DiffCI Core
Affected checks before push, for AI coding agents. DiffCI tells Claude Code, Codex, Cursor (or you) which tests and checks a change affects, so they run before the push instead of failing at the full CI gate afterwards. MIT licensed, runs locally, sends nothing by default, and falls back to the full suite whenever the evidence is incomplete.
npx "@diffci.com/diffci@latest" check
Run it in any Git checkout with Node.js 22.5+. What the output means.
Why
Coding agents pass the narrow check they picked and miss wider breakage, then rerun the whole suite when they are unsure. We measured this on our own agent-built production app (about 1,100 commits in two months, most of them co-authored by Claude):
- 104 pushes failed the full gates after push. Each passed whatever the agent ran locally.
- Agents chose their own test files 928 times and ran the full suite 282 times, but asked a tool which tests were affected only 24 times.
- When DiffCI could narrow the run, it selected 2.2% of test files, cutting test time by 93%. None of those commits had a failing test, so this shows speed, not regression catching.
- DiffCI still fell back to the full suite on 58% of commits, mostly because a config file or
package.json changed. Narrowing those safely is the main open problem, and a good place to contribute.
Use it from your coding agent
The public integrations/agent-plugin package
makes the published DiffCI CLI available as a checkout-aware local MCP plugin.
It contains only public marketplace metadata, skills, and a pinned npm
launcher; it does not include product services or private source. The
cross-agent installation guide covers Codex,
Claude Code, Cursor, Grok, Meta Muse Code, and generic MCP hosts.
# Codex
codex plugin marketplace add DiffCI/core
codex plugin add diffci@diffci-local
# Claude Code
claude plugin marketplace add DiffCI/core
claude plugin install diffci@diffci-marketplace
Cursor Marketplace reads .cursor-plugin/marketplace.json
from this repository. Meta Muse Code reads the native root
marketplace.json. Before a public listing is approved,
use the local MCP configuration in the agent-plugin package or visit
https://diffci.com/mcp-server.
Installing the plugin does not make an agent use it. Paste the
short agent-instructions snippet
into CLAUDE.md or AGENTS.md so it runs DiffCI before pushing.
GitHub Action
The public action.yml is an observation-only GitHub Action
wrapper. It runs the pinned published DiffCI CLI outside the observed checkout,
retains existing CI jobs, and uploads an advisory report. See the
observer Action guide and
workflow example.
The v0.3.10 corresponding source
remains publicly available at tagged Core commit 4c76be14 (cli-v0.3.10-source)
while distribution migrates to the Core-native CLI package.
diffci check compares full and selected runtime when safe to measure, writes reports outside the checkout, and sends nothing by default. Test commands can generate files; keep required CI authoritative.
Measured example: one controlled Cal.com sandbox replay measured 44.2% net reduction in install + pretest + test runtime including analysis overhead. This is a job-equivalent comparison, not production savings or a forecast for your repository. Method and limitations.
Star Core · Volunteer a pilot repository · Find a first contribution.
Watch → Custom → Releases and Discussions for benchmark results and support updates. Public roadmap.
This is the standalone Core engine. It analyzes local JavaScript/TypeScript repositories, supported Vue components, root Go modules and conventional Maven reactors, traces dependency impact, infers GitHub Actions structure and proposes test selections with evidence and full-run fallbacks. It works without a DiffCI account, hosted service or API key. See the release boundary for support limits.
Want to try DiffCI in an existing repository? Use the published CLI: npx @diffci.com/diffci@latest check. See the CLI quickstart for a no-execution analysis option, prerequisites, and result interpretation. The commands below build the standalone engine from source.
Run locally
Requires Git and Node.js 22.5 or later.
git clone https://github.com/DiffCI/core.git
cd core
npm ci
npm run build
npm test
node dist/cli.js plan --repo /path/to/clean-checkout --base HEAD~1 --head HEAD
The target must be a clean Git repository root checked out at --head. Fetch the base commit beforehand if using a shallow clone. JSON goes to stdout; analysis errors exit nonzero and recommend full CI. Core does not execute repository scripts, contact a DiffCI backend or send telemetry. Installation requires the npm registry.
To evaluate the same command on pull requests without changing required jobs, copy the advisory GitHub Actions example.
Plans are advisory. This release does not execute, skip or cancel CI jobs. SKIP_CANDIDATE is a candidate, not permission to bypass a check. Keep full CI authoritative while evaluating Core. Missing command synthesis, unsupported configuration and incomplete evidence must not be treated as an empty test suite. Static analysis is not proof that a test can safely be omitted.
For Maven jobs whose CI runs a lifecycle goal or profiles other than test, declare them in diffci.json (or the diffci key in package.json):
{ "maven": { "goal": "verify", "profiles": ["run-its"] } }
This changes the proposed command, such as mvn -pl tools -am verify -P run-its; Core still does not run it. Confirm the command against the repository's CI workflow before using it for execution.
What is included
Declared pnpm workspaces with a single Vitest test phase can receive package-local command plans. Each selected path must belong to a discovered test in a declared package. Runtime selections are batched to keep commands below Windows limits; packages declaring --typecheck retain a separate full type-test phase. Packages with compound scripts, lifecycle hooks, overlapping ownership or discovery blind spots refuse selective execution. Commands remain advisory and must be executed separately; CLI automatic timing of multiple commands requires additional integration.
| Area | Implementation |
|---|
| Changes and dependencies | Git deltas, repository inventory, JS/TS dependency graph, impact traversal |
| Safety and planning | Risk signals, conservative fallback, always-run policy, test selection and command synthesis |
| CI analysis | GitHub Actions evidence, job/reference graphs, conditions and matrix inference |
| Reproducible evaluation | Synthetic benchmark and portable regression tests |
| Measurement | Current-process wall time, CPU time and ending RSS; explicit-input cost/energy/carbon estimates |
The library entry point exports analyzeCheckout, buildDependencyGraph, ImpactAnalyzer, DefaultCIPlanner, collectEvidence, inferPipeline, measure and estimateImpact. Lower-level modules are available as package subpaths. This repository is the engine source, and the published @diffci.com/diffci CLI is released from it. The corresponding source for the previously published v0.3.10 package is retained in the source archive at tagged commit 4c76be14.
npm run typecheck
npm run audit:boundary
npm run benchmark
The benchmark constructs one temporary synthetic repository containing 100 chained modules and 100 importing test files. In one Node.js process it builds that same dependency graph three times, sequentially, and removes the fixture afterward. Install dependencies first with npm ci, then run npm run benchmark under Node.js 22.5 or later. Record the emitted node and platform alongside the machine CPU, memory, operating system, and competing workload when comparing runs. The three builds share process, operating-system, and compiler warmup effects; they are not independent repetitions with controlled cold caches.
Each entry in runs has these fields:
| Field | Interpretation |
|---|
basis: "measured" | The process counters were observed rather than estimated. |
scope: "current-process" | Only the benchmark's Node.js process is covered, not the whole host, container, or CI job. |
wallSeconds | Elapsed wall-clock time around one buildDependencyGraph call. |
cpuSeconds | User plus system CPU time consumed by the current process during that call; it can differ from wall time. |
rssBytesAtEnd | Resident-set size sampled after the call. It is neither peak memory nor the memory allocated by that call alone. |
nodes, edges | Graph size. The current fixture should produce 200 nodes and 199 dependency edges. |
confidence | Dependency-graph confidence for this synthetic fixture. COMPLETE does not prove that a real repository can safely skip tests. |
For example, wallSeconds: 0.79, cpuSeconds: 0.84, and rssBytesAtEnd: 327868416 mean that one graph build elapsed for about 0.79 seconds, consumed about 0.84 current-process CPU seconds, and ended with roughly 328 MB RSS. They do not mean that CI became 0.79 seconds faster or saved 328 MB. The script does not execute tests, installation, builds, or a full-versus-selected comparison, so its timings must not be reported as CI savings.
The separate estimateImpact API can calculate estimatedUsd, estimatedKwh, and estimatedKgCo2e only from caller-supplied computeSeconds, price, power, and grid-intensity assumptions. Those values have basis: "estimated"; they are modeled scenarios, not benchmark output, physical measurements, billing records, or verified avoided emissions.
Sponsors
DiffCI Core is supported by its GitHub Sponsors. Sponsorship funds maintenance, broader language and CI support, and reproducible benchmarks.
Partners
No Partner sponsors yet. Become the first.
Team Sponsors
No Team Sponsors yet. Team Sponsor logos also appear on diffci.com/sponsors.
Backers
No Backers yet. Backers at $25/month or above are listed here.
Sponsors' bug reports are labelled sponsor and triaged first.
Core and Cloud
| Component | Availability | License |
|---|
| This Core repository | Public source | MIT |
| DiffCI Cloud: hosting, billing, organization management, dashboard, managed services | Private source | Proprietary; not included here |
| Optional enterprise modules | Not released here | A separate source-available license would apply if offered |
Only the explicitly extracted Core files and standalone tooling are in this repository. There is no private monorepo history, customer data, deployment configuration or Cloud implementation here. Core is usable independently; it is not a promise that the private product has already migrated to consume this package.
Contributing
Most open work is teaching DiffCI to narrow changes it currently treats as "run everything": config files, package.json edits and lockfiles. Each case is small and comes with a synthetic fixture, so you don't need to learn the whole engine. Python and Rust support are next and split into one-PR steps: see the Python and Rust tracking issues. Pick a good first issue and see CONTRIBUTING.md; a dev container is included.
License
See LICENSE, NOTICE and CONTRIBUTING.md. Releases before the MIT switch were published under AGPL-3.0-only and are now also available under MIT; see LICENSE-HISTORY.md. Grant eligibility depends on the particular grant agreement. No eligibility or legal separation is guaranteed by this repository layout.
See the release boundary for scope and current limitations.
Useful? Star the engine and share a reproducible pilot result.
