diff --git a/docs/kittens/diff.rst b/docs/kittens/diff.rst
index b3d2da123..43ed04681 100644
--- a/docs/kittens/diff.rst
+++ b/docs/kittens/diff.rst
@@ -124,7 +124,7 @@ The diff kitten makes use of various features that are :doc:`kitty only
 </graphics-protocol>`, the :doc:`extended keyboard protocol
 </keyboard-protocol>`, etc. It also leverages terminal program infrastructure
 I created for all of kitty's other kittens to reduce the amount of code needed
-(the entire implementation is under 2000 lines of code).
+(the entire implementation is under 3000 lines of code).
 
 And fundamentally, it's kitty only because I wrote it for myself, and I am
 highly unlikely to use any other terminals :)
diff --git a/kittens/diff/options/definition.py b/kittens/diff/options/definition.py
index 80736610e..5844873e0 100644
--- a/kittens/diff/options/definition.py
+++ b/kittens/diff/options/definition.py
@@ -37,9 +37,11 @@ opt('num_context_lines', '3',
 opt('diff_cmd', 'auto',
     long_text='''
 The diff command to use. Must contain the placeholder :code:`_CONTEXT_` which
-will be replaced by the number of lines of context. The default special value
-:code:`auto` is to search the system for either :program:`git` or
-:program:`diff` and use that, if found.
+will be replaced by the number of lines of context. A few special values are allowed:
+:code:`auto` will automatically pick an available diff implementation. :code:`builtin`
+will use the anchored diff algorithm from the Go standard library. :code:`git` will
+use the git command to do the diffing. :code:`diff` will use the diff command to
+do the diffing.
 '''
     )
 
diff --git a/tools/cmd/diff/diff.go b/tools/cmd/diff/diff.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..da903b3a1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/cmd/diff/diff.go
@@ -0,0 +1,264 @@
+// Copied from the Go stdlib, with modifications.
+//https://github.com/golang/go/raw/master/src/internal/diff/diff.go
+
+// Copyright 2022 The Go Authors. All rights reserved.
+// Use of this source code is governed by a BSD-style
+// license that can be found in the LICENSE file.
+
+package diff
+
+import (
+	"bytes"
+	"fmt"
+	"sort"
+	"strings"
+)
+
+// A pair is a pair of values tracked for both the x and y side of a diff.
+// It is typically a pair of line indexes.
+type pair struct{ x, y int }
+
+// Diff returns an anchored diff of the two texts old and new
+// in the “unified diff” format. If old and new are identical,
+// Diff returns a nil slice (no output).
+//
+// Unix diff implementations typically look for a diff with
+// the smallest number of lines inserted and removed,
+// which can in the worst case take time quadratic in the
+// number of lines in the texts. As a result, many implementations
+// either can be made to run for a long time or cut off the search
+// after a predetermined amount of work.
+//
+// In contrast, this implementation looks for a diff with the
+// smallest number of “unique” lines inserted and removed,
+// where unique means a line that appears just once in both old and new.
+// We call this an “anchored diff” because the unique lines anchor
+// the chosen matching regions. An anchored diff is usually clearer
+// than a standard diff, because the algorithm does not try to
+// reuse unrelated blank lines or closing braces.
+// The algorithm also guarantees to run in O(n log n) time
+// instead of the standard O(n²) time.
+//
+// Some systems call this approach a “patience diff,” named for
+// the “patience sorting” algorithm, itself named for a solitaire card game.
+// We avoid that name for two reasons. First, the name has been used
+// for a few different variants of the algorithm, so it is imprecise.
+// Second, the name is frequently interpreted as meaning that you have
+// to wait longer (to be patient) for the diff, meaning that it is a slower algorithm,
+// when in fact the algorithm is faster than the standard one.
+func Diff(oldName, old, newName, new string, num_of_context_lines int) []byte {
+	if old == new {
+		return nil
+	}
+	x := lines(old)
+	y := lines(new)
+
+	// Print diff header.
+	var out bytes.Buffer
+	fmt.Fprintf(&out, "diff %s %s\n", oldName, newName)
+	fmt.Fprintf(&out, "--- %s\n", oldName)
+	fmt.Fprintf(&out, "+++ %s\n", newName)
+
+	// Loop over matches to consider,
+	// expanding each match to include surrounding lines,
+	// and then printing diff chunks.
+	// To avoid setup/teardown cases outside the loop,
+	// tgs returns a leading {0,0} and trailing {len(x), len(y)} pair
+	// in the sequence of matches.
+	var (
+		done  pair     // printed up to x[:done.x] and y[:done.y]
+		chunk pair     // start lines of current chunk
+		count pair     // number of lines from each side in current chunk
+		ctext []string // lines for current chunk
+	)
+	for _, m := range tgs(x, y) {
+		if m.x < done.x {
+			// Already handled scanning forward from earlier match.
+			continue
+		}
+
+		// Expand matching lines as far possible,
+		// establishing that x[start.x:end.x] == y[start.y:end.y].
+		// Note that on the first (or last) iteration we may (or definitey do)
+		// have an empty match: start.x==end.x and start.y==end.y.
+		start := m
+		for start.x > done.x && start.y > done.y && x[start.x-1] == y[start.y-1] {
+			start.x--
+			start.y--
+		}
+		end := m
+		for end.x < len(x) && end.y < len(y) && x[end.x] == y[end.y] {
+			end.x++
+			end.y++
+		}
+
+		// Emit the mismatched lines before start into this chunk.
+		// (No effect on first sentinel iteration, when start = {0,0}.)
+		for _, s := range x[done.x:start.x] {
+			ctext = append(ctext, "-"+s)
+			count.x++
+		}
+		for _, s := range y[done.y:start.y] {
+			ctext = append(ctext, "+"+s)
+			count.y++
+		}
+
+		// If we're not at EOF and have too few common lines,
+		// the chunk includes all the common lines and continues.
+		C := num_of_context_lines // number of context lines
+		if (end.x < len(x) || end.y < len(y)) &&
+			(end.x-start.x < C || (len(ctext) > 0 && end.x-start.x < 2*C)) {
+			for _, s := range x[start.x:end.x] {
+				ctext = append(ctext, " "+s)
+				count.x++
+				count.y++
+			}
+			done = end
+			continue
+		}
+
+		// End chunk with common lines for context.
+		if len(ctext) > 0 {
+			n := end.x - start.x
+			if n > C {
+				n = C
+			}
+			for _, s := range x[start.x : start.x+n] {
+				ctext = append(ctext, " "+s)
+				count.x++
+				count.y++
+			}
+			done = pair{start.x + n, start.y + n}
+
+			// Format and emit chunk.
+			// Convert line numbers to 1-indexed.
+			// Special case: empty file shows up as 0,0 not 1,0.
+			if count.x > 0 {
+				chunk.x++
+			}
+			if count.y > 0 {
+				chunk.y++
+			}
+			fmt.Fprintf(&out, "@@ -%d,%d +%d,%d @@\n", chunk.x, count.x, chunk.y, count.y)
+			for _, s := range ctext {
+				out.WriteString(s)
+			}
+			count.x = 0
+			count.y = 0
+			ctext = ctext[:0]
+		}
+
+		// If we reached EOF, we're done.
+		if end.x >= len(x) && end.y >= len(y) {
+			break
+		}
+
+		// Otherwise start a new chunk.
+		chunk = pair{end.x - C, end.y - C}
+		for _, s := range x[chunk.x:end.x] {
+			ctext = append(ctext, " "+s)
+			count.x++
+			count.y++
+		}
+		done = end
+	}
+
+	return out.Bytes()
+}
+
+// lines returns the lines in the file x, including newlines.
+// If the file does not end in a newline, one is supplied
+// along with a warning about the missing newline.
+func lines(x string) []string {
+	l := strings.SplitAfter(x, "\n")
+	if l[len(l)-1] == "" {
+		l = l[:len(l)-1]
+	} else {
+		// Treat last line as having a message about the missing newline attached,
+		// using the same text as BSD/GNU diff (including the leading backslash).
+		l[len(l)-1] += "\n\\ No newline at end of file\n"
+	}
+	return l
+}
+
+// tgs returns the pairs of indexes of the longest common subsequence
+// of unique lines in x and y, where a unique line is one that appears
+// once in x and once in y.
+//
+// The longest common subsequence algorithm is as described in
+// Thomas G. Szymanski, “A Special Case of the Maximal Common
+// Subsequence Problem,” Princeton TR #170 (January 1975),
+// available at https://research.swtch.com/tgs170.pdf.
+func tgs(x, y []string) []pair {
+	// Count the number of times each string appears in a and b.
+	// We only care about 0, 1, many, counted as 0, -1, -2
+	// for the x side and 0, -4, -8 for the y side.
+	// Using negative numbers now lets us distinguish positive line numbers later.
+	m := make(map[string]int)
+	for _, s := range x {
+		if c := m[s]; c > -2 {
+			m[s] = c - 1
+		}
+	}
+	for _, s := range y {
+		if c := m[s]; c > -8 {
+			m[s] = c - 4
+		}
+	}
+
+	// Now unique strings can be identified by m[s] = -1+-4.
+	//
+	// Gather the indexes of those strings in x and y, building:
+	//	xi[i] = increasing indexes of unique strings in x.
+	//	yi[i] = increasing indexes of unique strings in y.
+	//	inv[i] = index j such that x[xi[i]] = y[yi[j]].
+	var xi, yi, inv []int
+	for i, s := range y {
+		if m[s] == -1+-4 {
+			m[s] = len(yi)
+			yi = append(yi, i)
+		}
+	}
+	for i, s := range x {
+		if j, ok := m[s]; ok && j >= 0 {
+			xi = append(xi, i)
+			inv = append(inv, j)
+		}
+	}
+
+	// Apply Algorithm A from Szymanski's paper.
+	// In those terms, A = J = inv and B = [0, n).
+	// We add sentinel pairs {0,0}, and {len(x),len(y)}
+	// to the returned sequence, to help the processing loop.
+	J := inv
+	n := len(xi)
+	T := make([]int, n)
+	L := make([]int, n)
+	for i := range T {
+		T[i] = n + 1
+	}
+	for i := 0; i < n; i++ {
+		k := sort.Search(n, func(k int) bool {
+			return T[k] >= J[i]
+		})
+		T[k] = J[i]
+		L[i] = k + 1
+	}
+	k := 0
+	for _, v := range L {
+		if k < v {
+			k = v
+		}
+	}
+	seq := make([]pair, 2+k)
+	seq[1+k] = pair{len(x), len(y)} // sentinel at end
+	lastj := n
+	for i := n - 1; i >= 0; i-- {
+		if L[i] == k && J[i] < lastj {
+			seq[k] = pair{xi[i], yi[J[i]]}
+			k--
+		}
+	}
+	seq[0] = pair{0, 0} // sentinel at start
+	return seq
+}
diff --git a/tools/cmd/diff/patch.go b/tools/cmd/diff/patch.go
index a791cc32e..81286963b 100644
--- a/tools/cmd/diff/patch.go
+++ b/tools/cmd/diff/patch.go
@@ -30,27 +30,34 @@ var DiffExe = (&utils.Once[string]{Run: func() string {
 	return utils.FindExe("diff")
 }}).Get
 
-func find_differ() error {
+func find_differ() {
 	if GitExe() != "git" && exec.Command(GitExe(), "--help").Run() == nil {
 		diff_cmd, _ = shlex.Split(GIT_DIFF)
-		return nil
-	}
-	if DiffExe() != "diff" && exec.Command(DiffExe(), "--help").Run() == nil {
+	} else if DiffExe() != "diff" && exec.Command(DiffExe(), "--help").Run() == nil {
 		diff_cmd, _ = shlex.Split(DIFF_DIFF)
-		return nil
+	} else {
+		diff_cmd = []string{}
 	}
-	return fmt.Errorf("Neither the git nor the diff programs were found in PATH")
 }
 
 func set_diff_command(q string) error {
-	if q == "auto" {
-		return find_differ()
-	}
-	c, err := shlex.Split(q)
-	if err == nil {
+	switch q {
+	case "auto":
+		find_differ()
+	case "builtin", "":
+		diff_cmd = []string{}
+	case "diff":
+		diff_cmd, _ = shlex.Split(DIFF_DIFF)
+	case "git":
+		diff_cmd, _ = shlex.Split(GIT_DIFF)
+	default:
+		c, err := shlex.Split(q)
+		if err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
 		diff_cmd = c
 	}
-	return err
+	return nil
 }
 
 type Center struct{ prefix_count, suffix_count int }
@@ -273,10 +280,6 @@ func parse_patch(raw string, left_lines, right_lines []string) (ans *Patch, err
 }
 
 func run_diff(file1, file2 string, num_of_context_lines int) (ok, is_different bool, patch string, err error) {
-	context := strconv.Itoa(num_of_context_lines)
-	cmd := utils.Map(func(x string) string {
-		return strings.ReplaceAll(x, "_CONTEXT_", context)
-	}, diff_cmd)
 	// we resolve symlinks because git diff does not follow symlinks, while diff
 	// does. We want consistent behavior, also for integration with git difftool
 	// we always want symlinks to be followed.
@@ -288,19 +291,40 @@ func run_diff(file1, file2 string, num_of_context_lines int) (ok, is_different b
 	if err != nil {
 		return
 	}
-	cmd = append(cmd, path1, path2)
-	c := exec.Command(cmd[0], cmd[1:]...)
-	stdout, stderr := bytes.Buffer{}, bytes.Buffer{}
-	c.Stdout, c.Stderr = &stdout, &stderr
-	err = c.Run()
-	if err != nil {
-		var e *exec.ExitError
-		if errors.As(err, &e) && e.ExitCode() == 1 {
-			return true, true, stdout.String(), nil
+	if len(diff_cmd) == 0 {
+		data1, err := data_for_path(path1)
+		if err != nil {
+			return false, false, "", err
 		}
-		return false, false, stderr.String(), err
+		data2, err := data_for_path(path2)
+		if err != nil {
+			return false, false, "", err
+		}
+		patchb := Diff(path1, data1, path2, data2, num_of_context_lines)
+		if patchb == nil {
+			return true, false, "", nil
+		}
+		return true, len(patchb) > 0, utils.UnsafeBytesToString(patchb), nil
+	} else {
+		context := strconv.Itoa(num_of_context_lines)
+		cmd := utils.Map(func(x string) string {
+			return strings.ReplaceAll(x, "_CONTEXT_", context)
+		}, diff_cmd)
+
+		cmd = append(cmd, path1, path2)
+		c := exec.Command(cmd[0], cmd[1:]...)
+		stdout, stderr := bytes.Buffer{}, bytes.Buffer{}
+		c.Stdout, c.Stderr = &stdout, &stderr
+		err = c.Run()
+		if err != nil {
+			var e *exec.ExitError
+			if errors.As(err, &e) && e.ExitCode() == 1 {
+				return true, true, stdout.String(), nil
+			}
+			return false, false, stderr.String(), err
+		}
+		return true, false, stdout.String(), nil
 	}
-	return true, false, stdout.String(), nil
 }
 
 func do_diff(file1, file2 string, context_count int) (ans *Patch, err error) {