| Git answers "what changed since my last commit?" but not "what did I just change?" Here's the gap, and a small tool that fills it.
tags: vscode, git, productivity, webdev
Git is brilliant at one question: what's different from the last commit?
But during real work I'm usually asking a smaller, more urgent one:
What have I changed since I last saved this file?
Three places Git doesn't help
1. Between commits, in a dirty working tree.
You've got three modified files from this morning and you're deep into a fourth. The Git gutter lumps everything together as "changed since commit", so it can't separate this hour's edits from this morning's.
2. Folders that aren't repos.
Scratch scripts, generated code, config directories, a quick prototype in ~/tmp. No .git, no gutter, no diff.
3. Files Git doesn't track.
Ignored files, local env configs, build outputs you're hand-tweaking.
The fix: diff against the last save
SavePoint Diff compares your buffer to the last saved version instead. The mechanics are simple:
- When a file opens, its content becomes the baseline.
- Every edit is diffed against that baseline and shown as gutter markers.
- When you save, the baseline resets and the markers clear.
Undo and redo just work too. Undo back to your saved state and the markers disappear; redo and they return.
A realistic moment
You're refactoring a function in a file that isn't in a repo. Twenty minutes in, something feels off. Instead of scrolling and guessing, you click the file in the SavePoint Diff panel and get a split diff: saved version on the left, live buffer on the right. You spot the stray deletion in seconds, hover the red marker, and hit ↺ Revert this change.
Git still handles history, collaboration, and commits. SavePoint Diff covers the minutes in between.
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