:diff()

The :diff() pseudo-class matches packages whose files have changed between the current working tree and a specified git commitish reference. It uses git diff --name-only to determine changed files, then maps them to packages by their file path location.

Syntax

:diff()
:diff(<commitish>)

When called with no argument, defaults to HEAD (uncommitted changes).

Examples

Uncommitted changes

Find packages with uncommitted changes:

Terminal

$ vlt query ':diff()'

Changes since a branch

Find packages changed since the main branch:

Terminal

$ vlt query ':diff(main)'

Changes since last commit

Terminal

$ vlt query ':diff(HEAD~1)'

Changes since a tag

Terminal

$ vlt query ':diff("v1.0.0")'

Only workspaces that changed

Terminal

$ vlt query ':workspace:diff(main)'

What gets selected

Given a monorepo where you changed files in packages/core/ and packages/utils/ since main:

my-monorepo
├── packages/core/        ← files changed
├── packages/utils/       ← files changed
├── packages/cli/
└── apps/web/

:diff(main) selects:

my-monorepo
├── packages/core/        ✅ has changed files
├── packages/utils/       ✅ has changed files
├── packages/cli/
└── apps/web/

CI use cases

Run tests only for changed workspaces:

Terminal

$ vlt query ':workspace:diff(main)' --view=json | xargs -I {} vlr test -w {}

Find packages that depend on changed packages:

Terminal

$ vlt query ':has(> :diff(main))'

See also

• :path() — match by file path
• :has() — find packages that depend on changed packages