Kaleidoscope 5
Kaleidoscope 5, the leading Comparison and Merge Tool for Mac Developers, adds even better Git integration and a Referral Program for customers.
Millstatt, Austria – July 9, 2024 – Leitmotif today announces a major new version of Kaleidoscope, integrating even tighter with git to offer entirely new insights into your coding projects. Customers can save up to 30% of their recurring costs by inviting friends to Kaleidoscope via the new referral program.
Kaleidoscope 5 now lets you compare branches, tags, or commits of your projects directly from the app. It offers presets to open common comparisons and a simple way to open more complicated comparisons. Combining changesets and the file history in both directions can help you understand code changes like never before. The new Open Changeset in Kaleidoscope service, also used by Kaleidoscope Prism, offers changeset integration to virtually any app on your Mac, including Xcode.
"Git has undoubtedly become the de facto standard in version control" said Christopher Atlan, CEO of Leitmotif. “Integrating Kaleidoscope more deeply with Git enhances the efficiency and precision of managing changes across multiple contributors. This integration is pivotal for streamlined workflows."
Kaleidoscope 5 is another big leap forward, helping users to dive into the history of their projects, even making investigating source code changes a fun process.
Pricing and Availability
Kaleidoscope 5 requires a subscription, priced at US$96 per year for individuals.
Our new referral program offers a US$10 per year discount for each referral, applicable for the duration of the referred subscription. You can refer up to three people, allowing for a maximum discount of US$30 per year.
Kaleidoscope 5 requires macOS Ventura (13.0) or later.
A full demo version is available on the Kaleidoscope website (kaleidoscope.app).
What's New in Kaleidoscope 5
Git Repositories are a prominent new part of Kaleidoscope.
Open common Git comparisons like Working Copy Changes or Recent Changes with a double click.
Compare any branches, tags, or commits from within Kaleidoscope.
Reopen recently used git comparisons opened from other apps and git command line tools.
Open the history of a file from a changeset.
Show the entire changeset for a File History commit.
Open a changeset for any commit, from virtual any app on your Mac, using either the new Open Changeset in Kaleidoscope service, or by using Kaleidoscope Prism from the menubar.
Kaleidoscope Referral Program, offering up to 30% of recurring discounts.
1. Repositories and Repository Details
Kaleidoscope 5 now shows Git Repositories for all files inside a git working directory that you formerly worked with in Kaleidoscope. For each repository, you see the current HEADs as well as how many uncommitted changes are present in the working copy. (Not shown in the video: clicking that number will immediately open a changeset showing those working copy changes.)
Clicking any repository will display a detail page for that repository. The detail view provides a list of common comparisons, a list of recent comparisons, and the ability to open new, custom comparisons.
Common comparisons exist for inspecting the current working copy, changes that happened over a period of time, or number of changes. Those help you quickly understand the state of your current HEAD.
As you open changesets from within Kaleidoscope or via other apps, or even the command line, a recent comparisons list is being populated. From there, you can easily reopen commonly used changesets, invert their direction, or even modify what is being compared, if applicable.
From the bottom of that window, you can open new comparisons by comparing any branches, tags or specific commits in your project. Thanks to those new features, it is now easier to compare feature branches before merging or opening a pull request, or reviewing the work of the last day or week.
2. Changeset vs History
This screen recording shows how changesets are now integrated with the Kaleidoscope File History, using the next.js repository available on GitHub.
From within Kaleidoscope, two branches of a project are being compared in a changeset.
The changeset is being filtered for files named layout
For a file named layout.tsx, the File History is being opened, enabling to see how this particular file has changed over time.
The details of one commit are being examined.
Then, the entire changeset of that commit is being opened.
Using that back and forth between entire commits (changesets) and the history of single files, you can gain much better insight into how your project evolved and why certain behaviors and architectural decisions end up the way they are, enabling you to make smarter decisions going forward.
3. Commit Details
From the list of recent comparisons, you can examine the details of a commit and even start investigating from there, by opening the entire changeset of that commit.
4. Compare Tags from other apps like Tower
An even more comprehensive integration with apps such as Tower is demonstrated in this brief clip. In Tower, two tags of a project are being found and compared using Kaleidoscope.
In version 5, Kaleidoscope now displays recent changes alongside other recent documents, regardless of whether they've been accessed from other apps like Tower, the Git command-line tools, or Kaleidoscope itself. They can be opened at any time, or they can be modified to inspect different tags or branches.
5. Open Changeset in Kaleidoscope Service
Kaleidoscope 5 offers a new Open Changeset in Kaleidoscope service that can open a changeset for any commit from virtually any app on your system.
Wherever you can select the commit identifier (hash, short hash, SHA,...) of a Git commit in any app, you can now use the new service to open the changeset of that commit in Kaleidoscope with one click.
The screen recording shows that process in action from within Xcode, which otherwise lacks the capability to integrate with other apps.
6. Open Changeset from Kaleidoscope Prism
By utilizing the Kaleidoscope Prism menu tool, even apps with no service support or direct capability to integrate with Kaleidoscope can now reap the benefits of Kaleidoscope.
How to open a changeset from the GitHub Desktop app is shown in this video. A button in that app allows you to copy the commit SHA to the clipboard. A new menu command in Kaleidoscope Prism, with a configurable keyboard shortcut, makes it easy to open a changeset for the commit on the clipboard.
Press Kit
Press Contact
Christopher Atlan
catlan@leitmotif.dev
