From 95aae7b95f16509fdc99416a97e520c5db02f454 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: stroblme <stroblme@posteo.de>
Date: Wed, 26 Aug 2026 13:18:16 +0200
Subject: [PATCH] Show what differs between the runs being compared

---
 frontend/src/components/Runs/RunsScreen.tsx | 97 +++++++++++++++++++++
 1 file changed, 97 insertions(+)

diff --git a/frontend/src/components/Runs/RunsScreen.tsx b/frontend/src/components/Runs/RunsScreen.tsx
index dd17cc0..5156c89 100644
--- a/frontend/src/components/Runs/RunsScreen.tsx
+++ b/frontend/src/components/Runs/RunsScreen.tsx
@@ -205,6 +205,13 @@ export function RunsScreen({
             flow={runs.find((run) => run.id === selected[0])?.flow}
           />
         )}
+
+        {/* Below the chart, and only once there are two runs to hold apart.
+            The table above keeps its height and the page scrolls instead:
+            what differs is worth reading in full. */}
+        {selected.length > 1 && (
+          <ParamDiff rows={runs.filter((run) => selected.includes(run.id))} />
+        )}
       </section>
     </div>
   )
@@ -546,3 +553,93 @@ function Compare({
     </section>
   )
 }
+
+/**
+ * What actually differs between the runs being compared.
+ *
+ * Only the parameters that vary. Everything they share is by definition not
+ * why their curves came out differently, and a sweep shares almost everything
+ * — so listing it in full would bury the two knobs that were turned.
+ *
+ * Runs are the rows, as they are in the table above: a comparison of fifty
+ * grows downwards, where there is somewhere to grow.
+ */
+function ParamDiff({ rows }: { rows: RunRow[] }) {
+  const varying = varyingKeys(rows)
+  // Not a parameter, but it is part of what produced the number, and in a
+  // sweep it is often the only thing that moved.
+  const seedVaries = new Set(rows.map((run) => run.seed ?? null)).size > 1
+  const keys = new Set<string>()
+  for (const run of rows)
+    for (const key of Object.keys(run.params)) keys.add(key)
+  const shared = keys.size - varying.length
+
+  if (varying.length === 0 && !seedVaries) {
+    return (
+      <p className="text-muted-foreground text-sm">
+        {keys.size === 0
+          ? "These runs carried no parameters of their own; each took what its flow declares."
+          : `All ${keys.size} parameter${keys.size === 1 ? "" : "s"} are the same across these runs, and so is the seed. Whatever separates them is not in what they were asked.`}
+      </p>
+    )
+  }
+
+  return (
+    <section className="flex flex-col gap-2">
+      <div className="flex flex-wrap items-baseline gap-x-3">
+        <h2 className="font-medium text-sm">What differs</h2>
+        <p className="text-muted-foreground text-xs">
+          {varying.length + (seedVaries ? 1 : 0)} of {keys.size + 1} varied
+          {shared > 0
+            ? shared === 1
+              ? "; the other one is the same across all of them"
+              : `; the other ${shared} are the same across all of them`
+            : ""}
+        </p>
+      </div>
+
+      <Table containerClassName="overflow-x-auto">
+        <TableHeader className="bg-muted">
+          <TableRow className="hover:bg-transparent">
+            <TableHead>Run</TableHead>
+            {seedVaries && <TableHead>seed</TableHead>}
+            {varying.map((key) => (
+              <TableHead key={key}>{key}</TableHead>
+            ))}
+          </TableRow>
+        </TableHeader>
+        <TableBody>
+          {rows.map((run) => (
+            <TableRow key={run.id} data-testid="diff-row">
+              <TableCell>
+                <Link
+                  to="/runs/$id"
+                  params={{ id: run.id }}
+                  className="font-mono text-sm hover:underline"
+                >
+                  {shortId(run.id)}
+                </Link>
+              </TableCell>
+              {seedVaries && (
+                <TableCell className="text-muted-foreground text-sm tabular-nums">
+                  {run.seed ?? "—"}
+                </TableCell>
+              )}
+              {varying.map((key) => (
+                <TableCell key={key}>
+                  {key in run.params ? (
+                    <ParamValue value={run.params[key]} />
+                  ) : (
+                    // Not "empty": this run was never given the parameter, and
+                    // took whatever the flow declares as its default.
+                    <span className="text-muted-foreground text-xs">unset</span>
+                  )}
+                </TableCell>
+              ))}
+            </TableRow>
+          ))}
+        </TableBody>
+      </Table>
+    </section>
+  )
+}