Split Diffs Are Here
6 days ago
- #Performance
- #Git
- #Zed
- Split diffs are now the default in Zed starting from version v0.224.
- The split diff view shows base text on the left and working copy on the right, scrolling in sync.
- This feature was the top request after Git integration was shipped in March 2025.
- Zed's diffs are built on multibuffers, allowing seamless cursor movement and text selection across files.
- The split diff view had to scale gracefully and maintain alignment on every keystroke.
- The block map was used to keep corresponding lines vertically aligned by inserting spacers.
- Performance optimizations were made to ensure split diffs remain fast, even on large changesets.
- Optimizations included fixing inefficiencies in the block map and using the correct process spawning API on macOS.
- Split diffs are now available in the stable release, with further performance improvements expected in future updates.
- Users can switch back to unified diffs via settings if preferred.