@gitwand/core

The conflict resolution engine that powers GitWand.

This package is primarily a build-time dependency of @gitwand/cli and @gitwand/mcp. Most users should install one of those instead.

⚠️ Pre-1.0 stability note. @gitwand/core exposes a deliberately small API (resolve, MergeResult, a handful of types) but is not yet under a formal semver stability commitment. Breaking changes may land in minor versions until the API is declared stable in a future release. If you depend on it directly, pin an exact version.

Use as a library

import { resolve } from "@gitwand/core";

const content = readFileSync("src/app.ts", "utf-8");
const result = resolve(content, "src/app.ts");

console.log(`${result.stats.autoResolved}/${result.stats.totalConflicts} resolved`);

if (result.mergedContent) {
  writeFileSync("src/app.ts", result.mergedContent);
}

With options

const result = resolve(content, "package-lock.json", {
  policy: "prefer-merge",
  minConfidence: "medium",
  patternOverrides: { "*.lock": "prefer-theirs" },
  explainOnly: true,  // don't produce a merged output, just analyze
});

What it does

Parses a file with Git conflict markers (<<<<<<<, =======, >>>>>>>) and produces a structured merge result: per-hunk classification, composite confidence score, decision trace, and — when possible — a clean merged content string.

Pattern detection is priority-ordered: same_change, one_side_change, delete_no_change, non_overlapping, whitespace_only, reorder_only, insertion_at_boundary, value_only_change, generated_file, and complex (never auto-resolved).

Format-aware resolvers layer on top: JSON / JSONC, Markdown (ATX-heading-aware), YAML, Vue SFC, CSS, and common lockfiles.

See the main README for the full pattern list, confidence scoring details, and .gitwandrc configuration.

Diff backend (v2.1+)

Since 2.1.0, the underlying diff algorithm is Histogram diff (rare-anchor splitting with JGit-style forward/backward extension). Histogram produces more stable alignments on real source code than the previous LCS-only backend, which lifts auto-resolution rates on non_overlapping and insertion_at_boundary patterns.

The public signatures are unchanged — lcs(a, b), computeDiff(base, branch), and mergeNonOverlapping(base, ours, theirs) keep their contracts. The switch is opaque to consumers.

To roll back to the legacy LCS DP / Hirschberg backend (e.g. for reproducibility, debugging a tie-break difference, or perf comparison on a specific input):

GITWAND_DIFF=lcs node ./your-script.mjs

The flag is read at call time, so you can also set it inside a Node process. On runtimes where process.env is undefined (pure browser), the default Histogram path is always used.

Two new primitives ship alongside:

import { histogramDiff, detectBlockMove } from "@gitwand/core";

// Direct Histogram call — same return shape as lcs().
const pairs = histogramDiff(linesA, linesB);

// Detect blocks moved between ours and theirs but absent (or at a
// different position) in base. Used downstream by the refactor-aware
// merge work scheduled for v2.6.
const moves = detectBlockMove(base, ours, theirs);

Format profiles (v2.2+)

Since 2.2.0, the JSON and YAML resolvers consult a registry of format profiles before falling back to textual conflict markers. A profile annotates JSON Pointer paths with a merge strategy: set (merge as a set with custom identity), merge-keys (recurse key-by-key), ordered-list (RFC 6902 add/remove), or opaque (skip). Built-in profiles cover package.json, tsconfig.json, composer.json, helm/values.yaml, and Kubernetes manifests.

Concrete impact: package.json with divergent keywords arrays, tsconfig.json with split include paths, or a Kubernetes Deployment with new containers added on each side — all auto-resolve where v2.1 fell back to a textual conflict marker.

import { profileForFile, registerFormatProfile } from "@gitwand/core";

const profile = profileForFile("package.json");
// → { name: "package.json", paths: { "/keywords": { kind: "set" }, ... } }

// Register a custom profile (inserted ahead of built-ins, useful for
// monorepo-specific paths). The returned function unregisters it.
const unregister = registerFormatProfile({
  name: "my-config",
  matches: (fp) => fp.endsWith("/myconfig.json"),
  paths: { "/plugins": { kind: "set", identity: (p) => (p as { id: string }).id } },
  default: { kind: "merge-keys" },
});

Roll back to the v2.1 behavior (no profile lookup) globally:

resolve(content, "package.json", { disableFormatProfiles: true });

The RFC 6902 primitives are also exported (diffJson, applyJsonPatch, mergeJsonPatches) for consumers that want to compose their own merge logic.

Links

• 📖 Documentation
• 🐛 Issue tracker
• 📜 License — MIT