drift

A fast, interactive file comparison tool.

Compare directories, archives, binaries, plists, and text files with a terminal UI or structured JSON output.

Installation

Download a pre-built binary for your platform from a release.

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Alternative install methods

Use go to install a version:

go install github.com/block/drift/cmd/drift@latest # or @vX.X.X

Or build from source:

gh repo clone block/drift
cd drift
go run ./cmd/drift --help

Usage

# Compare two directories
drift MyApp-v1.0 MyApp-v2.0

# Compare two archives (.ipa, .apk, .aar, .jar, .tar.gz, .tar.bz2)
drift MyApp-v1.0.ipa MyApp-v2.0.ipa

# Compare two binaries
drift MyApp-v1.0/MyApp.app/MyApp MyApp-v2.0/MyApp.app/MyApp

# Force a specific comparison mode
drift -m binary MyApp-v1.0/MyApp.app/libcore.dylib MyApp-v2.0/MyApp.app/libcore.dylib

# JSON output (non-interactive, for scripting)
drift --json MyApp-v1.0 MyApp-v2.0

Agent skill

drift ships a skill that gives AI coding agents native access to structured file comparison via drift --json. The skill is included in every GitHub release.

Install with a single command:

Claude Code

mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills/drift && gh release download --repo block/drift --pattern 'skill.tar.gz' --output - | tar -xz -C ~/.claude/skills/drift

Codex / Amp

mkdir -p ~/.agents/skills/drift && gh release download --repo block/drift --pattern 'skill.tar.gz' --output - | tar -xz -C ~/.agents/skills/drift

Agent skill demo

Comparison modes

drift auto-detects the comparison mode based on the inputs:

Mode	Inputs	What it shows
tree	Directories, archives	File tree with added/removed/modified indicators, per-file diffs
binary	Mach-O binaries	Sections, sizes, symbols, load commands. Requires nm and size
plist	Property lists (.plist)	Structured key-value diff. Binary plists require plutil
text	Everything else	Line-by-line unified diff

Use -m <mode> to override auto-detection.

Archives

drift transparently extracts and compares the contents of:

• .ipa (iOS app bundles)
• .apk (Android app bundles)
• .aar (Android libraries)
• .jar (Java archives)
• .tar, .tar.gz / .tgz, .tar.bz2

Interactive TUI

When stdout is a terminal, drift launches an interactive Bubbletea-based TUI with a split-pane layout: file tree on the left, detail diff on the right.

Keybindings

Key	Action
↑/k, ↓/j	Navigate tree
→/enter/l	Expand node
←/h	Collapse node
tab	Switch pane focus
n/N	Next/previous change
f	Cycle filter (all → added → removed → modified)
1-4	Filter: all, added, removed, modified
/	Search (fuzzy match in tree, text search in detail)
s	Swap A ↔ B
c	Copy detail to clipboard
pgup/pgdn	Scroll detail pane
g/G	Jump to top/bottom
?	Toggle full help
q/ctrl+c	Quit

JSON output

Pass --json to get structured, machine-readable JSON output - ideal for CI pipelines, automation scripts, and AI-powered analysis.

drift --json MyApp-v1.0 MyApp-v2.0
drift --json MyApp-v1.0/MyApp.app/libcore.dylib MyApp-v2.0/MyApp.app/libcore.dylib
drift --json MyApp-v1.0.ipa MyApp-v2.0.ipa | jq '.summary'

Output structure

Every JSON result includes:

Field	Description
path_a, path_b	The compared paths
mode	Detected comparison mode (tree, binary, plist, text)
root	The diff tree - each node has name, path, status, kind, size_a, size_b, and optional children
summary	Aggregate counts: added, removed, modified, unchanged, size_delta

Node status is one of: unchanged, added, removed, modified.

For single-file modes (binary, plist, text), a detail field is automatically included with mode-specific data:

• binary - symbols (added/removed symbol names) and sections (segment/section size changes)
• plist - changes with key_path, status, and before/after values
• text - hunks with line-level diffs (kind: context, added, removed)

Examples

Detect new files added between two builds:

drift --json MyApp-v1.0 MyApp-v2.0 | jq '[.root | .. | select(.status? == "added") | .path]'

Get the total size delta:

drift --json MyApp-v1.0 MyApp-v2.0 | jq '.summary.size_delta'

List changed symbols in a binary:

drift --json MyApp-v1.0/MyApp.app/libcore.dylib MyApp-v2.0/MyApp.app/libcore.dylib \
  | jq '.detail.binary.symbols[] | select(.status == "added") | .name'

Feed a comparison to an LLM for analysis:

drift --json MyApp-v1.0.ipa MyApp-v2.0.ipa | llm "Summarize what changed between these two builds"

Platform support

drift works on macOS, Linux, and Windows. Core features (directory/archive comparison, text diffing) work everywhere. Some features require external tools and degrade gracefully when they are unavailable:

Tool	Used for	Availability
nm, size	Mach-O binary analysis	macOS (Xcode CLI Tools), Linux (binutils)
plutil	Binary plist conversion	macOS only (XML plists work everywhere)
xclip or xsel	Clipboard	Linux only (macOS and Windows work natively)

License

Apache License 2.0