Merge

Use a custom merge command

By default, chezmoi uses vimdiff. You can use a custom command by setting the merge.command and merge.args configuration variables. The elements of merge.args are interpreted as templates with the variables .Destination, .Source, and .Target containing filenames of the file in the destination state, source state, and target state respectively. For example, to use neovim's diff mode, specify:

=== "TOML"

toml

[merge]
    command = "nvim"
    args = [
        "-d",
        "{{ .Destination }}",
        "{{ .Source }}",
        "{{ .Target }}"
    ]

=== "YAML"

yaml

merge:
  command: nvim
  args:
  - -d
  - "{{ .Destination }}"
  - "{{ .Source }}"
  - "{{ .Target }}"

=== "JSON"

json

{
    "merge": {
        "command": "nvim",
        "args": [
            "-d",
            "{{ .Destination }}",
            "{{ .Source }}",
            "{{ .Target }}"
        ]
    }
}

!!! hint

If you generate your config file from a config file template, then you'll
need to escape the `{{` and `}}`. That way your generated config file
contains the `{{` and `}}` you expect.

=== "TOML"

    ```text title="~/.local/share/chezmoi/chezmoi.toml.tmpl"
    [merge]
        command = "nvim"
        args = [
            "-d",
            {{ printf "%q" "{{ .Destination }}" }},
            {{ printf "%q" "{{ .Source }}" }},
            {{ printf "%q" "{{ .Target }}" }},
        ]
    ```

=== "YAML"

    ```text title="~/.local/share/chezmoi/chezmoi.yaml.tmpl"
    merge:
      command: nvim
      args:
      - -d
      - {{ printf "%q" "{{ .Destination }}" }}
      - {{ printf "%q" "{{ .Source }}" }}
      - {{ printf "%q" "{{ .Target }}" }}
    ```

=== "JSON"

    ```text title="~/.local/share/chezmoi/chezmoi.json.tmpl"
    {
        "merge": {
            "command": "nvim",
            "args": [
                "-d",
                {{ printf "%q" "{{ .Destination }}" }},
                {{ printf "%q" "{{ .Source }}" }},
                {{ printf "%q" "{{ .Target }}" }}
            ]
        }
    }
    ```

Use Beyond Compare as the merge tool

To use Beyond Compare as the merge tool, add the following to your config:

=== "TOML"

```toml title="~/.config/chezmoi/chezmoi.toml"
[merge]
    command = "bcomp"
    args = [
        "{{ .Destination }}",
        "{{ .Source }}",
        "{{ .Target }}",
        "{{ .Source }}"
    ]
```

=== "YAML"

```yaml title="~/.config/chezmoi/chezmoi.yaml"
merge:
  command: "bcomp"
  args:
  - "{{ .Destination }}"
  - "{{ .Source }}"
  - "{{ .Target }}"
  - "{{ .Source }}"
```

=== "JSON"

```json title="~/.config/chezmoi/chezmoi.json"
{
    "merge": {
        "command": "bcomp",
        "args": [
            "{{ .Destination }}",
            "{{ .Source }}",
            "{{ .Target }}",
            "{{ .Source }}"
        ]
    }
}
```

Use VSCode as the merge tool

To use VSCode as the merge tool, add the following to your config:

=== "TOML"

```toml title="~/.config/chezmoi/chezmoi.toml"
[merge]
command = "bash"
args = [
    "-c",
    "cp {{ .Target | quote }} {{ printf \"%s.base\" .Target | quote }} && code --new-window --wait --merge {{ .Destination | quote }} {{ .Target | quote }} {{ printf \"%s.base\" .Target | quote }} {{ .Source | quote }}",
]
```

=== "YAML"

```yaml title="~/.config/chezmoi/chezmoi.yaml"
merge:
  command: "bash"
  args:
  - "-c"
  - "cp {{ .Target | quote }} {{ printf \"%s.base\" .Target | quote }} && code --new-window --wait --merge {{ .Destination | quote }} {{ .Target | quote }} {{ printf \"%s.base\" .Target | quote }} {{ .Source | quote }}"
```

=== "JSON"

```json title="~/.config/chezmoi.chezmoi.json"
{
    "merge": {
        "command": "bash",
        "args": [
            "-c",
            "cp {{ .Target | quote }} {{ printf \"%s.base\" .Target | quote }} && code --new-window --wait --merge {{ .Destination | quote }} {{ .Target | quote }} {{ printf \"%s.base\" .Target | quote }} {{ .Source | quote }}",
        ]
    }
}
```