Diffgrab

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Web page change tracking with structured diffs. markgrab + snapgrab integration.

What can you do with Diffgrab?

  • Change detection — track any URL, detect content changes via content hashing
  • Structured diffs — unified diff + section-level analysis (which headings changed)
  • Human-readable summaries — "5 lines added, 2 removed in sections: Intro, Methods"
  • Snapshot history — SQLite storage, browse past versions of any page
  • markgrab powered — HTML/YouTube/PDF/DOCX extraction via markgrab
  • Visual diff — optional screenshot comparison via snapgrab
  • MCP server — 5 tools for Claude Code / MCP clients
  • CLI included — diffgrab track, check, diff, history, untrack

Install

Add this to your client's MCP configuration (Claude Desktop: claude_desktop_config.json; Cursor: .cursor/mcp.json; VS Code and others use the same "mcpServers" shape).

PYPI package diffgrab
Claude Code
claude mcp add diffgrab -- uvx diffgrab==0.1.0
JSON configuration (Claude Desktop, Cursor, VS Code)
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "diffgrab": {
            "command": "uvx",
            "args": [
                "diffgrab==0.1.0"
            ]
        }
    }
}

Documentation

From the project's README on GitHub, refreshed weekly. Links open on GitHub.

Contents
  1. diffgrab
  2. Features
  3. How It Works
  4. Install
  5. Usage
  6. DiffResult
  7. Storage
  8. QuartzUnit Ecosystem
  9. Used in
  10. License

diffgrab

한국어 문서 · llms.txt

Web page change tracking with structured diffs. markgrab + snapgrab integration, MCP native.

from diffgrab import DiffTracker

tracker = DiffTracker()
await tracker.track("https://example.com")
changes = await tracker.check()
for c in changes:
    if c.changed:
        print(c.summary)     # "3 lines added, 1 lines removed in sections: Introduction."
        print(c.unified_diff) # Standard unified diff output
await tracker.close()

Features

  • Change detection — track any URL, detect content changes via content hashing
  • Structured diffs — unified diff + section-level analysis (which headings changed)
  • Human-readable summaries — "5 lines added, 2 removed in sections: Intro, Methods"
  • Snapshot history — SQLite storage, browse past versions of any page
  • markgrab powered — HTML/YouTube/PDF/DOCX extraction via markgrab
  • Visual diff — optional screenshot comparison via snapgrab
  • MCP server — 5 tools for Claude Code / MCP clients
  • CLI included — diffgrab track, check, diff, history, untrack

How It Works

flowchart TD
    A["diffgrab track URL"] --> B["Fetch initial snapshot\n(markgrab + snapgrab)"]
    B --> C["Store baseline"]
    C --> D["diffgrab check"]
    D --> E["Fetch current page"]
    E --> F{"Content\nhash match?"}
    F -->|"changed"| G["Compute structured diff\n+ section analysis"]
    F -->|"unchanged"| H["No changes"]
    G --> I["📊 DiffResult\nadded / removed / modified"]

Install

pip install diffgrab

Optional extras:

pip install 'diffgrab[cli]'      # CLI with click + rich
pip install 'diffgrab[visual]'   # Visual diff with snapgrab
pip install 'diffgrab[mcp]'      # MCP server with fastmcp
pip install 'diffgrab[all]'      # Everything

Usage

Python API
import asyncio
from diffgrab import DiffTracker

async def main():
    tracker = DiffTracker()

    # Track a URL (takes initial snapshot)
    await tracker.track("https://example.com", interval_hours=12)

    # Check for changes
    changes = await tracker.check()
    for change in changes:
        if change.changed:
            print(change.summary)
            print(change.unified_diff)

    # Get diff between specific snapshots
    result = await tracker.diff("https://example.com", before_id=1, after_id=2)

    # Browse snapshot history
    history = await tracker.history("https://example.com", count=20)

    # Stop tracking
    await tracker.untrack("https://example.com")

    await tracker.close()

asyncio.run(main())
Convenience Functions
from diffgrab import track, check, diff, history, untrack

await track("https://example.com")
changes = await check()
result = await diff("https://example.com")
snaps = await history("https://example.com")
await untrack("https://example.com")
CLI
# Track a URL
diffgrab track https://example.com --interval 12

# Check all tracked URLs for changes
diffgrab check

# Check a specific URL
diffgrab check https://example.com

# Show diff between snapshots
diffgrab diff https://example.com
diffgrab diff https://example.com --before 1 --after 3

# View snapshot history
diffgrab history https://example.com --count 20

# Stop tracking
diffgrab untrack https://example.com
MCP Server

Add to your Claude Code MCP config:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "diffgrab": {
      "command": "diffgrab-mcp",
      "args": []
    }
  }
}

Or with uvx:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "diffgrab": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["--from", "diffgrab[mcp]", "diffgrab-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

MCP Tools:

ToolDescription
track_urlRegister a URL for change tracking
check_changesCheck tracked URLs for changes
get_diffGet structured diff between snapshots
get_historyBrowse snapshot history
untrack_urlStop tracking a URL

DiffResult

Every diff operation returns a DiffResult:

@dataclass
class DiffResult:
    url: str                           # The tracked URL
    changed: bool                      # Whether content changed
    added_lines: int                   # Lines added
    removed_lines: int                 # Lines removed
    changed_sections: list[str]        # Markdown headings with changes
    unified_diff: str                  # Standard unified diff
    summary: str                       # Human-readable summary
    before_snapshot_id: int | None     # DB ID of older snapshot
    after_snapshot_id: int | None      # DB ID of newer snapshot
    before_timestamp: str              # When older snapshot was taken
    after_timestamp: str               # When newer snapshot was taken

Storage

Snapshots are stored in SQLite at ~/.local/share/diffgrab/diffgrab.db (auto-created). Custom path:

tracker = DiffTracker(db_path="/path/to/custom.db")

QuartzUnit Ecosystem

PackageRolePyPI
markgrabHTML/YouTube/PDF/DOCX to markdownpip install markgrab
snapgrabURL to screenshot + metadatapip install snapgrab
docpickOCR + LLM document extractionpip install docpick
feedkitRSS feed collectionpip install feedkit
diffgrabWeb page change trackingpip install diffgrab
browsegrabBrowser agent for LLMsComing soon

Used in

  • newswatch — RSS news monitoring pipeline (feedkit → markgrab → embgrep → diffgrab)
  • watchdeck — Web page monitoring with visual diffs and safety guards

License

MIT


Part of the QuartzUnit ecosystem — composable Python libraries for data collection, extraction, search, and AI agent safety.

Frequently asked questions

What is Diffgrab?

Web page change tracking with structured diffs. markgrab + snapgrab integration.

How do I install Diffgrab?

It runs on your machine. In Claude Code: claude mcp add diffgrab -- uvx diffgrab==0.1.0. For other clients, paste the JSON configuration from this page into their MCP settings.

Does Diffgrab need an API key?

Its registry entry lists no required key or secret. Some features may still need an account with the service it connects to.

Is Diffgrab open source?

Yes. Its code is on GitHub under the MIT license.

Who maintains Diffgrab?

It is published by QuartzUnit. AI.tn lists it but does not maintain or endorse it.

From the official MCP Registry. Listing is not an endorsement: review a server's code and permissions before giving it access to your data.