Getting Started

Get up and running with Snapshot Comparison in minutes.

Prerequisites

• Rust 1.70+ (for building from source)
• Git

Installation

From Source

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/tuulbelt/snapshot-comparison.git
cd snapshot-comparison

# Build release binary
cargo build --release

# The binary is at target/release/snapcmp
./target/release/snapcmp --help

Global Installation

Install globally for easy access:

cargo install --path .

# Now use 'snapcmp' anywhere
snapcmp --help

CLI Names

Both short and long names work:

• Short (recommended): snapcmp
• Long: snapshot-comparison

Quick Start

1. Create Your First Snapshot

# Create a snapshot from command output
echo "Hello, World!" | snapcmp create hello

# Output: Created snapshot 'hello' (14 bytes, type: Text)

2. Check Against Snapshot

# Check matching content
echo "Hello, World!" | snapcmp check hello
# Output: ✓ Snapshot 'hello' matches

3. See a Mismatch

# Check different content
echo "Hello, Universe!" | snapcmp check hello
# Output: ✗ Snapshot 'hello' does not match
# [Shows diff output]

4. Update the Snapshot

# Update with new expected output
echo "Hello, Universe!" | snapcmp update hello
# Output: Updated snapshot 'hello' (17 bytes)

Snapshot Directory

By default, snapshots are stored in ./snapshots/. Change this with the -d flag:

# Use custom directory
echo "test" | snapcmp create test -d my-snapshots

# Check in custom directory
echo "test" | snapcmp check test -d my-snapshots

File Type Detection

Snapshot Comparison auto-detects file types:

• Text: Default for most content
• JSON: Content starting with { or [
• Binary: Content with null bytes

Override with --type:

# Force JSON type
cat data.json | snapcmp create config -t json

# Force binary type
cat image.png | snapcmp create logo -t binary

Next Steps

• CLI Usage - Full command reference
• Library Usage - Rust API guide
• Examples - Real-world patterns