Diff & Git Structured output

diff_outline

Shows functions/classes added, modified, or deleted between git refs. Semantic clarity over raw stat output.

git diff --stat
Native baseline
1,253 vs 793
Tokens (CS vs native)

What it does

Shows which functions and classes were added, modified, or deleted between git refs. Much more readable than git diff --stat for understanding what changed conceptually rather than which lines changed.

Benchmark

Slight token increase (~1,253 vs ~793) — but output is structured and semantic vs raw stat output. The value is not token reduction. It is semantic clarity: “function processPayment was modified, interface PaymentResult was added” vs “src/payments/processor.ts | 47 +++---”.

When to use

  • Pre-deploy review: what actually changed?
  • API compatibility checks
  • Combined with impact_analysis for full change reasoning

Related tools

changed_symbols impact_analysis

Benchmark note

This benchmark compares CodeSift against the closest practical native workflow an agent would use for the same task. For some tools, that baseline is a direct shell equivalent such as rg or find. For AST-aware, graph-aware, and LSP-backed tools, the baseline is a multi-step workflow rather than a strictly identical command. Results should be read as agent-workflow comparisons: token cost, call count, and practical context efficiency.