Delta

Delta is a syntax-highlighting pager for git, diff, grep, and blame output.

Installation

I use WinGet to install by running winget install dandavison.delta.

Git Configuration

This section should be pasted into the ~/.gitconfig file for delta to be used globally across all git repos. The .gitconfig file may already have [core] or [interactive] sections, so make sure to merge the entries carefully.

[core]
  pager = delta
 
[interactive]
  diffFilter = delta --color-only --features=interactive
 
[delta]
  features = decorations
  side-by-side = true
 
[delta "interactive"]
  keep-plus-minus-markers = false
 
[delta "decorations"]
  commit-decoration-style = blue ol
  commit-style = raw
  file-style = omit
  hunk-header-decoration-style = blue box
  hunk-header-file-style = red
  hunk-header-line-number-style = "#067a00"
  hunk-header-style = file line-number syntax

Now git diff and related commands in a terminal will show diffs using delta.

A note on side-by-side

The delta documentation setup instructions don’t include the side-by-side flag, but I prefer it being set to show diffs left and right like most diffing UIs.

Lazygit Integration

Broken on Windows!

Custom pagers are not currently supported by lazygit on Windows, as explained in their current documentation. Follow this open issue on GitHub for progress updates.

Lazygit supports using a custom pager (i.e. delta) by way of a configuration change in its ~/AppData/Local/lazygit/config.yml file. Paste in this section.

git:
  paging:
    colorArg: always
    pager: delta --dark --paging=never