse code, config, and markup into trees the core can match
`@ossl-dev/differens-narrate`	Turns a differens edit script into sentences, markdown, JSON, or a token-frugal format for models
`@ossl-dev/differens-correlate`	Cross-file correlation: finds the code that moved between two files
`@ossl-dev/differens-git`	Git integration: working tree, commit range, and directory diffs, plus the git diff driver

Standalone executable

To ship Differens as a single binary that needs no runtime install:

bun build --compile packages/cli/src/index.ts --outfile differens
./differens --help

The compiled binary bundles Bun’s runtime, so it runs on machines without Bun or Node installed. The tradeoff is a larger file.

Verify the installation

differens --help

You should see usage for the core commands:

Usage: differens [options] [a] [b]

Diff a working tree, two files, two directories, or a commit range.

Options:
  --format <format>  terminal | json | markdown | llm (default: terminal)
  --help             Show this help message
  --version          Show the version number

Next: the Quickstart.

Getting Started

How It Works

Guides

Installation

Installation

Prerequisites

Install the CLI

Install the libraries

The six packages

Standalone executable

Verify the installation

​Installation

​Prerequisites

​Install the CLI

​Install the libraries

​The six packages

​Standalone executable

​Verify the installation

Installation

Prerequisites

Install the CLI

Install the libraries

The six packages

Standalone executable

Verify the installation