---
title: "Diffs"
description: "The diff overlay: side-by-side or unified, from the sidebar or the panel."
---

## Opening one

| From | How |
|---|---|
| The sidebar | Click a row's `+N −M` counts |
| Source Control | **Open Changes** on a file, or click the row |
| History | Click a file inside a commit's detail view |

A diff docks beside the terminal, in the same column an open file uses, so the
pane you were reading stays on screen. <kbd>Esc</kbd> closes it, and the two
cells at the end of its header — the same Dock / Fill switch an open file
carries — send it across the whole window instead
[more about the column →](/window/side-panel#where-it-opens)

<Frame caption="The diff, side by side, across every changed file">
  <img src="/images/diff-overlay.webp" alt="The tty7 diff overlay" />
</Frame>

## Side-by-side or unified

The two cells beside the Dock / Fill switch draw it: two panes next to each
other is side by side, two panes stacked is unified. Hovering one
names it, and **Toggle Unified / Side-by-Side Diff** in Search Everywhere does
the same thing from the keyboard. The choice is global — one setting for every
diff, the same call VS Code's `diffEditor.renderSideBySide` makes — and persists
as `diff_view` in `config.json`.

## What it shows

- Every changed file, with its status and `+N −M`
- **Untracked files** as a preview of their contents, up to 4 MB — past that the
  card says the read failed rather than showing a silently cut-off file
- A commit's files, when the diff came from the history

Two limits keep a huge diff from becoming a huge wait:

| Limit | Value | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| Files rendered | 300 | *"… and N more changed files — run git diff in the terminal to see them."* |
| Lines before auto-collapse | 400 per file | Big files start collapsed; expand the ones you care about |

Both are stated in the overlay when they apply — nothing is dropped silently.