(Retool engineer) As @n8med mentioned the diff can be viewed in GitHub, GitLab, etc.! We serialize apps in Retool to a series of YAML files per component, where the data properties of the component are the keys. YAML supports multiline values so when writing custom JS or SQL, you'd be able to read those easily inline too (unfortunately there's typically no syntax highlighting within YAML but in the future that could be enhanced via browser plugin!). We also generate a preview link so reviewers can test/QA against a particular environment.

In the future, we are thinking about rendering diffs visually -- which could help highlight changes in data properties and layout. Maybe even posting back an image as a comment on the PR itself.

If you have any feedback or ideas, please share!

You don't need to load the branch in Retool to see the diff. The diff/PR can be viewed on your Source Control provider like GitHub. It's a structured yaml file with information on the changes.

See what a PR looks like in GitHub: https://try.retool.com/hubfs/example%20PR%20in%20GitHub.png