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diff

npmv9.0.0TypeScript

A JavaScript text diff implementation.

Safe to adopt

Yes — diff scores well across adoption, maintenance, weight, supply chain, and licensing. 124.1M downloads per week and 4 known dependents. Last published 149 days ago. 12 releases in the last 2 years.

  • AAdoption: grade A, Excellent.

    124.1M downloads per week and 4 known dependents.

  • BMaintenance: grade B, Good.

    Last published 149 days ago. 12 releases in the last 2 years.

  • AWeight: grade A, Excellent.

    Zero runtime dependencies, about 601 KB installed.

  • ASupply chain: grade A, Excellent.

    No install scripts, 2 maintainers, and a contained dependency surface.

  • ALicense: grade A, Excellent.

    BSD-3-Clause — permissive, with no copyleft found in the dependency tree.

Grades are computed deterministically from registry metadata collected by PackageGraph — downloads, dependents, publish dates, the resolved dependency tree, maintainer count, and declared licenses. No third-party scores are used.

Install cost

What you actually take on by adding diff to a project.

0
Direct dependencies

Runtime packages this one declares itself.

0
Total installed

Distinct packages in the full runtime tree, deduplicated the way a package manager would.

601 KB
Install size

Unpacked size of this package plus its entire runtime tree.

—
Tree depth

Longest resolved dependency chain below this package.

Compatibility

Node.js
node >=0.3.1
Module format
ESM + CommonJS
TypeScript
Types included
Install scripts
None

Quick start

A usage example from the diff README.

codeFull README ↗
import {diffChars, createPatch} from 'diff';

diff vs the alternatives

Packages solving a similar problem in the npm ecosystem, compared on the signals that drive an adoption decision.

PackageWeekly downloadsDependentsLicenseLast release
diffthis page124.1M4BSD-3-Clause4 months ago
leven02MIT1 day ago
jsesc01MIT1 day ago
type-fest337.8M6(MIT OR CC0-1.0)1 day ago
postcss249.3M7MIT1 day ago
csstype142.8M2MIT1 day ago

Dependencies

Declared by diff v9.0.0. Runtime dependencies are installed with the package; dev dependencies are not.

Dev (26)

@arethetypeswrong/cli ^0.18.2@babel/core ^7.29.0@babel/preset-env ^7.29.2@babel/register ^7.28.6@colors/colors ^1.6.0@eslint/js ^10.0.1babel-loader ^10.1.1babel-plugin-istanbul 8.0.0chai ^6.2.2cross-env ^10.1.0eslint ^10.2.0globals ^17.5.0karma ^6.4.4karma-mocha ^2.0.1karma-mocha-reporter ^2.2.5karma-sourcemap-loader ^0.4.0karma-webpack ^5.0.1mocha ^11.7.5nyc ^18.0.0rollup ^4.60.1tsd ^0.33.0typescript ^6.0.2typescript-eslint ^8.58.1uglify-js ^3.19.3webpack ^5.106.1webpack-dev-server ^5.2.3

Used by

Popular packages that depend on diff.

ts-nodenpm

TypeScript execution environment and REPL for node.js, with source map support

↓ 42.2M/wk◈ 38 dependents⚖ MITTS
@vitejs/devtools-rolldownnpm

DevTools for Rolldown

↓ 81.8K/wk◈ 1 dependents⚖ MITTS
@jest/diff-sequencesnpm

Compare items in two sequences to find a longest common subsequence

↓ 0/wk◈ 1 dependents⚖ MITTS
xml2jsnpm

Simple XML to JavaScript object converter.

↓ 0/wk◈ 1 dependents⚖ MIT

Relationship graph

Dependencies (left) and dependents (right) of diff.

ts-node@vitejs/devtools-…@jest/diff-sequen…xml2jsdiff
diff dependencies dependents

Frequently installed together

@floating-ui/domnpm

Floating UI for the web

↓ 0/wk◈ 2 dependents⚖ MITTS
@vitejs/devtools-kitnpm

Vite DevTools Kit

↓ 0/wk◈ 5 dependents⚖ MITTS
pathenpm

Universal filesystem path utils

↓ 0/wk◈ 25 dependents⚖ MITTS
d3-shapenpm

Graphical primitives for visualization, such as lines and areas.

↓ 0/wk◈ 2 dependents⚖ ISC
vue-virtual-scrollernpm

Smooth scrolling for any amount of data

↓ 0/wk◈ 3 dependents⚖ MITTS
@rolldown/debugnpm

No description provided.

↓ 0/wk◈ 1 dependents⚖ MIT
nosticsnpm

Structured diagnostic code library

↓ 0/wk◈ 13 dependents⚖ MITTS
devframenpm

Framework for building one portable devtool integration that runs in any viewer.

↓ 0/wk◈ 14 dependents⚖ MITTS
@types/nodenpm

TypeScript definitions for node

↓ 0/wk◈ 327 dependents⚖ MITTS
@swc/wasmnpm

wasm module for swc

↓ 0/wk◈ 1 dependents⚖ Apache-2.0TS
acornnpm

ECMAScript parser

↓ 221.9M/wk◈ 19 dependents⚖ MITTS
reactnpm

React is a JavaScript library for building user interfaces.

↓ 152.8M/wk◈ 82 dependents⚖ MIT

Release history

12 releases in the last two years, typically about 14 days apart.

Recent versions of diff
VersionPublishedSizeLicense
9.0.0latest4 months ago601 KBBSD-3-Clause
8.0.45 months ago507 KBBSD-3-Clause
3.5.17 months ago388 KBBSD-3-Clause
4.0.47 months ago325 KBBSD-3-Clause
4.0.37 months ago310 KBBSD-3-Clause
5.2.27 months ago420 KBBSD-3-Clause
5.2.17 months ago403 KBBSD-3-Clause
8.0.38 months ago498 KBBSD-3-Clause
8.0.21 year ago480 KBBSD-3-Clause
8.0.11 year ago502 KBBSD-3-Clause
8.0.01 year ago501 KBBSD-3-Clause
8.0.0-beta1 year ago501 KBBSD-3-Clause
7.0.02 years ago607 KBBSD-3-Clause
6.0.02 years ago606 KBBSD-3-Clause
6.0.0-beta2 years ago607 KBBSD-3-Clause

Overview

diff is an npm package that a JavaScript text diff implementation. It is extremely widely used, with about 124.1M downloads per week and 4 known dependents in the graph. The latest version is 9.0.0, released under the BSD-3-Clause license.

Who should use it

Teams working in the npm ecosystem who need a JavaScript text diff implementation and value a battle-tested, widely-adopted solution.

When not to use it

Consider an alternative if you need to minimize your dependency tree, or if a more actively-maintained option better fits your npm stack.

Pros

  • Large, well-established user base (124.1M weekly downloads).
  • Ships TypeScript type definitions.
  • Clear open-source license (BSD-3-Clause).

Cons

  • Large dependency tree (26 direct dependencies) increases install size and audit surface.

Auto-generated from collected registry metadata. No external claims are inferred.

Maintainers

explodingcabbagekpdecker

Keywords

comparecssdiffjavascriptjsdiffjsonpatchtext

Frequently asked questions

Should I use diff?

Yes — diff scores well across adoption, maintenance, weight, supply chain, and licensing. 124.1M downloads per week and 4 known dependents. Last published 149 days ago. 12 releases in the last 2 years.

How do I install diff?

Run `npm install diff` to add diff to your npm project.

What license is diff released under?

diff is distributed under the BSD-3-Clause license.

How popular is diff?

diff has approximately 124,141,695 downloads per week and 4 known dependent packages.

Is diff still maintained?

The most recent release of diff (v9.0.0) was published 4 months ago.

Does diff run install scripts?

No. diff does not define preinstall, install, or postinstall scripts, so installing it does not execute publisher-supplied code.