# conflict-buttons.el

Clickable inline buttons for merge conflict resolution in Emacs, inspired by VS Code's CodeLens feature.

![License](https://img.shields.io/badge/license-GPL--3.0-blue.svg)
![Emacs Version](https://img.shields.io/badge/Emacs-26.1+-purple.svg)

## Overview

When editing files with git merge conflicts, `conflict-buttons` displays clickable buttons directly above conflict markers, allowing you to resolve conflicts with a single click instead of remembering keyboard shortcuts.

![conflict-buttons in action](screenshot.png)

### Before (smerge-mode only)
```
<<<<<<< HEAD
current version
=======
incoming version
>>>>>>> feature-branch
```

### After (with conflict-buttons)
```
[ Accept Current ] | [ Accept Incoming ] | [ Accept Both ] | [ Compare ]
<<<<<<< HEAD
current version
=======
incoming version
>>>>>>> feature-branch
```

## Features

- **One-click resolution**: Click buttons to resolve conflicts instantly
- **Four actions**: Accept Current, Accept Incoming, Accept Both, or Compare with ediff
- **Automatic activation**: Works seamlessly with `smerge-mode`
- **Mouse hover highlighting**: Buttons highlight when you hover over them
- **Auto-refresh**: Buttons update automatically after resolving conflicts
- **Customizable style**: Choose between Unicode or ASCII button styles
- **Lightweight**: Less than 200 lines of code

## Installation

### Manual installation

1. Download `conflict-buttons.el`
2. Place it in your Emacs load path
3. Add to your init file:

```elisp
(require 'conflict-buttons)
(conflict-buttons-global-mode 1)
```

### Using `use-package` (Emacs 29+)

```elisp
(use-package conflict-buttons
  :ensure t
  :vc (:url "https://git.andros.dev/andros/conflict-buttons.el")
  :config
  (conflict-buttons-global-mode 1))
```

Or from a local path:

```elisp
(use-package conflict-buttons
  :load-path "~/path/to/conflict-buttons"
  :config
  (conflict-buttons-global-mode 1))
```

## Usage

### Automatic activation (recommended)

Enable globally to automatically show buttons whenever `smerge-mode` is active:

```elisp
(conflict-buttons-global-mode 1)
```

### Manual activation

If you prefer to enable it only when needed:

```elisp
(add-hook 'smerge-mode-hook #'conflict-buttons-setup)
```

Or toggle manually in a buffer:

```
M-x conflict-buttons-mode
```

### Resolving conflicts

When you open a file with merge conflicts, buttons appear above each conflict marker:

- **Accept Current**: Keep the version from your current branch (HEAD)
- **Accept Incoming**: Keep the version from the incoming branch
- **Accept Both**: Keep both versions (current first, then incoming)
- **Compare**: Open `ediff` to compare and merge versions interactively

Simply click any button with your mouse, or navigate to it and press `RET`.

## Customization

### Button style

Choose between Unicode box-drawing characters or simple ASCII:

```elisp
;; Unicode style (default): [ Accept Current ]
(setq conflict-buttons-style 'unicode)

;; ASCII style: [Accept Current]
(setq conflict-buttons-style 'ascii)
```

### Button separator

Customize the separator between buttons:

```elisp
;; Default
(setq conflict-buttons-separator " | ")

;; Alternative styles
(setq conflict-buttons-separator " · ")
(setq conflict-buttons-separator "  ")
```

### Button appearance

Customize button faces:

```elisp
(custom-set-faces
 '(conflict-buttons-button-face
   ((t (:foreground "blue" :weight bold))))
 '(conflict-buttons-button-hover-face
   ((t (:background "yellow" :foreground "black" :weight bold)))))
```

## Comparison with existing tools

| Feature | conflict-buttons | smerge-mode | ediff | Magit |
|---------|------------------|-------------|-------|-------|
| Inline buttons | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Click to resolve | ✓ | Partial (right-click menu) | ✗ | ✗ |
| Keyboard shortcuts | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Visual comparison | ✓ (via Compare) | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ |
| Lightweight | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |

## Requirements

- Emacs 26.1 or higher
- `smerge-mode` (built-in)

## Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit issues or pull requests.

## License

This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.

## Acknowledgments

Inspired by VS Code's CodeLens feature for merge conflict resolution.

## Similar packages

While there are no existing Emacs packages that provide inline clickable buttons for merge conflicts, here are related tools:

- **smerge-mode** (built-in): Provides syntax highlighting and keyboard commands
- **ediff** (built-in): Interactive merge tool with split-panel interface
- **Magit**: Git interface that delegates conflict resolution to smerge-mode

`conflict-buttons` complements these tools by adding the missing piece: discoverable, one-click conflict resolution.