BuildGist or the git diff

Kayvan Zahiri · October 10, 2026

Read the git diff when you want the exact lines that changed, and read BuildGist when you want a plain-English account of one meaningful run, including what it means and what to check. The diff is enough when the change is small and you already know those files.

What the diff is

In the project folder, git diff is the unstaged lines, and git diff HEAD is every uncommitted change since the last commit. git status and git diff --stat are the file list and the size of each file. git show is one commit. Those commands work for Claude Code, Cursor and Codex. They do not need BuildGist, a network, or a commit you make only in order to look.

git status includes files you had already changed before the agent ran. The diff of those files mixes your earlier edits with the run. Commit or stash your own work first if you need the patch to be only the agent's. New files stay untracked, and out of git diff, until they are added. git status still names them.

What BuildGist adds

BuildGist explains each meaningful Claude Code, Cursor and Codex run in plain English, flags concerns, and carries the task over when you switch agents. The explanation lands in your Inbox, including from uncommitted work. No commit or push is needed. Each explanation says what changed, what it means and what to check.

It is one run, not the whole working tree. BuildGist snapshots the tree at the start of a run and again at the end. Work that was already in the tree when the run started cancels out, so the explanation is about what that run did. git diff HEAD still shows those earlier edits. If they were yours, the diff mixes them with the run and the explanation leaves them out.

Small changes stay quiet. Comment-only, formatting-only and docs-only changes are not explained, and the diff remains the record. Dependency manifests, migrations, auth paths, API routes, CI config and new external service references are explained. A one-line change to an auth check is explained. A long rewrite of a readme is not.

The explanation is written by AI. Check important behavior against the code and tests. BuildGist keeps the explanation and short cited excerpts, at most 12 lines each, and does not send your whole repository. The full diff stays on your machine unless you paste it somewhere. Privacy has the rest, including secret masking.

When the diff is enough

Read the diff and stop there in these cases.

You were in the chat, you remember the request, and the stat is a few lines in files you already know.
The change is comments, formatting or docs. BuildGist stays quiet on those on purpose. The diff is the whole story, and it is a short one.
You are about to commit or merge. The explanation is not the patch. git diff HEAD, or git show for a commit, is the thing you are agreeing to ship. The review steps are in how to review AI-generated code before you merge.
You are looking for a secret, a logged token, or a file named like .env. Those files are not in the explanation. They are in your working tree.
You need a line the explanation does not quote. Cited excerpts are at most 12 lines. The diff has the rest.

For a single run's file list, the commands and the order to read them are in what did Claude Code change?

When to read the explanation

Open the Inbox explanation, then the diff, in these cases.

You left and came back, or someone else ran the agent. The diff has the lines and none of the request.
Many files changed and you want to know which ones can hurt you before you read every hunk. The explanation's concerns are a proposed order. You still open the files.
You do not recognize the mechanism. The home page's example is a real Claude Code run, shortened and edited: "Add login with Google.", 7 files, +224 -16. The explanation says Google checks who visitors are and vouches for them, so the app never sees passwords, and names that the OpenID Connect (OIDC) authorization code flow. The diff has the routes and the callback. The sentence is the first read if you do not already know that flow.
The risky part is easy to miss beside a working feature. In that example, sign-in works, and any signed-in user can delete anyone else's note because nothing checks that the note is yours. The diff contains the gap if you read the delete path. The concern states it in one sentence so you know to read that path.
You are switching agents. The diff does not tell Cursor or Codex what you asked for. Continue does, or a note you paste does. That handoff is in how to keep context across Claude Code, Cursor and Codex.

Where each one is incomplete

The explanation can include edits you made by hand between agent turns. A file you and the agent both touched is described as the agent's work. The diff shows the lines without that label, and you already know which hunks you typed.

The explanation can be wrong. It is a model writing from the run's changes, not a test you ran. A concern with no matching lines in the diff is a claim to drop. A bug the explanation does not mention is still in the diff. The delete-ownership gap on the home page is in both places.

Neither one is the merge decision. The diff is the lines. The explanation is a first read of a meaningful run. For auth, deletion, payments, dependencies and configuration, the lines win. How to do that read one run at a time is in how to understand code your AI coding agent wrote. Setup, if you want the Inbox half, is in Getting started.

What you need

A Mac with Apple silicon and macOS 12 or later.
Claude Code, Cursor or Codex.
A Git project. No commit, push, remote or GitHub repository is needed.
A GitHub account, to sign in. BuildGist does not access your GitHub repositories.

Codex needs you to approve BuildGist once, in Codex. BuildGist shows the steps. Setup is in Getting started.

To explain a run, your computer sends BuildGist what that run needs, and BuildGist passes it to Anthropic. BuildGist does not keep this material. It does not send your whole repository, files the run did not change, or files named like secrets, such as .env files and keys. It keeps the explanation and short cited excerpts of changed code, at most 12 lines each. Secret masking is best-effort. Privacy has the full list.

Every account gets 7 days of BuildGist Pro free, with no card. The 7 days start at your first explanation or Continue handoff. Nobody is charged when the trial ends. After that, BuildGist Pro is $12 per month, plus any applicable tax shown at checkout. See pricing.

Try BuildGist

Apple silicon, macOS 12 or later. United States, 18 or older.

Questions: kayvanandre@gmail.com.