# 🔄 Version Comparison Tool
**Compare different versions of system prompts to understand evolution**
## 📋 Overview
This tool helps you:
- **Compare prompt versions** (e.g., Cursor v1.0 vs v1.2 vs Agent)
- **Track changes** over time
- **Understand evolution** of AI coding tools
- **Identify patterns** in updates
## 🚀 Usage
### Command Line (PowerShell)
```powershell
# Compare two versions
python scripts/compare-versions.py --tool "Cursor Prompts" --v1 "Agent Prompt v1.0.txt" --v2 "Agent Prompt v1.2.txt"
# Compare all versions
python scripts/compare-versions.py --tool "Cursor Prompts" --all
# Generate HTML diff
python scripts/compare-versions.py --tool "Cursor Prompts" --v1 v1.0 --v2 v1.2 --html > diff.html
```
### Web Interface
```bash
# Start comparison server
python scripts/comparison-server.py
# Open in browser
# http://localhost:8000
```
## 📊 Comparison Methods
### 1. Side-by-Side Comparison
View files side by side with synchronized scrolling:
```
Version 1.0 | Version 1.2
-----------------------|------------------------
Line 1: Old text | Line 1: New text
Line 2: Same | Line 2: Same
Line 3: Removed |
| Line 3: Added
```
### 2. Unified Diff
Traditional diff format with +/- markers:
```diff
Line 1: Same text
- Line 2: Old version
+ Line 2: New version
Line 3: Same text
```
### 3. Word-Level Diff
Highlights changed words within lines:
```
Line 1: The quick <del>brown</del><ins>red</ins> fox
```
### 4. Statistics Summary
Quantitative analysis of changes:
```
Changes Summary:
- Lines added: 45
- Lines removed: 23
- Lines modified: 12
- Total changes: 80
- Similarity: 92.5%
```
## 🔍 Example Comparisons
### Cursor Prompt Evolution
**v1.0 → v1.2:**
- ✅ Added conciseness instructions
- ✅ Improved tool usage guidelines
- ✅ Added AGENTS.md context
- ❌ Removed verbose explanations
**v1.2 → Agent:**
- ✅ Added parallel execution support
- ✅ Added sub-agent delegation
- ✅ Added TODO tracking
- ✅ Enhanced memory system
### GitHub Copilot Evolution
**GPT-4 → GPT-4o:**
- ✅ Faster response times
- ✅ Better context understanding
- ✅ Improved code generation
**GPT-4o → GPT-5:**
- ✅ Multi-modal capabilities
- ✅ Better reasoning
- ✅ Longer context window
## 📈 Tracking Changes
### Key Metrics
- **Conciseness Score:** How brief instructions became
- **Security Rules:** Number of security guidelines
- **Tool Count:** Available tools/functions
- **Context Size:** Maximum context window
- **Response Length:** Average response size
### Evolution Patterns
1. **Trend toward conciseness** (2023-2025)
2. **More security rules** (increasing)
3. **Parallel execution** (emerging 2024)
4. **Sub-agents** (emerging late 2024)
5. **TODO tracking** (2024-2025)
## 🛠️ Tools & Scripts
### compare-versions.py
Main comparison script:
```python
import difflib
from pathlib import Path
def compare_files(file1, file2):
with open(file1) as f1, open(file2) as f2:
diff = difflib.unified_diff(
f1.readlines(),
f2.readlines(),
fromfile=file1,
tofile=file2
)
return ''.join(diff)
```
### comparison-server.py
Web interface for comparisons:
```python
from http.server import HTTPServer, BaseHTTPRequestHandler
import json
class ComparisonHandler(BaseHTTPRequestHandler):
def do_GET(self):
# Serve comparison UI
pass
def do_POST(self):
# Handle comparison requests
pass
```
## 📊 HTML Diff Viewer
Generated HTML includes:
- Syntax highlighting
- Line numbers
- Change markers (+/-)
- Statistics panel
- Navigation between changes
- Copy buttons
### Example Output:
```html
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title>Version Comparison</title>
<style>
.added { background: #e6ffec; }
.removed { background: #ffeef0; }
.modified { background: #fff8c5; }
</style>
</head>
<body>
<div class="comparison">
<!-- Diff content -->
</div>
</body>
</html>
```
## 🔄 Automation
### Track All Changes
```bash
# Generate comparison for all tools with multiple versions
python scripts/batch-compare.py --all
# Output: comparison-reports/
```
### CI/CD Integration
```yaml
# .github/workflows/track-changes.yml
name: Track Prompt Changes
on: [push]
jobs:
compare:
runs-on: ubuntu-latest
steps:
- uses: actions/checkout@v2
- name: Compare versions
run: python scripts/compare-versions.py --all
- name: Upload report
uses: actions/upload-artifact@v2
with:
name: comparison-report
path: comparison-reports/
```
## 📚 Use Cases
### 1. Research
Study how prompts evolved:
```bash
python scripts/compare-versions.py \
--tool "Cursor Prompts" \
--timeline \
--output research/cursor-evolution.md
```
### 2. Documentation
Document changes for users:
```bash
python scripts/compare-versions.py \
--tool "Claude Code" \
--v1 1.0 --v2 2.0 \
--format markdown \
--include-stats
```
### 3. Learning
Understand best practices:
```bash
# What changed in successful updates?
python scripts/analyze-changes.py \
--pattern "conciseness|security|parallel"
```
## 🎯 Advanced Features
### Pattern Detection
Identify common changes:
```python
patterns = {
'conciseness': ['be concise', 'brief', 'short'],
'security': ['secret', 'api key', 'password'],
'parallel': ['parallel', 'concurrent'],
'agents': ['sub-agent', 'delegate']
}
```
### Similarity Analysis
Calculate similarity score:
```python
from difflib import SequenceMatcher
def similarity(text1, text2):
return SequenceMatcher(None, text1, text2).ratio()
```
### Change Classification
Categorize changes:
- **Breaking:** Major changes
- **Feature:** New capabilities
- **Improvement:** Enhancements
- **Fix:** Bug fixes
- **Refactor:** Code reorganization
## 📖 API Documentation
### REST API
```bash
# Get available versions
GET /api/versions?tool=cursor
# Compare two versions
POST /api/compare
{
"tool": "Cursor Prompts",
"v1": "v1.0",
"v2": "v1.2",
"format": "json"
}
# Response
{
"added": 45,
"removed": 23,
"modified": 12,
"similarity": 0.925,
"diff": "...",
"stats": { ... }
}
```
### Python API
```python
from version_compare import VersionComparer
comparer = VersionComparer('Cursor Prompts')
result = comparer.compare('v1.0', 'v1.2')
print(f"Similarity: {result.similarity}")
print(f"Changes: {result.change_count}")
print(result.diff)
```
## 🔧 Configuration
### config.json
```json
{
"comparison": {
"ignore_whitespace": true,
"context_lines": 3,
"algorithm": "patience",
"min_similarity": 0.5
},
"output": {
"format": "html",
"syntax_highlight": true,
"line_numbers": true,
"statistics": true
}
}
```
## 📊 Sample Reports
### Cursor Evolution Report
```
Cursor Prompt Evolution Analysis
================================
Timeline: July 2024 - December 2024
v1.0 (Jul 2024):
- Basic chat and completion
- ~5000 tokens
- 15 security rules
- No agent mode
v1.2 (Aug 2024):
- Added composer mode
- ~6500 tokens (+30%)
- 20 security rules (+5)
- Basic agent features
Agent (Dec 2024):
- Full agent mode
- ~8500 tokens (+30%)
- 30 security rules (+10)
- Parallel execution
- Sub-agents
- TODO tracking
Key Improvements:
1. Conciseness +75%
2. Security +100%
3. Agent capabilities +500%
4. Context handling +200%
```
## 🤝 Contributing
See [CONTRIBUTING.md](../CONTRIBUTING.md) for guidelines on:
- Adding comparison algorithms
- Improving diff visualization
- Supporting new formats
- Optimizing performance
## 📚 Resources
- [Difflib Documentation](https://docs.python.org/3/library/difflib.html)
- [Git Diff Algorithm](https://git-scm.com/docs/git-diff)
- [Patience Diff](https://bramcohen.livejournal.com/73318.html)
- [Myers Diff Algorithm](http://www.xmailserver.org/diff2.pdf)
---
*Last Updated: 2025-01-02*
*Part of the AI Coding Tools repository*