Filter Diff Output🔗

This page explains how to reduce noise in your diff output by ignoring specific lines or entire resources.

Ignore specific lines🔗

Use the --diff-ignore option to hide lines matching a regex pattern.

Example: Image tag changes🔗

Since this tool highlights diffs between branches, it's important to stay up to date with your main branch. If your main branch is updated frequently with new container image tags, you'll see a lot of noise in the diff - changes like image: my-image:v1.0.0 → image: my-image:v1.0.1 will appear in every PR:

diff --git base/deployment target/deployment
@@ -3,38 +3,38 @@ template:
    spec:
      containers:
        - name: my-app
-         image: dag-andersen/my-app:v1.0.1
+         image: dag-andersen/my-app:v1.0.2
          ports:
            - containerPort: 80

To hide these, use a regex that matches version strings:

argocd-diff-preview --diff-ignore="v[0-9]+\.[0-9]+\.[0-9]+"

Example: Helm-generated values🔗

Some Helm charts generate new values on every install (certificates, random strings, etc.). These appear in every PR even when nothing meaningful changed:

   name: example-name
 webhooks:
 - admissionReviewVersions:
   - v1
   clientConfig:
-    caBundle: LS0tLS1CRUdJTiBDRVJUSUZJQ0FURS0tLS0tCk1JSURLR ...
+    caBundle: LS0tLS1CRUdJTiBDRVJUSUZJQ0FURS0tLS0tCk1JSURKe ...
     service:
       name: example-name
       port: 443
   failurePolicy: Fail
   name: vbinding.kb.io

argocd-diff-preview --diff-ignore="caBundle"

This hides all lines containing the word caBundle.

Ignore resources🔗

Use --ignore-resources to exclude entire resources from the diff. The format is:

group:kind:name

Component	Description
`group`	API group (empty = core group, `*` = any)
`kind`	Resource kind (`*` = any)
`name`	Resource name (`*` = any)

Example🔗

argocd-diff-preview --ignore-resources="apps:Deployment:my-deploy,*:CustomResourceDefinition:*,:ConfigMap:argocd-cm"

This hides:

The Deployment named my-deploy in the apps group
All CustomResourceDefinitions (any group)
The ConfigMap named argocd-cm in the core group