delta: Git Diffs You Can Read

The diff your eyes deserve

Default git diff is plain red/green with whole-line highlighting. delta upgrades it: side-by-side mode, syntax highlighting per language, line numbers, and word-level highlighting on changed lines.

Install and configure

brew install git-delta
git config --global core.pager delta
git config --global interactive.diffFilter 'delta --color-only'
git config --global delta.navigate true
git config --global delta.line-numbers true
git config --global delta.side-by-side true
git config --global merge.conflictStyle zdiff3

That single batch turns every git diff, git log -p, git show, and git add -p into syntax-highlighted joy.

Standalone use

diff -u old.txt new.txt | delta
delta old.txt new.txt

Drop-in for diff when you want a friendly view.

Themes

delta --show-config lists every option. Common picks: delta.features = decorations, delta.syntax-theme = Monokai Extended, delta.line-numbers = true. Themes ship with delta — try delta --list-syntax-themes to browse.

The wider lesson

Spend 30 seconds setting it up once, save 10 seconds on every git diff you read for years. Modern terminal life is compounding small upgrades like this.

Prettier presentation does not change diff boundaries

Syntax highlighting helps reading, while rename detection, whitespace rules, and context length still come from Git options. Important review needs the generating options as well as the rendered view.

Layer configuration so it can be reversed

git config --global changes every repository's default. Test one key at a time and record it with --get, so removing a pager does not leave Git pointing to a missing command.