compare

Compare two PRs side-by-side to help decide which to review first.

When you have multiple PRs competing for attention, compare gives you a head-to-head comparison based on age, size, complexity, and priority score.

When to Use

“Should I review #123 or #456 first?”
Sprint planning: prioritize based on urgency and effort
Code review load balancing: understand which PR is “cheaper” to review

Synopsis

prctrl compare <PR1> <PR2> [OPTIONS]

Options

Flag	Description	Default
`<PR1>`	First PR to compare (format: `repo#123` or just `123`)	Required
`<PR2>`	Second PR to compare (format: `repo#123` or just `123`)	Required
`-d, --detailed`	Show detailed comparison including language breakdown	`false`
`-P, --priority`	Show priority scores for each PR (1-5 stars based on age and size)	`false`
`--json`	Output as JSON for scripting	`false`

PR Format

PRs can be specified in two ways:

Full format: repo#123 (e.g., frontend#4821)
Short format: 123 (uses first repo from config)

Examples

# Compare two PRs in the same repo
prctrl compare 123 456

# Compare PRs across different repos
prctrl compare frontend#4821 backend#1024

# Detailed comparison with language breakdown
prctrl compare 123 456 --detailed

# Show priority scores with stars
prctrl compare 123 456 --priority

# JSON output for automation
prctrl compare 123 456 --json

Output

⚖️  PR Comparison
════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════

              #123                    #456
  ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
  Author       alice                  bob
  Age          5 days                 2 days
  Size         +340/-25               +1200/-200
  Files        12                     8
  Draft        No                     Yes
  Priority     4/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐           3/5 ⭐⭐⭐

  ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
  📊 Summary:
    • Age: #456 wins → (newer)
    • Size: #123 wins → (smaller)
    • Priority: #123 wins → (higher score)

  💻 Languages:
    PR #123: TypeScript (8), JSON (3), Markdown (1)
    PR #456: Go (5), YAML (2), Shell (1)

  🔗 Links:
    PR #123: https://github.com/myorg/frontend/pull/123
    PR #456: https://github.com/myorg/backend/pull/456

Comparison Factors

Factor	Winner	Rationale
Age	Newer PR	Less time invested = less pressure
Size	Smaller PR	Fewer lines = faster to review
Priority	Higher score	Already calculated for urgency

Tips

Use prctrl top to find your highest-priority PRs first
Combine with browse to open compared PRs directly
For complex decisions, use --detailed to see language breakdown
Use --priority to quickly see urgency scores as visual stars
Consider draft PRs lower priority (they’re still in progress)

top — Show highest priority PRs
focus — Show the single most urgent PR
summary — Quick one-line overview

Keyboard shortcuts

PRCtrl