GitHub Diff URL

Build a GitHub compare link between any two refs, right from the page you are on. No token required.

Build a GitHub compare link between any two refs, without leaving the page you are on. GitHub already has an excellent diff viewer. It lives at: github.com/OWNER/REPO/compare/BASE...HEAD The tedious part is assembling that URL by hand: remembering the organisation, then the repository, then the branch, then pasting a 40 character commit SHA. This extension does that part for you. HOW IT WORKS Open any GitHub repository page and press Alt+Shift+D, click the toolbar icon, or use the floating button in the bottom right corner. A small panel appears with two fields: • Base is filled in from the repository default branch (main, master, develop or dev). • Head is filled in with the current commit SHA when you are looking at a commit. Both fields autocomplete across branches, tags and recent commits. Commits are searchable by their message, not only by SHA, and you can always paste a raw hash. Then choose Open, New tab, or Copy. COMPARING TWO ARBITRARY COMMITS The panel shows whichever commit you are currently viewing, with buttons to send it to either field: 1. Open commit A and click the base button 2. Navigate to commit B and click the head button 3. Click Open Your selection is remembered per repository, so it survives navigation. THREE DOT VERSUS TWO DOT • Three dot (the default) shows everything that landed on head since it diverged from base. This is the merge base diff, and it is usually what you want. • Two dot shows the direct difference between the two refs, so anything present in base but missing from head appears as a deletion. NO TOKEN, NO ACCOUNT, NO SETUP The extension runs as a content script on github.com, so its requests are same origin and use the session you are already signed in with. Private repositories work exactly like public ones. There is nothing to configure, no personal access token to generate, and no account to create. PRIVACY This extension collects nothing and sends nothing anywhere. It talks only to github.com. The one thing it stores is your last chosen base and head per repository, kept locally in your browser so the panel remembers where you left off. OPEN SOURCE MIT licensed. Full source, issue tracker and release history: https://github.com/aydindie/github-diff-url PERMISSIONS • github.com host access: the panel runs only on GitHub, and reads the branch, tag and commit lists that it offers you. • storage: remembers your last base and head per repository, locally. • scripting: lets the toolbar button open the panel in a GitHub tab that was already open before the extension was installed. LIMITATIONS • Chromium browsers only (Chrome, Edge, Brave). • The panel does not render the diff itself. It takes you to the GitHub compare page, which already does that well.