code-preview

Code Preview

A universal CLI tool to preview uncommitted code changes with rich syntax highlighting — before you commit them.
It works with any language and any Git repository.

Quickly visualize what your next commit will look like — right in your terminal.

Features

• Colored Diff Preview: Additions (green), deletions (red), and context (gray).
• Language-Agnostic: Works for Java, Python, JavaScript, Scala, Go, etc.
• Rich Terminal Output: Powered by Textualize Rich.
• Git-Integrated: Shows all unstaged and staged file changes.
• No Commit Required: Safe to preview changes locally anytime.
• Extensible Design: Add plugins or render to HTML in the future.

Example Output

Here is a preview of what changed in a Java file:

──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
a/src/main/java/com/example/App.java → b/src/main/java/com/example/App.java

@@ -14,6 +14,8 @@
 public class App {
     public static void main(String[] args) {
-        System.out.println("Hello, world!");
+        System.out.println("Hello, Aryant!");
+        System.out.println("Code preview is working");
     }
 }
──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

Installation

From PyPI (Recommended)

You can install code-preview using pip:

pip install code-preview

From Source

If you want to install it from your local folder for development:

git clone https://github.com/Aryant-Tripathi/code-preview.git
cd code-preview
pip install -e .

Usage

Preview All Unstaged Changes

Simply run the command in the root of your Git repository:

code-preview

Preview Changes in a Specific Folder

You can limit the preview to a specific directory or file:

code-preview src/

Run Directly Without Installation

You can also run the tool directly as a Python module:

python -m code_preview.cli

How It Works

• Detects all files with uncommitted changes using GitPython.
• Reads their last committed version (HEAD).
• Compares against your local version using difflib.
• Renders the diff with syntax highlighting via Rich.

Roadmap

• Auto-detect syntax for each file type (.java, .py, .js, etc.)
• Add --html mode for browser-based diff preview
• Add --watch mode for real-time change tracking
• Support for non-Git directories (via snapshots)
• VSCode/IntelliJ plugin integration

Development

Interested in contributing? Here's how to set up your environment.

Setup Virtual Environment

python3 -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate

Install Dependencies

Install the project in "editable" mode:

pip install -e .

Run Locally

Run the tool using the development entry point:

python -m code_preview.cli

Project Structure

code-preview/
├── src/
│   └── code_preview/
│       ├── __init__.py         # Package initializer
│       ├── cli.py              # Main CLI entry point (argparse)
│       ├── git_utils.py        # Git interaction logic
│       ├── diff_renderer.py    # Logic for rendering diffs with Rich
│       └── file_utils.py       # File reading utilities
├── pyproject.toml              # Build configuration (PEP 621)
├── setup.cfg                   # Package metadata
├── README.md
└── LICENSE

Publishing (For Maintainers)

• Build:

  python3 -m build
  

• Upload to TestPyPI:

  python3 -m twine upload --repository testpypi dist/*
  

• Test Install:

  pip install -i https://test.pypi.org/simple/ code-preview
  

• Publish to PyPI:

  python3 -m twine upload dist/*
  

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! If you find this project useful:

• Star it on GitHub → Aryant-Tripathi/code-preview
• Open issues for feature requests or bugs
• Submit pull requests for enhancements

Acknowledgements

• Rich for beautiful terminal rendering
• GitPython for Git integration
• Inspired by the need for more readable git diff previews for all developers

Author

Aryant Tripathi

• Software Engineer | Open Source Contributor | DSA Mentor
• Email: [e-mail]
• GitHub: @Aryant-Tripathi
• LinkedIn: in/aryant-tripathi

License

This project is licensed under the Apache-2.0 License — see the LICENSE file for details.