CodeReviewer works through a GitHub App. You install it on your GitHub account or organization, choose which repositories it can see, and it starts reviewing new pull requests straight away. Here’s the full walkthrough.
What CodeReviewer asks GitHub for
When you install the app, GitHub shows the permissions it requests. Here’s why each is needed:
- Pull requests: read & write. To post reviews and line comments on your pull requests.
- Contents: read. To read the repository, so reviews have whole-codebase context. Committing fixes uses the same access on the pull request’s branch when you apply a fix.
- Issues: read & write. To respond to review commands you leave in pull request comments.
- Metadata: read. Basic repository information (GitHub requires this).
- Members: read. To confirm organization membership when your team signs in.
You choose which repositories the app can access, either all of them or a selected list, and you can change that at any time in GitHub.
Step 1: sign in
Sign in to CodeReviewer with your GitHub account. Your workspace is created as part of onboarding, and the first admin is invited by email.
Step 2: install the app
- Go to Settings → Installations (you need to be a workspace admin).
- Click Install and pick the GitHub account or organization to install on.
- On GitHub, choose All repositories or Only select repositories, then confirm.
- GitHub sends you back to CodeReviewer, and the installation appears in the list.
Installing on an organization requires owner rights on it, or an owner’s approval. Install on your personal account and on each organization whose pull requests you want reviewed.
If an installation doesn’t appear straight away, click Sync.
Step 3: add repositories to a project
CodeReviewer organizes work into projects. A project might be a product, a client engagement or a team.
- Create a project, or open an existing one.
- Go to Repos and add the repositories this project covers. One project can span several repositories: web, backend and mobile.
- Optionally tag each repository’s platform (web, backend, mobile, desktop or infra), so issues and findings can be grouped.
Step 4: open a pull request
That’s it. The next pull request opened on a connected repository is reviewed automatically. Within minutes you’ll see:
- A review on the pull request in GitHub, with findings on the exact lines.
- The same findings in CodeReviewer → Pull requests, with severity, category and one-click fixes.
Existing open pull requests can be reviewed from the dashboard too.
Step 5: invite your team
Go to Settings → Team to invite teammates by email and set their role. Admins can manage settings and installations; members work within projects. For finer control, admins can choose exactly what members may do, such as merging pull requests, applying AI fixes, triggering AI runs or managing test suites, and add each person only to the projects they work on.
Next steps
- Teach it your rules. Add a
.reviewrc.mdto the repository with your conventions. See Teach CodeReviewer your conventions. - Upload a spec so every pull request is tracked against the plan.
- Turn on auto-merge for repositories where clean, spec-matching pull requests can merge on their own.
- Author a test suite for your most important flow.
Removing access
You’re always in control. To stop CodeReviewer from seeing a repository, remove it from the app’s repository list in GitHub (Settings → Applications → Installed GitHub Apps). To remove it entirely, uninstall the app there.