⚡ stackdiff

Snapshot, dump, and diff your environment variables. Detect installed tool versions. Beautiful colored output with spinners.

Install

npm install -g stackdiff

Or use with npx:

npx stackdiff dump

Commands

| Command | Description | |---------|-------------| | stackdiff dump | Dump all current environment variables (sorted, colored) | | stackdiff save <name> | Save current env as a named snapshot | | stackdiff diff <a> [b] | Diff snapshot a vs snapshot b (or current env if b omitted) | | stackdiff list | List all saved snapshots with timestamps | | stackdiff delete <name> | Delete a saved snapshot | | stackdiff search <pattern> | Search env vars by key or value (regex supported) | | stackdiff export [name] | Export env (or snapshot) as .env file format | | stackdiff stats [name] | Show summary stats (var count, PATH entries, sizes) | | stackdiff versions | Detect and display installed tool versions | | stackdiff containers | Show Docker/Podman containers, images, volumes, networks | | stackdiff help | Show help |

Usage Examples

Dump current environment

stackdiff dump

Outputs all variables sorted alphabetically with colored KEY=value formatting and a total count.

Save & compare snapshots

# Save env before making changes
stackdiff save before

# ... install something, change PATH, etc. ...

# See what changed
stackdiff diff before

Output shows added (green), removed (red), and changed (yellow) variables with before/after values.

Compare two snapshots

stackdiff save dev
stackdiff save prod
stackdiff diff dev prod

View environment stats

stackdiff stats

Environment stats (current):
  Total variables:  68
  Total value size: 4131 chars
  PATH entries:     50
  Longest key:      NuGetPackageSourceCredentials_vsts
  Longest value:    Path (2291 chars)

Search variables

stackdiff search PATH

Search for variables whose key or value matches a regex pattern (case-insensitive).

Export as .env file

# Export current env
stackdiff export > .env

# Export a snapshot
stackdiff export prod > prod.env

Outputs variables in KEY="value" format with proper escaping, suitable for use with dotenv or Docker.

Delete a snapshot

stackdiff delete old-snapshot

Detect tool versions

stackdiff versions

Detected tool versions:

  node    v22.17.0
  npm     11.11.0
  npx     11.11.0
  pnpm    10.33.0
  git     git version 2.48.1.windows.1
  python  Python 3.13.0
  java    openjdk version "23.0.2" 2025-01-21
  dotnet  10.0.203
  docker  Docker version 29.2.1, build a5c7197

Detected tools: node, npm, npx, yarn, pnpm, git, python, java, dotnet, docker (skips any not installed).

Docker/Podman containers

stackdiff containers

Container runtime: docker

┌ Containers (2)
│  my-api image=node:22-alpine Up 3 hours
│  my-db image=postgres:16 Up 3 hours

┌ Images (5)
│  node:22-alpine 187MB
│  postgres:16 430MB
│  redis:7-alpine 40MB
│  ...

┌ Volumes (1)
│  pgdata local

┌ Networks (3)
│  bridge bridge
│  host host
│  my-app-net bridge

Automatically detects whether Docker or Podman is available and displays all containers (running and stopped), images, volumes, and networks.

Programmatic API

const { dumpEnv, saveSnapshot, loadSnapshot, diffEnv, searchEnv, exportEnv, deleteSnapshot, getVersions, detectContainerRuntime, getContainerInfo } = require('stackdiff');

// Get all env vars as a formatted string
console.log(dumpEnv());

// Save/load snapshots
saveSnapshot('./snap.json');
const env = loadSnapshot('./snap.json');

// Diff two env objects
const result = diffEnv(envA, envB);
// result = { added: ['NEW_VAR'], removed: ['OLD_VAR'], changed: ['MODIFIED_VAR'] }

// Search env vars by pattern (regex, case-insensitive)
const matches = searchEnv('node', process.env);
// matches = [{ key: 'NODE_ENV', value: 'production' }, ...]

// Export as .env format string
const dotenv = exportEnv(process.env);

// Delete a snapshot
deleteSnapshot('./snap.json'); // returns true/false

// Get installed tool versions
const versions = getVersions();
// versions = [{ name: 'node', version: 'v22.17.0' }, ...]

// Docker/Podman info
const runtime = detectContainerRuntime(); // 'docker', 'podman', or null
const info = getContainerInfo();
// info = { runtime, containers: [...], images: [...], volumes: [...], networks: [...] }

Snapshots

Snapshots are stored in .stackdiff/ in the current working directory as JSON files. Add .stackdiff/ to your .gitignore if you don't want to commit them.

.stackdiff/

Requirements

• Node.js >= 16.0.0

License

MIT