metrics diff

Compare metrics between two commits in the DVC repository, or between a commit and the workspace.

Requires that Git is being used to version the project.

Synopsis

usage: dvc metrics diff [-h] [-q | -v]
                        [--targets [<paths> [<paths> ...]]] [-R]
                        [--all] [--show-json] [--show-md] [--no-path]
                        [--old] [--precision <n>]
                        [a_rev] [b_rev]

positional arguments:
  a_rev                 Old Git commit to compare (defaults to HEAD)
  b_rev                 New Git commit to compare (defaults to the
                        current workspace)

Description

Provides a quick way to compare metrics among experiments in the repository history. The differences shown by this command include the new value, and numeric difference (delta) from the previous value of metrics (rounded to 5 digits precision).

Without arguments, dvc metrics diff compares metrics currently present in the workspace (uncommitted changes) with the latest committed versions (required). Only metrics that changed are listed, by default (show everything with --all).

a_rev and b_rev are optional Git commit hashes, tags, or branch names to compare. A single specified revision results in comparing it against the workspace.

Note that targets don't necessarily have to be defined in dvc.yaml. For that reason, this command doesn't require an existing DVC project to run in; It works in any Git repo.

All metrics defined in dvc.yaml are used by default, but specific metrics files can be specified with the --targets option.

Another way to display metrics is the dvc metrics show command, which lists all the current metrics (without comparisons).

Options

--targets <paths> - specific metrics files to compare. It accepts paths to any valid metrics file, regardless of whether dvc.yaml is currently tracking any metrics in them. Using -R, directories to search metrics files in can also be given.

When specifying arguments for --targets before revisions, you should use -- after this option's arguments (POSIX terminals), e.g.:
```
$ dvc metrics diff --targets t1.json t2.yaml -- HEAD v1
```
-R, --recursive - determines the metrics files to use by searching each target directory and its subdirectories for DVC-tracked files to inspect. If there are no directories among the targets, this option is ignored.
--all - list all metrics, including those without changes.
--show-json - prints the command's output in JSON format (machine-readable) instead of a human-readable table.
--show-md - prints the command's output in the Markdown table format (GFM).
--old - include the "Old" value column in addition to the new "Value" (and "Change"). Useful when the values are not numeric, for example
--no-path - hide the "Path" column that lists the param/metrics file location. Useful when only one metrics file exists, for example
--precision <n> - round decimal values to n digits of precision (5 by default).
-h, --help - prints the usage/help message, and exit.
-q, --quiet - do not write anything to standard output. Exit with 0 if no problems arise, otherwise 1.
-v, --verbose - displays detailed tracing information.

Examples

Start by creating a metrics file and commit it (see the -M option of dvc run for more details):

$ dvc run -n eval -M metrics.json \
          'echo {"AUC": 0.9643, "TP": 527} > metrics.json'

$ cat metrics.json
{"AUC": 0.9643, "TP": 527}

$ git add dvc.* metrics.json
$ git commit -m "Add metrics file"

Now let's simulate a change in our AUC metric:

$ echo '{"AUC":0.9671, "TP":531}' > metrics.json

$ git diff
...
-{"AUC":0.9643, "TP":527}
+{"AUC":0.9671, "TP":531}

To see the change, let's run dvc metrics diff. This compares our current workspace (including uncommitted local changes) metrics to what we had in the previous commit:

$ dvc metrics diff
Path          Metric    Value    Change
metrics.json  AUC       0.9671   0.0028
metrics.json  TP        531      4

Example: compare metrics among specific versions

Metrics files committed with Git can be compared by referencing the commits (any two revisions):