Describe the feature or problem you'd like to solve
No response
Proposed solution
Description:
When the CLI's edit tool shows diffs, it highlights entire lines as changed even when only a small part of the line differs. This is especially noisy when reordering items in a numbered list — the entire section lights up as changed when the only real difference is the line
number.
Example: Reordering items 5-10 in a markdown list shows all 6 lines as removed and re-added, when the meaningful change is just swapping two items. The line number changes (e.g., 5. → 6.) dominate the diff and obscure the actual content change.
Requested improvement: Add a configuration option (e.g., in ~/.copilot/config.json or a /diff-mode command) to control diff rendering. Options could include:
- Word-level diff — highlight only changed words/tokens within a line (similar to git diff --color-words)
- Minimal diff — suppress unchanged context lines and show only the meaningful delta
- Current behavior — full line-level diff (default)
Why it matters: For users doing heavy file editing sessions (e.g., maintaining markdown docs, reordering lists, updating dashboards), the current diffs require significant mental effort to parse. A word-level or minimal diff mode would make reviewing changes much faster and
reduce approval fatigue.
Example prompts or workflows
No response
Additional context
No response
Describe the feature or problem you'd like to solve
No response
Proposed solution
Description:
When the CLI's edit tool shows diffs, it highlights entire lines as changed even when only a small part of the line differs. This is especially noisy when reordering items in a numbered list — the entire section lights up as changed when the only real difference is the line
number.
Example: Reordering items 5-10 in a markdown list shows all 6 lines as removed and re-added, when the meaningful change is just swapping two items. The line number changes (e.g., 5. → 6.) dominate the diff and obscure the actual content change.
Requested improvement: Add a configuration option (e.g., in ~/.copilot/config.json or a /diff-mode command) to control diff rendering. Options could include:
Why it matters: For users doing heavy file editing sessions (e.g., maintaining markdown docs, reordering lists, updating dashboards), the current diffs require significant mental effort to parse. A word-level or minimal diff mode would make reviewing changes much faster and
reduce approval fatigue.
Example prompts or workflows
No response
Additional context
No response