hull diff

Synopsis

hull diff is a purely file-oriented comparison — it never reads cluster or release state. It renders and compares local inputs: two package directories, two rendered manifest files, one package under two value sets, or one package at two git revisions. Use it to answer “what is different between these two things on disk”, independent of any cluster.

For “what would change against the recorded state” use hull plan; for “what differs from the live cluster” use hull drift.

When to use it

Compare two chart versions before upgrading a dependency.
See how staging values differ from prod values for the same package.
Review what a git change to a package actually does to the rendered output.

The four modes

Invocation	Compares
`hull diff ./a ./b`	two package directories (renders both)
`hull diff a.yaml b.yaml`	two rendered manifest files (no rendering)
`hull diff ./pkg --to-set k=v`	one package under two value sets
`hull diff ./pkg --from-ref X --to-ref Y`	one package at two git revisions

The mode is chosen from the arguments: two directories → mode 1; two files → mode 2; one directory with --from-*/--to-* value flags → mode 3; one directory with --from-ref/--to-ref → mode 4.

Usage

hull diff <a> [b] [flags]

Flags

Flag	Type	Default	Description
`-f, --values`	stringArray	—	values file applied to BOTH sides (repeatable)
`--set`	stringArray	—	key=value applied to BOTH sides (repeatable)
`--set-string`	stringArray	—	key=value (string) applied to BOTH sides
`--profile`	string	—	profile applied to BOTH sides
`--from-values`	stringArray	—	values file for the FROM side only (mode 3)
`--to-values`	stringArray	—	values file for the TO side only (mode 3)
`--from-set`	stringArray	—	key=value for the FROM side only (mode 3)
`--to-set`	stringArray	—	key=value for the TO side only (mode 3)
`--from-profile`	string	—	profile for the FROM side only (mode 3)
`--to-profile`	string	—	profile for the TO side only (mode 3)
`--from-ref`	string	—	git revision for the FROM side (mode 4)
`--to-ref`	string	—	git revision for the TO side (mode 4, default: working tree)
`--smart`	bool	true	smart per-resource diff; `--smart=false` for raw unified diff
`--no-color`	—	—	disable colored output

Examples

Compare two package versions (in → out):

hull diff ./chart-v1 ./chart-v2

diff: ./chart-v1 → ./chart-v2

~ update  Deployment/myapp
      ~ spec.template.spec.containers.0.image
          - "nginx:1.24"
          + "nginx:1.25"

Summary: 0 added, 1 changed, 0 removed.

Compare two rendered manifest files:

hull template ./a > a.yaml
hull template ./b > b.yaml
hull diff a.yaml b.yaml

Compare the same package under staging vs prod values:

hull diff ./chart --from-values staging.yaml --to-values prod.yaml

Compare a package across git revisions:

hull diff ./chart --from-ref v1.2.0 --to-ref v1.3.0

Fall back to a raw line-level unified diff:

hull diff ./chart-v1 ./chart-v2 --smart=false