Start with the review question, not the tool name
This workflow is for situations where two candidate artifacts need an approval-ready comparison. The honest first step is to classify what the artifacts are. A markdown revision, a CSV export, an OpenAPI contract, a screenshot pair, and an AGEX bundle all need different evidence, even though they are all 'diff' problems.
For text-heavy files, start with text-diff; for spreadsheets and exports, use csv-excel-diff-tool; for JSON payloads, start with json-diff-visualizer; for document or media outputs, use pdf-diff, image-difference, or audio-diff. This first pass should answer where the meaningful deltas actually live.
Make the result reviewable
Raw diffs are often too noisy for a real decision. Use diff-formatter to clean up textual patches, pretty-json-diff for field-level JSON changes, difference-arrays for membership changes, and environment-config-diff-visualizer when the question is whether deployment settings drifted. If compatibility matters more than literal file edits, escalate to database-schema-diff, openapi-diff-breach-detector, or api-response-diff-semantic-analyzer.
Finish with the right kind of certainty
Before approval, decide whether you need perceptual review or byte-level proof. responsive-breakpoint-diff is for layout regressions across breakpoints. checksum-comparator and hash-algorithm-comparator confirm exactness at the digest level. agex-bundle-diff is for encrypted bundle packaging changes, not ordinary content review. A good final report names the artifact type, the comparator branch used, the important changes found, and whether the result is readable review evidence, compatibility evidence, or integrity evidence.