Diffchestrator — VS Code Extension

Built for Claude Code. Multi-repo Git orchestration designed as a companion to Claude Code — Anthropic's CLI for agentic coding. Stage, review, and commit across repos without leaving VS Code, then hand off to Claude for AI-powered commits, code reviews, and multi-repo workflows.

Why Diffchestrator?

Claude Code works best when you can see what it changed, across every repo it touched. Diffchestrator gives you that visibility: a sidebar tree of all your repos, real-time change tracking, one-click diffs, and direct terminal integration with claude. No context switching, no manual git status in twelve terminals.

Diffchestrator vs Multi-Root Workspaces

VS Code's multi-root workspaces let you group repos into a .code-workspace file for unified file browsing and search. Diffchestrator takes a different approach:

	Multi-Root Workspaces	Diffchestrator
Setup	Manually add each repo to a `.code-workspace` file	Auto-discovers all repos under a root directory
View	File explorer with folders side-by-side	Git-first tree sorted by changes, with branch, ahead/behind, stash counts, and tags
Scale	Gets unwieldy beyond ~10 repos	Designed for 20–100+ repos with changed-only filter and tag-based filtering
Switching	Static set of repos	Switch between project groups instantly (`Alt+D, Shift+S`)
Focus	Navigate and edit code	Orchestrate git operations — stage, commit, push, search, and review across repos
AI	No built-in integration	Per-repo Claude Code terminals, AI commits, multi-repo Claude sessions
Cross-repo ops	Manual per-repo git	Bulk commit/push, git grep across repos, branch cleanup, activity log

They're complementary — you can use Diffchestrator inside a multi-root workspace. A workspace says "here are my repos." Diffchestrator says "here's what changed, where, and lets you act on it."

Team Orchestration with Claude Code

Diffchestrator shines when multiple Claude Code agents work across repos simultaneously — whether you're running parallel agents on an epic, reviewing a multi-service change, or just keeping tabs on what Claude touched while you were away.

Parallel Agent Workflows

When you spawn multiple Claude Code sessions (one per repo or per story), Diffchestrator gives you a single pane of glass:

Per-repo terminal tracking — each repo tracks its own Claude, Yolo, Yolonew, and shell terminals independently. The Active Repos view shows which terminals are running where
Auto-switch terminal — clicking a repo in the sidebar or dashboard auto-surfaces that repo's Claude terminal
Smart notifications — get notified when Claude commits or modifies files. Notifications queue while VS Code is unfocused and show a grouped summary on refocus, with "Push" and "Show Terminal" quick actions

Multi-Repo Claude Sessions

For changes that span multiple repos (e.g., API contract changes across backend + frontend):

Open Claude Code (Alt+D, L) — launches claude -c to continue the previous session. With multiple repos selected, it launches claude --add-dir for each selected repo
Claude Review All — opens Claude with --add-dir for every repo with uncommitted changes plus a review prompt. Available from the dashboard header
Multi-repo diff webview — aggregated diffs across selected repos with per-file stage/unstage controls and "Ask Claude" button per diff hunk

Dashboard as Mission Control

The dashboard (Alt+D, V) is designed for orchestration visibility:

Session Summary — every commit since VS Code session start, grouped by repo. Works regardless of where the commit happened (VS Code terminal, external CLI, or a Claude agent running in another window)
Activity Log — cross-repo commit timeline with repo/author filters. See what every agent produced, sorted by time
Sync Overview — at a glance: which repos have changes, which are ahead/behind, which need attention. Bulk pull/push from one place
Change Heatmap — instantly spot which repos are "hot" (active changes) vs stale

Typical Orchestration Workflow

Open Diffchestrator dashboard (Alt+D, V)
Fetch All to see which repos are behind
Pull outdated to bring everything up to date
Spawn Claude Code sessions from the dashboard (per-repo ◇ button) or sidebar
Monitor progress via Session Summary and terminal indicators
Review changes across repos — click each repo to see its diffs, or use Claude Review All
Stage, commit, and push from the dashboard or sidebar
Use the Activity Log tab to see the full cross-repo timeline of what was done

Works with External Agents

Diffchestrator doesn't require Claude to run inside VS Code. The file watcher monitors .git/ directories for changes regardless of source. If you have Claude Code running in an external terminal, a CI pipeline pushing commits, or a teammate making changes — the dashboard picks it all up via git log.

Features

Claude Code Integration

AI Commit — runs claude --permission-mode acceptEdits in the repo's terminal for real-time output (Alt+D, C)
Open Claude Code — launches claude -c to continue the previous session, or claude --add-dir for multiple selected repos (Alt+D, L)
Yolo — opens terminal and runs the yolo alias from claude-sandbox (Alt+D, Y)
Yolonew — opens terminal and runs the yolonew alias from claude-sandbox (Alt+D, Alt+Y)
Claude Multi-Repo Review — opens Claude with --add-dir for all repos with changes and a review prompt
Ask Claude button per diff hunk in the multi-repo diff webview
Per-repo terminal tracking — each repo tracks its own Claude, Yolo, Yolonew, and shell terminals independently. Switching repos auto-switches the terminal panel to the correct session
Terminal icons — each terminal type has a distinct colored icon: ✨ Claude (yellow), 🔥 Yolo (red), ⚡ Yolonew (cyan), 📟 Shell (default). Terminal tabs show only the repo name — icons identify the type
Terminal reuse — Alt+D, L, Alt+D, Y, and Alt+D, Alt+Y reuse existing sessions instead of spawning new ones
CLI validation — checks that claude and docker are installed before launching terminals

Active Repos & Workspace Switching

Active Repos view — unified sidebar section showing favorites (star icons) + recent repos (MRU, up to 10) with live terminal status indicators
Toggle favorites — star button in Active Repos title bar shows/hides favorites (filled star = visible, empty star = hidden). Hidden favorites that are active/recent remain visible as their non-favorite role
Persisted across reloads — active repos, selection, and current scan root survive VS Code restarts
Cycle repos — Alt+D, Tab cycles through all opened repos including favorites, switching the changed files view, terminal, and diff editor in one keystroke
Close active repos — Alt+D, Q closes current (and its terminals if auto-terminals is configured), Alt+D, Shift+Q picks which to close, Alt+D, Shift+Tab closes all
Auto-terminals — configure terminal types to auto-open when switching repos (Shell, Yolo, Yolonew, Claude). Configurable via Dashboard Settings tab checkboxes. Closing a repo also closes its terminals when enabled
Terminal indicators — each repo shows which terminal types are running (Claude, Yolo, Yolonew, Shell) via icon badges
Auto-switch terminal — clicking a repo in Active Repos or Repositories auto-surfaces that repo's terminal (priority: Claude > Yolo > Yolonew > Shell)
Cycle terminal — Alt+D, J rotates through all alive terminals for the current repo (Claude → Yolo → Yolonew → Shell)
Navigate terminals — Alt+D, ↑/↓ moves between terminal tabs across repos, auto-selecting the target repo. For split panes within the same tab, use Alt+D, J to cycle between them (VS Code doesn't expose terminal group structure to extensions, so combined navigation is best-effort)
Terminal tab sync — clicking a terminal tab (Claude, Yolo, shell) auto-selects the repo in the sidebar, opens its changed files, and adds it to Active Repos if not already there
Auto-add on terminal open — opening a terminal, Claude Code, or Yolo session for a repo automatically adds it to Active Repos
Smart notifications — notifies when Claude commits or modifies files. Queues notifications when VS Code is unfocused and shows a grouped summary on refocus. Commit notifications offer "Push" and "Show Terminal" actions
Workspace snapshots — save/load named profiles of your root, favorites, and recent repos

Repository Discovery & Organization

Auto-scan a root directory to discover all git repos (BFS, configurable depth)
Switch scan root — Alt+D, Shift+S quick pick dropdown to switch between configured roots; also available as a button in the Repositories title bar
Root name in view titles — Active Repos and Repositories views show the current root name
Auto-scan workspace folders on startup if no roots configured, and when new folders are added
Skip directories like node_modules, .terraform, vendor, build, etc. (configurable)
Changed-only filter — toggle to show only repos with uncommitted changes (Alt+D, D)
Changed repos sort first in the tree for quick access
Progress indication — shows scanning/refreshing progress in the status bar for large repo counts
Repo tags — tag repos with labels (e.g., frontend, infra, shared), then filter the tree by tag with Alt+D, I. Tags appear as #tag in repo descriptions
Bulk fetch — fetch all repos at once from the Repositories title bar; distinguishes local-only repos from real failures
Bulk pull — pull all repos that are behind remote with confirmation
Auto-fetch on scan — optionally run git fetch during scan for accurate ahead/behind counts

Sidebar Views (3 sections)

Active Repos — favorites (yellow/blue stars) + recently opened repos with terminal status, active repo highlighted in blue. Pin repos with Alt+D, E
Changed Files — staged/unstaged/untracked files for the selected repo, grouped by status. Shows diff stats (+N -M) per file
Repositories — hierarchical tree with common path prefix collapsing, change count badges, tag indicators, root switcher button
View descriptions — active repo name + branch shown next to "Changed Files" title; root name + tag filter + repo count next to "Repositories"
Activity bar badge — total change count across all repos
Tooltips — hover a repo to see path, branch, change counts, ahead/behind sync status, stash count, remote URL, and last commit with relative date
Ahead/behind badges — ↑N ↓M shows how many commits you are ahead/behind the remote across all views
Health badges — orange cloud icon for repos behind remote, archive icon with count for stashes
Visual highlights — active repo (blue icon + ●), multi-selected (purple check + ✓), repos with changes (yellow), behind remote (orange), clean repos (green)

Diff Viewing & Review Workflow

Click a changed file to open VS Code's native diff editor (split view with syntax highlighting)
Navigate changed files — Alt+D, N / Shift+N or ↑↓ buttons in editor title bar to browse files without staging
Auto-advance on stage — staging a file automatically opens the next pending file's diff, enabling a review-then-stage workflow
Works from sidebar and editor title bar — both stage buttons advance to the next file
Auto-close stale diffs — switching to a repo with no changes closes the previous repo's diff; committing a repo's last change auto-closes the diff tab
Auto-refresh diffs — diff content refreshes after CLI commits (no stale content)
Context restore — switching back to a repo reopens the last file you were viewing (changes take priority over remembered files)
Multi-repo diff webview — aggregated diffs across multiple selected repos with react-diff-view
Per-file stage/unstage controls in the diff view
Inline blame — GitLens-style current-line blame showing author, date, and commit message (Alt+D, G to toggle)

Git Operations

Stage / Unstage individual files or all files (inline buttons + context menu + editor title bar)
Discard changes — revert a single file, delete an untracked file, or discard all changes with confirmation dialog
Commit with conventional commit prefix picker (feat/fix/chore/refactor/docs/test/ci) (Alt+D, M)
Amend last commit (Alt+D, Shift+M) — edit the last commit message with pre-filled content
Undo last commit (Alt+D, Z) — soft reset keeping changes staged, with confirmation showing the commit message
Auto-push after commit — optionally push immediately after a successful commit
Push with progress notification (Alt+D, P)
Force push (Alt+D, Shift+P) — uses --force-with-lease with modal confirmation
Pull with progress notification (Alt+D, U)
Pull-before-push reminder — when push is rejected by remote, offers "Pull" or "Force Push" quick actions
Sync All — fetch all repos, pull those behind, push those ahead — one button in the Dashboard
Fetch — single-repo fetch via right-click context menu, or bulk fetch all from title bar
Bulk commit/push across multiple selected repos
Copy repo info — right-click to copy path, branch, remote URL, or name to clipboard
Open remote URL — right-click to open the repo's GitHub/GitLab page in browser (auto-converts git@ SSH URLs to HTTPS)
Reveal in file explorer — open the repo folder in your system file manager (Alt+D, O)
Swap repo — jump back to the previous repo across roots (Alt+D, Backspace)
Git detection — shows error with install link if git isn't available on PATH

Branch & Stash Management

Branch Switcher (Alt+D, B) — QuickPick listing all local branches with current branch marked, plus "Create new branch..." option
Branch Cleanup (Alt+D, X) — find merged branches across all repos and delete them in bulk
Stash Management (Alt+D, A) — stash push (with message), list stashes, pop latest, apply specific stash, drop stash, view stash diffs. Dashboard shows relative timestamps per stash
Commit History (Alt+D, H) — QuickPick showing last 15 commits, select to view full diff in editor
Cross-repo Activity Log — recent commits across ALL repos sorted by date

Search & Navigation

Search in Repo (Alt+D, /) — live git grep QuickPick scoped to the selected repo, opens file at matched line
Search Active Repos (Alt+D, .) — git grep across all recent/active repos with [repo-name] badges
Search All Repos (Alt+D, Shift+/) — git grep across every scanned repo
Selecting a search result from a different repo auto-switches to it (terminal, changed files, everything)
Browse Files (Alt+D, F) — QuickPick with all files in a repo via git ls-files, instant filtering
Switch Repo (Alt+D, R) — QuickPick sorted by changes, current repo first
Switch Repo All Roots (Alt+D, Alt+F) — QuickPick listing ALL repos across all configured scan roots, with cross-root switching
Open in New Window (Alt+D, W) — opens the selected repo in a new VS Code window for full native search

File Watcher

Watches .git/ directories per repo (HEAD, index, refs changes) with 500ms debounce
Status updates in real-time when commits, staging, or branch changes occur
Auto-suppresses after explicit operations (stage/commit) to avoid redundant refreshes
Falls back to polling at configurable interval (default 10s)
Pauses when VS Code loses focus — no wasted disk reads in the background; refreshes immediately on refocus

Performance

Single shared git instance — all commands share one GitExecutor with request deduplication (concurrent calls share one Promise) and a 1s TTL cache
Lazy activation — extension defers loading until the sidebar is opened or VS Code finishes startup
Smart file watching — watches .git/ directories only (not **/*), with automatic suppression after explicit refreshes to avoid double updates
Event coalescing — rapid repo-change events are batched into a single tick, preventing cascading tree rebuilds during scan
Conditional event firing — tree views only rebuild when data actually changes (~90% fewer rebuilds during idle polling)
Batched concurrency — refreshAll and scan limited to 5-10 concurrent git processes with progress indication
Terminal state caching — Active Repos only rescans terminals on open/close events
Status bar debounce — consolidates multiple rapid updates into one render

Dashboard (`Alt+D, V`)

A full command center with four tabs. Also available from the Repositories title bar. Auto-refreshes every 2 seconds when repos change.

Dashboard tab — five sections:

Sync Overview — table with ahead/behind/changes/stashes/health scores, color-coded rows, sortable columns, repo search filter, keyboard navigation. Per-repo actions: pull, push, AI commit, discard, switch branch, commit history, open in browser, copy info, terminal, Claude Code (overflow menu). Pinned repos sort to top. Bulk actions: Fetch All, Pull N outdated, Push N ahead
Branch Map — repos grouped by main vs feature branches, with pills per branch name. Branch Cleanup button to find and delete merged branches
Change Heatmap — tile grid with heat levels (hot/warm/mild/stale/quiet) based on changes + days since last commit
Session Summary — commits since VS Code session start, grouped by repo (works with external CLIs too)
Stashes — per-repo stash list with Apply/Pop actions (shown when repos have stashes)

Header actions: Switch Root, Filter by Tag, Claude Review All, Save/Load Snapshot, Scan, Refresh

Activity tab — cross-repo commit timeline sorted by date, grouped by day. Filter by repo or author. Export as markdown (clipboard or file).

Settings tab — configure scan roots, depth, skip dirs, display preferences, Claude permission mode, auto-push — all without editing JSON.

Shortcuts tab — full keyboard shortcut reference with all Alt+D chords.

Status Bar

Left: repo count + total changes (click to open sidebar)
Right: active repo name + branch + changes with prominent background (click to switch repo)

Extension API

Diffchestrator exposes a public API for sibling extensions (e.g., Epic Lens):

interface DiffchestratorApi {
  getCurrentRoot(): string | undefined;
  getSelectedRepo(): string | undefined;
  onDidChangeSelection: vscode.Event<void>;
}

Consume it from another extension:

const diffchestrator = vscode.extensions.getExtension("andrevops-com.diffchestrator");
const api = diffchestrator?.exports as DiffchestratorApi;
api?.onDidChangeSelection(() => {
  console.log("Selection changed:", api.getSelectedRepo());
});

Keyboard Shortcuts

All shortcuts use Alt+D as a chord prefix — press Alt+D, release, then press the key:

Chord	Action
`Alt+D, Tab`	Cycle through recent active repos
`Alt+D, Shift+Tab`	Close all active repos
`Alt+D, Q`	Close current active repo
`Alt+D, Shift+Q`	Pick which active repo to close
`Alt+D, N`	Next changed file
`Alt+D, Shift+N`	Previous changed file
`Alt+D, M`	Commit with message (conventional prefix picker)
`Alt+D, C`	AI Commit (Claude)
`Alt+D, L`	Open Claude Code (continues session)
`Alt+D, Y`	Yolo (Claude Sandbox)
`Alt+D, Alt+Y`	Yolonew (Claude Sandbox)
`Alt+D, S`	Scan for repositories
`Alt+D, Shift+S`	Switch scan root
`Alt+D, Shift+T`	Open terminal at scan root
`Alt+D, T`	Open terminal at repo
`Alt+D, J`	Cycle terminal (rotate through alive terminals)
`Alt+D, Alt+K`	Close terminal (active or pick)
`Alt+D, ↓`	Next terminal (across all repos)
`Alt+D, ↑`	Previous terminal (across all repos)
`Alt+D, R`	Switch active repo
`Alt+D, Alt+F`	Switch repo (all roots)
`Alt+D, F`	Browse files in repo
`Alt+D, P`	Push
`Alt+D, Shift+P`	Force push (--force-with-lease)
`Alt+D, Shift+M`	Amend last commit
`Alt+D, U`	Pull
`Alt+D, D`	Toggle changed-only filter
`Alt+D, H`	Commit history
`Alt+D, B`	Switch branch
`Alt+D, A`	Stash management
`Alt+D, G`	Toggle inline blame
`Alt+D, E`	Favorite current repo
`Alt+D, /`	Search in repo (git grep)
`Alt+D, .`	Search active repos
`Alt+D, Shift+/`	Search all repos
`Alt+D, W`	Open repo in new VS Code window
`Alt+D, K`	Show keyboard shortcut cheatsheet
`Alt+D, X`	Clean up merged branches
`Alt+D, I`	Filter repos by tag
`Alt+D, Z`	Undo last commit (soft reset)
`Alt+D, Shift+B`	Save workspace snapshot
`Alt+D, Shift+L`	Load workspace snapshot
`Alt+D, Backspace`	Swap to previous repo (across roots)
`Alt+D, O`	Reveal repo in system file explorer
`Alt+D, V`	Open Dashboard

On macOS, use Option+D as the chord prefix.

Context Menu Actions

Right-click a repository in the tree:

View Diff / Commit / Push / Pull / Fetch / AI Commit / Undo Commit
Commit History / Switch Branch / Stash Management
Browse Files / Open Repo in New Window
Open Terminal / Open Claude Code / Yolo / Yolonew
Copy Repo Info / Open Remote in Browser / Set Tags / Reveal in File Explorer
Toggle Favorite / Select (for multi-repo operations)

Right-click a directory in the tree:

Open Terminal / Open Claude Code / Yolo / Yolonew (launches with cwd set to the directory)
Reveal in File Explorer
Toggle Favorite

Right-click a changed file:

Stage / Unstage (also available as inline icon buttons)
Discard Changes (with confirmation)

Editor title bar (top-right of diff editor):

Prev/Next Changed File (↑↓ buttons to browse without staging)
Stage This File / Unstage This File (with auto-advance to next file)

Changed Files view title:

Stage All / Unstage All / Discard All

Configuration

Setting	Default	Description
`diffchestrator.scanRoots`	`[]`	Root directories to scan for repos
`diffchestrator.scanMaxDepth`	`6`	Maximum directory depth for scanning
`diffchestrator.scanExtraSkipDirs`	`[]`	Additional directory names to skip
`diffchestrator.scanOnStartup`	`true`	Auto-scan configured roots on VS Code start
`diffchestrator.changedOnlyDefault`	`false`	Show only changed repos by default
`diffchestrator.autoRefreshInterval`	`10`	Auto-refresh interval in seconds (0 to disable)
`diffchestrator.claudePermissionMode`	`acceptEdits`	Permission mode for Claude CLI
`diffchestrator.showInlineBlame`	`true`	Show inline git blame on current line
`diffchestrator.showFavorites`	`true`	Show favorites in Active Repos view
`diffchestrator.fetchOnScan`	`false`	Auto-fetch during scan for accurate ahead/behind counts
`diffchestrator.autoPushAfterCommit`	`false`	Auto-push after successful commit via `Alt+D, M`
`diffchestrator.favorites`	`[]`	Persisted favorite paths (managed by extension)
`diffchestrator.repoTags`	`{}`	Repo tags for filtering (managed by extension)
`diffchestrator.snapshots`	`{}`	Workspace snapshots (managed by extension)
`diffchestrator.pinnedRepos`	`[]`	Pinned repo paths in Dashboard Sync Overview (managed by extension)
`diffchestrator.autoTerminals`	`[]`	Terminal types to auto-open on repo switch (`shell`, `yolo`, `yolonew`, `claude`). Closing a repo also closes its terminals

Getting Started

Installation

Install from the VS Code Marketplace, Open VSX, or build locally with make package && make install.

First-Time Setup

Add scan roots — tell Diffchestrator where your repos live. Open VS Code settings (Ctrl+,) and add one or more root directories:
```
{
  "diffchestrator.scanRoots": ["/home/user/projects"]
}
```
You can add multiple roots (e.g., work projects + personal projects). Switch between them with Alt+D, Shift+S.

Tip: If you skip this step, Diffchestrator auto-detects repos in your open workspace folders.
Scan — press Alt+D, S or open the Diffchestrator sidebar (click the icon in the Activity Bar). Repos populate automatically on startup if scanOnStartup is enabled (default: true).
Select a repo — click any repo in the Repositories view. The Changed Files panel shows its staged/unstaged/untracked files. Click a file to open the native diff editor.
Optional: Enable fetch on scan — for accurate ahead/behind counts, enable auto-fetch:
```
{
  "diffchestrator.fetchOnScan": true
}
```
This runs git fetch for each repo during scan. Disable if you have many repos or slow network.
Optional: Configure Claude Code — if you use Claude Code, the default permission mode for AI commits is acceptEdits. Change it in settings:
```
{
  "diffchestrator.claudePermissionMode": "acceptEdits"
}
```
Options: default, acceptEdits, full.
Optional: Install claude-sandbox — the Yolo and Yolonew commands (Alt+D, Y / Alt+D, Alt+Y) require claude-sandbox, which provides Docker-based sandboxed Claude Code sessions. Install it and source the aliases in your shell to enable these features.

Quick Tour

Action	Shortcut
Scan repos	`Alt+D, S`
Switch repo	`Alt+D, R`
View changed files + diff	Click a repo
AI commit with Claude	`Alt+D, C`
Open Claude Code	`Alt+D, L`
Commit with message	`Alt+D, M`
Push	`Alt+D, P`
Open Dashboard	`Alt+D, V`
Show all shortcuts	`Alt+D, K`

Release

make release          # Auto-detect bump from conventional commits
make release-patch    # Force patch bump
make release-minor    # Force minor bump
make release-major    # Force major bump
make install          # Install latest .vsix locally
make publish          # Publish to both VS Code Marketplace and Open VSX
make publish-marketplace  # Publish to VS Code Marketplace only
make publish-openvsx      # Publish to Open VSX only
make clean            # Remove build artifacts

The release script reads commit messages since the last v* tag, picks the semver bump (feat: = minor, fix: = patch, BREAKING CHANGE = major), updates CHANGELOG.md, commits the version bump, tags, builds, and packages two .vsix files:

diffchestrator-X.Y.Z.vsix — VS Code Marketplace (publisher: andrevops-com)
diffchestrator-X.Y.Z-openvsx.vsix — Open VSX Registry (publisher: andrevops)

Pushing a v* tag to GitHub triggers CI to create a GitHub Release with both files and auto-publish to Open VSX.

Verify Release Integrity

Every GitHub Release includes checksums.txt (SHA-256) and checksums.txt.sig (ED25519 signature), plus GitHub build provenance attestation.

# Verify build provenance
gh attestation verify diffchestrator-*.vsix --repo Andrevops/diffchestrator

# Verify checksum signature
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Andrevops/diffchestrator/main/public_key.pem -o public_key.pem
xxd -r -p checksums.txt.sig | openssl pkeyutl -verify -pubin -inkey public_key.pem -rawin -in checksums.txt -sigfile /dev/stdin

Development

# Install dependencies
npm install
cd webview-ui && npm install && cd ..

# Build
make build           # Extension + webview
make compile         # Extension only (fast)
make watch           # Watch mode

# Debug
# Press F5 in VS Code to launch Extension Host

Architecture

src/
├── extension.ts              # Activation entrypoint
├── constants.ts              # Command/view/config IDs
├── types.ts                  # Shared TypeScript interfaces
├── git/
│   ├── gitExecutor.ts        # Git CLI wrapper (child_process.execFile)
│   │                         # status, diff, stage, unstage, commit, push, pull, fetch,
│   │                         # log, branches, checkout, stash, blame, show, clean, grep
│   └── scanner.ts            # BFS directory scanner
├── providers/
│   ├── activeReposProvider.ts # Favorites + recent repos with terminal indicators
│   ├── repoTreeProvider.ts   # Repo tree with health badges + tag indicators + tooltips
│   ├── changedFilesProvider.ts # Changed files with diff stats
│   └── gitContentProvider.ts # TextDocumentContentProvider for diff/show URIs
├── commands/
│   ├── scan.ts               # Scan/rescan
│   ├── stage.ts              # Stage/unstage file + all + auto-advance
│   ├── commit.ts             # Commit with prefix picker (single + bulk) + auto-push
│   ├── push.ts               # Push (single + bulk)
│   ├── pull.ts               # Pull with progress
│   ├── aiCommit.ts           # Claude CLI AI commit with .git watcher
│   ├── openClaude.ts         # Open Claude Code terminal (per-repo tracking)
│   ├── terminal.ts           # Terminal management + CLI validation
│   ├── favorites.ts          # Toggle favorites + favorite current repo
│   ├── fileSearch.ts         # Browse files + switch repo + open in new window
│   ├── commitHistory.ts      # Commit history viewer
│   ├── discard.ts            # Discard file/all changes (tracked + untracked)
│   ├── switchBranch.ts       # Branch switcher + create
│   └── stash.ts              # Stash push/list/pop/apply
├── services/
│   ├── repoManager.ts        # Central state + MRU + cycle + tag filter + snapshots
│   ├── fileWatcher.ts        # .git directory watcher with suppression
│   ├── statusBar.ts          # Status bar items with debounce
│   ├── inlineBlame.ts        # Current-line git blame decorations
│   └── workspaceAutoScan.ts  # Auto-scan workspace folders (async)
├── views/
│   ├── diffWebviewPanel.ts   # Multi-repo diff webview
│   └── dashboardWebviewPanel.ts # Dashboard webview (sync, branches, heatmap, session)
└── utils/
    ├── time.ts              # Shared timeAgo / timeAgoShort utilities
    ├── paths.ts             # Path manipulation (basename, dirname)
    ├── shell.ts             # Terminal argument escaping
    ├── fileItem.ts          # File item resolution
    └── disposable.ts        # DisposableStore helper

webview-ui/                   # React apps (diff + dashboard)
├── src/
│   ├── App.tsx               # Diff viewer with react-diff-view
│   ├── vscode.ts             # VS Code API wrapper
│   └── dashboard/            # Dashboard webview
│       ├── DashboardApp.tsx   # Main dashboard with tabs
│       ├── SyncOverview.tsx   # Sync table with actions
│       ├── BranchMap.tsx      # Branch grouping
│       ├── ChangeHeatmap.tsx  # Activity heatmap
│       ├── SessionSummary.tsx # Session commits
│       ├── StashOverview.tsx  # Stash management
│       ├── ActivityLog.tsx    # Activity tab with filters
│       ├── SettingsPanel.tsx  # Settings tab
│       └── ShortcutRef.tsx    # Shortcuts tab
├── vite.config.ts             # Builds diff webview → dist/webview/
└── vite.dashboard.config.ts   # Builds dashboard → dist/webview-dashboard/

scripts/
└── release.mjs               # Auto-detect semver bump + changelog + commit + tag + dual build (Marketplace + Open VSX)

Tech Stack

Extension: TypeScript, VS Code Extension API, esbuild
Git: child_process.execFile (no shell=true)
Webview: React 19, Vite, react-diff-view
AI: Claude Code CLI integration
CI/CD: GitHub Actions with ED25519 release signing and build provenance attestation
No backend server — everything runs in-process via the VS Code extension host

Name		Name	Last commit message	Last commit date
Latest commit History 506 Commits
.github/workflows		.github/workflows
.jules		.jules
.vscode		.vscode
resources/icons		resources/icons
scripts		scripts
src		src
webview-ui		webview-ui
.gitignore		.gitignore
.vscodeignore		.vscodeignore
CHANGELOG.md		CHANGELOG.md
CLAUDE.md		CLAUDE.md
CONTRIBUTING.md		CONTRIBUTING.md
LICENSE		LICENSE
Makefile		Makefile
README.md		README.md
esbuild.mjs		esbuild.mjs
package-lock.json		package-lock.json
package.json		package.json
pnpm-lock.yaml		pnpm-lock.yaml
public_key.pem		public_key.pem
tsconfig.json		tsconfig.json

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Diffchestrator — VS Code Extension

Why Diffchestrator?

Diffchestrator vs Multi-Root Workspaces

Team Orchestration with Claude Code

Parallel Agent Workflows

Multi-Repo Claude Sessions

Dashboard as Mission Control

Typical Orchestration Workflow

Works with External Agents

Features

Claude Code Integration

Active Repos & Workspace Switching

Repository Discovery & Organization

Sidebar Views (3 sections)

Diff Viewing & Review Workflow

Git Operations

Branch & Stash Management

Search & Navigation

File Watcher

Performance

Dashboard (Alt+D, V)

Status Bar

Extension API

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