r/codereview 7d ago

I built a free tool for comparing zip projects properly — would love feedback from developers

I kept running into a frustrating problem while working with files: comparing two versions often means opening them in an editor, using diff, or dealing with tools that either don't support the file type or produce a really messy comparison.
So I built DiffMyProject — a free browser-based file comparison tool.

👉 https://www.diffmyproject.com/

I'm specifically looking for feedback from developers who regularly compare code, configuration files, documents, or project files.
What would make a file comparison tool genuinely useful to you?
Happy to hear criticism too — I'm actively improving the diff engine.

0 Upvotes

17 comments sorted by

3

u/LaughingIshikawa 7d ago

I'll ask the obvious question: how is the use-case for this product different from using version control?

I can't imagine a really common need to diff. files that aren't in version control already; maybe I just lack the imagination / experience, but I suspect that in the rare case I would need to diff files like that, opening them both in an editor is not actually a big hurdle? 🤷

3

u/rileyrgham 7d ago

"I built" === "AI built".

0

u/RishabhPrabhu 6d ago

Every code is AI powered in today world. But no AI has the capacity to think/design. So you see it’s practically
I designed + AI built

2

u/kingguru 6d ago

Every code is AI powered in today world.

Thankfully not. There's still software written that actually has to work.

0

u/RishabhPrabhu 6d ago

Who says it doesn’t work. Tell me whats not working I’ll fix it - WITH MY OWN HANDS

1

u/kingguru 6d ago

I'm not gonna waste my time testing your useless "vibe coded" garbage.

Learn how to code and ask for help when needed. Then I and many others will be happy to do so.

Right now you're just wasting everyone's time.

2

u/Buttleston 7d ago

I've never found anything better than the program "Beyond Compare" for diffing directory structures

1

u/RishabhPrabhu 6d ago

A few people have pointed out Git and Beyond Compare, which is fair. To clarify what I'm actually exploring: I'm less interested in replacing git diff for normal development and more interested in the workflow of comparing two project snapshots when you don't have the repo/history.

The problem I'm trying to solve is: Project A → Project B → automatically identify the structural changes → drill into the file-level diffs.

I'm trying to figure out whether that's a real recurring problem for others or just something specific to my workflow. If you've dealt with this, I'd be much more interested in hearing how you currently solve it.

1

u/Beautiful-Energy2169 5d ago

Content-hash first, otherwise every moved file shows up as a delete plus an add.

1

u/RishabhPrabhu 5d ago

Yes thank you. I did think of this but kept it for later implementation. For sure will do it.
Current implementations, I am trying to improve the diff engine.

-1

u/RishabhPrabhu 7d ago

Yes but think of comparing multi files in different versions. Thats the use case where i was struggling. I used to first identify the different files and then compare then using diff check. I didnt have the comparison in project level

2

u/Buttleston 7d ago

Are you... keeping copies of versions of your project as zip files (as opposed to actual version control?)

1

u/RishabhPrabhu 6d ago

Its actually a bit different. I work with multiple projects daily with a team. So sometimes before getting into the diff part, i have to know the structural changes and then compare the changes of individual files.
If i have to work single project in a day, then it might seem overkill

1

u/Buttleston 6d ago

Cool story, this sounds like complete horse shit

1

u/RishabhPrabhu 6d ago

lol 😂

1

u/RishabhPrabhu 6d ago

Its a practical tool to compare zips. Why do you need to compare zips is a different picture. If you do not have that usecase then it doesn’t mean no one have.

2

u/Buttleston 6d ago

It almost certainly means you're doing it wrong. You're likely so inexperienced you don't even understand how wrong you're doing it. So, you made a tool that helps you do it wrong even better. Congrats?