# 📚 How to see what changed in Composer files

When reviewing a Pull Request that touched `composer.json` and `composer.lock` files you might notice that the diffs are usually pretty huge and it's almost impossible to tell what exactly happened there - which packages got added, updated, downgraded or removed? Nobody knows.

That's because [Composer](https://getcomposer.org/) stores information about all packages that should be installed in `composer.lock` together with some of their metadata. This helps to manage the dependencies efficiently and browse most information offline but there is currently no built-in way to compare these files when changed.


## How to live with that?

Don't worry, I got you. Simply install [Composer-Diff](https://github.com/IonBazan/composer-diff) plugin which allows you to easily compare any two versions of your `composer.lock` files:

```shell
composer global req ion-bazan/composer-diff
```

To run it in your repository:

```shell
composer diff # Displays packages changed in current git tree compared with HEAD
composer diff --help # Display detailed usage instructions
```

By default, it compares current filesystem version with your last committed changes (to use it locally just before committing your new changes):

![Image description](https://cdn.hashnode.com/res/hashnode/image/upload/v1715970985884/3361d3c1-d69b-4d46-8333-ec0eea63f687.png)

It produces a colourful, tabulated markdown output which can be copy-pasted into your PR description for reference 🤩

Besides of generating diff for your current filesystem changes, you can compare any 2 git refs or local copies of files using `--base` and `--target` options or arguments:

```shell
composer diff master # Compare current composer.lock with the one on master branch
composer diff master:composer.lock develop:composer.lock -p # Compare master and develop branches, including platform dependencies
composer diff --no-dev # ignore dev dependencies
composer diff -p # include platform dependencies
composer diff -f json # Output as JSON instead of table
```

Did I mention it works with all PHP versions from 5.3 all the way till 8.4+?

## OK but I'm lazy

Me too! That's why I made things even easier with GitHub Actions - I'm adding [Composer Diff Action](https://github.com/marketplace/actions/composer-diff) to all my projects to enjoy an automated report in every PR.

![Image description](https://cdn.hashnode.com/res/hashnode/image/upload/v1715970987044/247ae2d9-59ac-4cfe-9d59-95a8c214e44c.png)

Another day, another useful automation.

## OK but I don't like you

No problem, you can check out a few other tools instead:

 - [jbzoo/composer-diff](https://packagist.org/packages/jbzoo/composer-diff) - requires PHP 7.2+, no composer plugin support
 - [josefglatz/composer-diff-plugin](https://packagist.org/packages/josefglatz/composer-diff-plugin) - works only right after install/update
 - [davidrjonas/composer-lock-diff](https://packagist.org/packages/davidrjonas/composer-lock-diff) - does not work as composer plugin