> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://datum-4926dda5-mintlify-style-consistency-1774830500.mintlify.site/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # datumctl diff Diff the live version against a would-be applied version ### Synopsis Diff configurations specified by file name or stdin between the current online configuration, and the configuration as it would be if applied. The output is always YAML. KUBECTL\_EXTERNAL\_DIFF environment variable can be used to select your own diff command. Users can use external commands with params too, example: KUBECTL\_EXTERNAL\_DIFF="colordiff -N -u" By default, the "diff" command available in your path will be run with the "-u" (unified diff) and "-N" (treat absent files as empty) options. Exit status: 0 No differences were found. 1 Differences were found. >1 Kubectl or diff failed with an error. Note: KUBECTL\_EXTERNAL\_DIFF, if used, is expected to follow that convention. ``` datumctl diff -f FILENAME ``` ### Examples ``` # Diff resources included in pod.json kubectl diff -f pod.json # Diff file read from stdin cat service.yaml | kubectl diff -f - ``` ### Options | Flag | Type | Description | | ----------------------- | ----------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | | `--concurrency` | int | Number of objects to process in parallel when diffing against the live version. Larger number = faster, but more memory, I/O and CPU over that shorter period of time. (default `1`) | | `--field-manager` | string | Name of the manager used to track field ownership. (default `"kubectl-client-side-apply"`) | | `-f`, `--filename` | strings | Filename, directory, or URL to files containing the configuration to diff. | | `--force-conflicts` | — | If true, server-side apply will force the changes against conflicts. | | `-h`, `--help` | — | Help for diff. | | `-k`, `--kustomize` | string | Process the kustomization directory. This flag can't be used together with `-f` or `-R`. | | `--prune` | — | Include resources that would be deleted by pruning. Can be used with `-l` and default shows all resources would be pruned. | | `--prune-allowlist` | stringArray | Overwrite the default allowlist with `` for `--prune`. | | `-R`, `--recursive` | — | Process the directory used in `-f`, `--filename` recursively. | | `-l`, `--selector` | string | Selector (label query) to filter on, supports `=`, `==`, `!=`, `in`, `notin`. | | `--server-side` | — | If true, apply runs in the server instead of the client. | | `--show-managed-fields` | — | If true, include managed fields in the diff. | ### Options inherited from parent commands | Flag | Type | Description | | ---------------------------- | ----------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | `--as` | string | Username to impersonate for the operation. User could be a regular user or a service account in a namespace. | | `--as-group` | stringArray | Group to impersonate for the operation. Can be repeated to specify multiple groups. | | `--as-uid` | string | UID to impersonate for the operation. | | `--as-user-extra` | stringArray | User extras to impersonate for the operation. Can be repeated to specify multiple values for the same key. | | `--certificate-authority` | string | Path to a cert file for the certificate authority. | | `--disable-compression` | — | If true, opt-out of response compression for all requests to the server. | | `--insecure-skip-tls-verify` | — | If true, the server's certificate will not be checked for validity. This will make your HTTPS connections insecure. | | `--log-flush-frequency` | duration | Maximum number of seconds between log flushes. (default `5s`) | | `-n`, `--namespace` | string | If present, the namespace scope for this CLI request. | | `--organization` | string | Organization name. | | `--platform-wide` | — | Access the platform root instead of a project or organization control plane. | | `--project` | string | Project name. | | `--request-timeout` | string | The length of time to wait before giving up on a single server request. Non-zero values should contain a corresponding time unit (e.g. `1s`, `2m`, `3h`). A value of zero means don't timeout requests. (default `"0"`) | | `-s`, `--server` | string | The address and port of the Kubernetes API server. | | `--tls-server-name` | string | Server name to use for server certificate validation. If not provided, the hostname used to contact the server is used. | | `--token` | string | Bearer token for authentication to the API server. | | `--user` | string | The name of the kubeconfig user to use. | | `-v`, `--v` | Level | Number for the log level verbosity. | | `--vmodule` | moduleSpec | Comma-separated list of `pattern=N` settings for file-filtered logging (only works for the default text log format). | ### See also * [datumctl](/docs/datumctl/cli-reference/) - A CLI for interacting with the Datum platform ###### Auto generated by spf13/cobra on 24-Feb-2026