Compare Xml
About
# compare-xml A toolkit for **structured XML comparison** — find what changed between two XML documents, with control over how keys, values, and arrays are matched. > Online playground: **[comparexml.com](https://comparexml.com)** ## Why Most XML diff tools either output unstructured text or hide the parts that matter…
Explore
- Deep comparison of XML elements, attributes, arrays, and text values.
- Three array comparison strategies: byIndex (default), lcs (minimal diff via Longest Common Subsequence), and unordered (multiset match).
- Case-insensitive key and/or value matching.
- Path tracking with both segment-array and dot-notation forms.
- CLI with table or JSON output, reading from inline strings or files.
- MCP server built in — drop the CLI into any MCP-aware AI assistant.
- Agent Skill — a single skill that works in Claude Code, OpenAI Codex CLI, and OpenCode.
- Full TypeScript types.
Setting up with Highlight
This MCP is not yet compatible with Highlight’s one-click setup. However, you can still use it with Highlight by following these steps:
- Download and install Highlight from highlightai.com/download
- Navigate to the plugins tab and select "Add Custom Plugin"
-
Configure the plugin with the settings below
Plugin Name
Compare XmlCommand (node, npx, python, etc.)Please refer to the README for specific instructions on how to obtain API keys or other required environment variables.
- Enable "Start Automatically" if you want the plugin to start when Highlight launches
From the repository
Install the CLI globally with npm install -g @compare-xml/cli, then run compare-xml base.xml contrast.xml. For programmatic use, install the core library with npm install @compare-xml/core and call its compareXML function. To use the MCP server, add a config entry with command npx @compare-xml/cli@latest --mcp. An agent skill can be installed via npx skills add unitstack/compare-xml.
Claude Desktop / Cursor
Paste into your MCP client config file to install this server.
{
"mcpServers": {
"compare xml": {
"compare-xml": {
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"@compare-xml/cli@latest",
"--mcp"
]
}
}
}
}McpServers
{
"compare-xml": {
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"@compare-xml/cli@latest",
"--mcp"
]
}
}Why
Most XML diff tools either output unstructured text or hide the parts that matter (where an element was added, whether an array differs in order or in content).compare-xml parses XML into a structured representation and returns a list of differences — every entry carries a path, the side it belongs to (base / contrast / both), and the kind of change (added, deleted, valueChanged) — so you can render, filter, or program against it.
Features
- Deep comparison of XML elements, attributes, arrays, and text values. - Three array comparison strategies:byIndex (default), lcs (minimal diff via Longest Common Subsequence), and unordered (multiset match).
- Case-insensitive key and/or value matching.
- Path tracking with both segment-array and dot-notation forms.
- CLI with table or JSON output, reading from inline strings or files.
- MCP server built in — drop the CLI into any MCP-aware AI assistant.
- Agent Skill — a single skill that works in Claude Code, OpenAI Codex CLI, and OpenCode.
- Full TypeScript types.
Packages
This is a pnpm workspace: | Package | Description | |---------|-------------| |@compare-xml/core | Core comparison library (programmatic API). |
| @compare-xml/cli | Command-line tool & MCP server, built on top of core. |
Quick Start
Library
``bash
npm install @compare-xml/core
`
`typescript
import { compareXML } from '@compare-xml/core';
const differences = compareXML({
baseXML: '<user><name>Alice</name><age>30</age></user>',
contrastXML: '<user><name>Bob</name><age>30</age><email>[email protected]</email></user>',
});
// [
// { pathString: 'user.name', pathBelongsTo: 'both', diffType: 'valueChanged', ... },
// { pathString: 'user.email', pathBelongsTo: 'contrast', diffType: 'added', ... },
// ]
`
See the core README for the full API.
CLI
`bash
npm install -g @compare-xml/cli
compare-xml base.xml contrast.xml
`
`
┌──────────────┬──────────────┐
│ Key │ Change Type │
├──────────────┼──────────────┤
│ (Base) a │ valueChanged │
│ (Base) b │ deleted │
│ (Contrast) c │ added │
└──────────────┴──────────────┘
`
Use --json-export for machine-readable output, or --mcp to launch as an MCP server. See the CLI README for all flags and the MCP tool schema.
MCP
`json
{
"mcpServers": {
"compare-xml": {
"command": "npx",
"args": ["@compare-xml/cli@latest", "--mcp"]
}
}
}
`
Skill
A single SKILL.md teaches AI coding assistants how to invoke the CLI on demand. The file follows the open Agent Skills format and works across Claude Code, OpenAI Codex CLI, OpenCode, Cursor, and 50+ others.
The fastest install is npx skills — it auto-detects every agent you have installed and drops the skill into each one:
`bash
npx skills add unitstack/compare-xml
`
Development
Requires Node.js ≥ 20 and pnpm.
``bashSign in to leave a review
Use Google, GitHub, or an email account so ratings stay tied to real people.
No reviews posted yet.
