CSV Align

CSV Align is a desktop and web app for comparing two CSV files side by side.

It is designed for practical reconciliation work: matching rows by selected keys, comparing chosen columns in a controlled order, highlighting differences clearly, and exporting the results.

Core features

• Load two local CSV files
• Auto-detect headers and column types
• Select key columns for row matching
• Pair comparison columns manually in left/right order
• Save and load pair-order selections for repeat work
• Auto-pair confident comparison columns when reliable matches are available
• Review matches, mismatches, missing rows, ignored rows, and duplicate keys
• Filter results and export the final comparison to CSV
• Run as either a local web app or a native desktop app

Download

Desktop builds are published on the GitHub Releases page:

• Releases

Typical release assets include:

• macOS Apple Silicon: csv-align-macos-arm64.dmg
• macOS Intel: csv-align-macos-x86_64.dmg
• Linux: .AppImage and .deb

Linux note: Tauri v2 Linux builds require a distro with WebKitGTK 4.1.

Quick start

Prerequisites

• Rust 1.70+
• Node.js 18+
• npm

Run the web app locally

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/ddv1982/csv-align.git
   cd csv-align

2. Install frontend dependencies:

   cd frontend
   npm install
   cd ..

3. Build the frontend:

   cd frontend && npm run build
   cd ..

4. Start the local server:

   cargo run

5. Open http://127.0.0.1:3000

Run the desktop app locally

Make sure you have already installed the frontend dependencies with cd frontend && npm install.

Install the Tauri CLI first:

cargo install tauri-cli --locked --version "^2"

cargo tauri dev

How it works

1. Load File A and File B.
2. Choose matching key columns.
3. Choose comparison columns manually or use auto-pair when confident matches are available.
4. Run the comparison.
5. Review the results and export if needed.

Auto-pairing

Auto-pairing is intentionally conservative. It helps fill in confident one-to-one comparison matches, but it does not force weak guesses.

See docs/auto-pairing.md.

Build and test

If you want the frontend dev server for UI work, run cd frontend && npm run dev. The main local app flow above uses the built frontend served by the Rust app.

Tests

# Core Rust tests
cargo test

# Desktop wrapper tests
cd src-tauri && cargo test

# Frontend tests
cd frontend && npm test

Production builds

# Frontend build
cd frontend && npm run build

# Rust backend build
cargo build --release

# Desktop build
cd src-tauri && cargo tauri build

Desktop bundles are written to src-tauri/target/release/bundle/.

Project structure

csv-align/
├── src/          # Shared Rust backend and comparison logic
├── src-tauri/    # Native desktop wrapper
├── frontend/     # React + TypeScript UI
├── tests/        # Rust integration/regression tests
├── docs/         # Supporting documentation
└── samples/      # Example CSV files

Documentation

• Auto-pairing
• Release workflow
• Changelog

Notes for maintainers

Documentation-only updates do not require a version bump or a tagged release. They can be committed and pushed directly to main.

License

Licensed under the MIT License.