Changes: see what an agent changed

The Changes view shows what changed in a workspace's git repos since the last commit. You read it on your phone while the agent works: the changed files, their added and removed lines, and each file's diff with syntax colour. When the agent has already committed, it shows the last commit.

Note. Changes only reads. It never stages, commits, edits or checks out a file (below).

Open it

There are two ways in.

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  From a pane. Tap the Changes button on the pane's actions belt, the icon left of the Switch mark. The list covers the pane's whole workspace and marks the pane's own repo.
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  From the dashboard. Tap Changes in the dashboard's footer, beside Panes and Focus. It lists one row per workspace with its changed-file count and the summed added and removed lines. A workspace with no changes stays in its place, dimmed. Tap a row to open that workspace's list.

The dashboard counts refresh every 5 seconds, and only while the Changes tab is on screen. The tab you pick is kept per device.

The list

The list groups the changed files by git repo. Each file shows its status and its +added −removed line counts.

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  The base is the last commit. Staged and unstaged changes show together. A repo with no commits is compared against an empty tree.
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  A new file shows as all added lines. A new folder is one entry: Collie says the folder is new and does not list the files inside it. That keeps a fresh node_modules out of the list.
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  A binary file is listed, but its lines are not shown.
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  This pane. Opened from a pane, with more than one repo listed, the pane's own repo carries a This pane label. On the first read, the list scrolls to it.
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  List or Tree. The Layout switch shows the files as one flat list per repo, or as a folder tree.
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  Filter files. The filter button narrows the list by path text and by status. The list then says how many of its files are shown.

Read a diff

Tap a file to read its diff. Previous file and Next file step through the list without going back to it.

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  The diff shows two line-number gutters, tinted added and removed rows, and lines that wrap.
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  Common languages get syntax colour: TypeScript and JavaScript, JSON, CSS, HTML, Markdown, Python, Go, Rust, shell, YAML, TOML and more. A file in another language, or a diff over 2000 lines, stays plain.
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  A very long diff stops at a limit and says so.
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  If the agent reverts or commits the file while you read it, the diff stays on screen and its header says No longer changed. The view never jumps away.

The last commit

Agents often commit their own work, so the list can be empty right after the change you want to read. For a repo with no uncommitted changes, the view offers Show last commit.

The commit view shows the subject, the author, the time, the short hash and the commit's files, each with its own diff. It compares the commit with its first parent, so a merge shows what it brought in. It reads the newest commit only. There is no history browser.

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  When the agent commits again, a quiet A newer commit exists waits for a tap. The files on screen do not change under you.
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  When new uncommitted changes appear, New uncommitted changes takes you back to the list.

It stays up to date

An open Changes screen reads git again every 5 seconds while the page is visible. On a diff, the open file is read again too. A re-read that finds nothing new moves nothing on screen: your scroll, your filter and your folded folders stay as they are.

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  A hidden page stops reading, and reads once when it is visible again.
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  The refresh button reads now.
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  If two reads in a row fail, the header says Not updating, and the last good list stays. The next good read clears it.

Which folder, and which repos

The list covers the pane's workspace, not only the pane's own folder, so every pane in one workspace shows the same list. The header names the workspace and its folder. Collie picks that folder in this order:

Collie then finds the repo that holds that folder. It also looks for repos in folders below it, even repos the parent repo ignores. That is how a workspace repo with its member repos ignored inside it still shows every member's changes.

Two per-device settings control that search. Both live in Settings → Device → Changes.

The search never follows a symlink. It skips dot-folders and node_modules, dist, build, vendor and target. It stops at 20 repos or 5000 folder entries.

When the search stops at its depth and there are repos further down, the list ends with "Stopped at 2 levels, with repos further down." and a Look deeper in Settings link. When it hits the repo or entry limit, the list ends with "The list hit a limit" instead, because files may be missing.

A submodule or a nested repo that the search finds shows once, as its own repo. A submodule below the depth shows as one entry in its parent repo.

Read-only and safe

Changes runs git to read, and nothing else.

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  It never stages, commits, edits or checks out. It does not even refresh git's index cache.
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  A repo's own hooks, filters, external diff programs and text conversions never run while Collie reads it. An agent may have cloned anything, and you only tapped Changes.
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  It never touches the network, not even to fetch a missing file in a partial clone. That file then shows with zero counts and an empty diff.
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  A diff is served only for a file git itself listed as changed, in a repo the search found.

The full rules are in ADR 0065.

Across a crew

In a crew, a pane or workspace on another machine is read on that machine. The lead forwards the request, and that machine's git answers. That machine must run Collie 1.13.0 or later.

Limits

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  zellij panes have no Changes button. zellij does not report a pane's folder. The dashboard row for a zellij workspace reads "No folder".
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  Git must be installed on the machine that owns the pane.
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  Git LFS files may show as modified. With filters off, Collie compares an LFS file with its pointer. It can only show too much, never hide a change.
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  One workspace, one folder. A workspace whose panes sit in unrelated folders under your home folder reads the asking pane's own folder instead of a merged view.