Capture Compare

Run a read-only diff between two same-provider captures to see added, removed, updated, and unchanged items.

Capture Compare is a read-only diff between two capture files from the same provider.

It helps you answer: “What changed between capture A and capture B?”

It does not decide what should sync.

Captures are stored under /config/snapshots/ (legacy folder name). Capture Compare never writes to your providers.

What you can compare

You pick:

• Capture A (baseline)

• Capture B (the one you’re comparing against)

Both captures should be from the same provider.

Capture Compare supports:

• single-feature captures

  • Watchlist

  • Ratings

  • History

  • Progress

• All capture bundles

  • one set that contains multiple features in one restore point

For the cleanest results, compare like-for-like:

• feature vs the same feature

• All bundle vs All bundle

How to run a diff (UI)

1

Open Compare

Open Tools → Captures, then open the Compare panel.

2

Pick two captures

Pick Capture A and Capture B.

Keep the provider the same.

Keep the feature, or bundle type, the same when you can.

3

Run Compare

Click Compare to load results.

Use the filters to focus on Added/Removed/Updated.

How to read results

Compare groups items into four buckets:

• Added: in B, not in A

• Removed: in A, not in B

• Updated: same key, but fields changed

• Unchanged: same key, identical payload

Updated items can be expanded to show field-level changes.

If you diff captures from different features, everything can look “added/removed”. That’s expected.

Compare is intended for same-provider diffs. If you compare different providers, results won’t be meaningful.

Limits and truncation

The UI may cap how many rows it shows per section.

If you expect huge diffs, tighten your comparison first.

Try same provider, same feature or same bundle type, close timestamps, and a short label.

API reference (optional)

Endpoint

GET /api/snapshots/diff

Query params

• a (required): capture A path (relative under /config/snapshots)

• b (required): capture B path (relative under /config/snapshots)

• limit (optional, default 200, min 1, max 2000): max items returned per section

• max_changes (optional, default 25, min 1, max 200): max field-level changes per updated item

How the diff works (high level)

Compare is intentionally simple.

It loads both capture JSON files, then compares:

• the set of item keys in A vs B

• the full item payload for keys present in both

That produces:

• Added = keys in B but not A

• Removed = keys in A but not B

• Updated = key in both, payload differs

• Unchanged = key in both, payload identical

This is deterministic. It does not do ID mapping or fuzzy matching.