hunk

hunk

Hunk is a review-first terminal diff viewer for agent-authored changesets, built on OpenTUI and Pierre diffs.

hunk.dev · Documentation

• multi-file review stream with sidebar navigation
• inline AI and agent annotations beside the code
• split, unified, and responsive auto layouts
• watch mode for auto-reloading file and Git-backed reviews
• keyboard, mouse, pager, and Git difftool support

Install

The default installation method on macOS and Linux downloads a standalone binary and installs it into ~/.hunk. It checks the archive against the release checksum when both SHA256SUMS and a supported checksum tool are available, and warns otherwise. Release discovery uses Hunk's anonymous aggregate endpoint with direct GitHub fallback:

curl -fsSL https://hunk.dev/install.sh | sh

Windows users can install with npm or mise. Other installation methods are also available:

npm i -g hunkdiff                    # macOS, Linux, or Windows; requires Node.js 22+
brew install hunk                    # macOS or Linux
mise use -g hunk                     # macOS, Linux, or Windows

[!NOTE] If you previously installed hunk via modem-dev/tap, be sure to uninstall it first with brew uninstall modem-dev/tap/hunk.

Windows requires mise 2026.8.6 or newer. Nix users can use the default package exported in flake.nix; see the Nix guide for details. Hunk also ships as a default tool in Omarchy, installed through mise.

Requirements:

• macOS, Linux, or Windows
• On x86-64, a CPU with SSE4.2 (Intel Nehalem 2008+, AMD Bulldozer 2011+); arm64 has no CPU feature floor
• Node.js 22+ for the npm install; the install script, Homebrew, mise, and Nix ship a standalone binary that does not require Node.js
• Git recommended for most workflows

Update Hunk

Starting with Hunk 0.20, npm, Homebrew, and default install-script installs use Hunk’s canonical update command:

hunk update          # install the newest release
hunk update --check  # check without installing
hunk update 0.20.0   # select an exact npm or default install-script release

On an older release, update once with the installer or package manager that installed Hunk, then use hunk update going forward. Custom HUNK_INSTALL_DIR installs must re-run the installer with the same directory; mise, Nix, and source installs use their owning tools instead.

Quick start

hunk           # show help
hunk --version # print the installed version

Working with Git

Hunk mirrors Git's diff-style commands, but opens the changeset in a review UI instead of plain text.

hunk diff                      # review current repo changes, including untracked files
hunk --fast                    # experimentally offload eligible syntax highlighting
hunk diff --watch              # auto-reload as the working tree changes
hunk show                      # review the latest commit
hunk show HEAD~1               # review an earlier commit
hunk log                       # browse history on a terminal; print when redirected
hunk log --static              # force static output, paging when needed

hunk log is one auto-responsive, read-only history surface, not a repository manager. On a terminal it opens the desktop history browser; pipes and redirects receive shell-native static records automatically, and --static forces static output that pages only when needed. The selected VCS adapter owns traversal, filtering, refs, and how a history item opens for review; the bundled Git and Jujutsu adapters both implement that public capability. Static output keeps full commit, author, date, message, branch/bookmark, remote, and tag details; --oneline provides compact records, and --theme uses the same palette as Hunk review. Interactive history groups commits by local-calendar day with account-like author handles and relative times, while keeping commit ids right-aligned and clickable. Enable Graph view from the View menu to replace day groups with commit-topology lanes. Press v and move with Up/Down or k/j to select a contiguous range. Shift+Up/Shift+Down, uppercase K/J, and Shift-click extend directly. Escape collapses the selection; opening the range reviews the inclusive cumulative change from the oldest commit's parent through the newest commit. History also shares review's b/f full-page and u/d half-page movement keys. Range selection is disabled with --all or author, message, date, and path filters because traversal can interleave or hide commits. After opening a commit or range, quit its normal Hunk review to return to the same selection. History controls are configurable through canonical hunk.history.* keybindings.

Working with Jujutsu and Sapling

Hunk auto-detects Jujutsu and Sapling checkouts, so hunk diff [revset] and hunk show [revset] use native revsets inside jj or Sapling workspaces. hunk log --vcs jj also reads JJ history directly, including in a non-colocated workspace. To override VCS detection, set vcs = "git" or vcs = "jj" or vcs = "sl" in config.

Working with raw files and patches

hunk diff --files before.ts after.ts        # compare two files directly
hunk diff --files before.ts after.ts --watch # auto-reload when either file changes
git diff --no-color | hunk patch -          # review a patch from stdin

Watch mode remains continuous. Direct-file and Git-backed reviews normally use filesystem observation to refresh promptly, with periodic polling retained as a fallback for missed events or unavailable watchers. Jujutsu and Sapling reviews currently use polling rather than filesystem observation.

Working with agents

1. Open Hunk in another terminal with hunk diff or hunk show.
2. Tell your agent to add the skill file returned by hunk skill path.
3. Ask your agent to use the skill against the live Hunk session.

A good generic prompt is:

Load the Hunk skill and use it for this review. Run `hunk skill path` to get the skill path.

For the full live-session and --agent-context workflow guide, see the agent workflow guide. Experimental rich STML note bodies require starting the review with --experimental; plain agent notes remain the default.

Feature comparison

Hunk is optimized for reviewing a full changeset interactively.

Advanced

Config

You can persist preferences to a config file:

• ~/.config/hunk/config.toml
• .hunk/config.toml

Example: