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Muhammet Şafak edited this page May 27, 2026 · 1 revision

Filtering

CommitBrief applies three filter layers, in order, to decide which files reach the LLM:

  1. Built-in ignore patterns — hardcoded into the binary.
  2. .commitbriefignore — repo-local gitignore-syntax overlay.
  3. --file / --dir path filters from the command line.

Later layers can override earlier ones (negate patterns in .commitbriefignore, narrow the path scope on the CLI).

1. Built-in patterns

Always applied, applied first. The pattern set is hardcoded in the binary at internal/ignore/builtin.go. As of v1.0.0 the list is:

# Lock files
*.lock
package-lock.json
yarn.lock
pnpm-lock.yaml
Cargo.lock
Gemfile.lock
composer.lock
poetry.lock
Pipfile.lock
go.sum

# Vendored / third-party
vendor/**
node_modules/**
Pods/**
third_party/**

# Generated code
*.pb.go
*_pb2.py
*_pb2_grpc.py
*_generated.go
*.gen.go
*.gen.ts
*.gen.js

# Mocks
**/mocks/**
*_mock.go
*.mock.ts

# Build artifacts
dist/**
build/**
target/**
bin/**
out/**
coverage/**
coverage.out
*.test

# CommitBrief cache (avoid recursive review of cached entries)
.commitbrief/cache/**

# Editor / IDE detritus
.idea/**
.vscode/**
*.swp
*~
.DS_Store
Thumbs.db

# Minified / map files
*.min.js
*.min.css
*.map

# Binaries
*.png
*.jpg
*.jpeg
*.gif
*.ico
*.pdf
*.zip
*.tar.gz
*.tgz

These patterns exist for the obvious reasons: lock files churn but have no review value, vendored code is not yours to review, generated artefacts are noise, etc.

2. .commitbriefignore

Drop a .commitbriefignore file at the repo root for project-specific rules. Gitignore syntax — * glob, ** recursive, leading ! to re-include a previously-excluded path.

# Skip our migration files — they are reviewed in the PR description.
db/migrations/**

# But DO review the schema definition (re-include after the bulk exclude).
!db/migrations/schema.sql

# Exclude generated docs.
docs/api/generated/**

A ! re-inclusion can also override a built-in pattern. If your project genuinely needs review on, say, vendor/-style code that is not actually vendored:

!vendor/**

That works because the built-in vendor/** runs first, but the .commitbriefignore layer applies on top and can negate it.

3. --file / --dir path filters

Repeatable CLI flags. Applied after both ignore layers, so they narrow whatever made it past steps 1 and 2.

# Review only these specific files (must already pass the ignore layers).
commitbrief --staged --file src/main.go --file src/util.go

# Review only files under these directories.
commitbrief --unstaged --dir database/seeder --dir app/Models

Behavior:

  • --file matches a file path exactly (the diff's b/ path relative to repo root).
  • --dir matches any file whose path begins with the given directory plus a slash.
  • Both can be repeated. Multiple instances are union'd — a file matching any one of them is kept.
  • They combine: --file foo.go --dir handlers/ keeps foo.go AND everything under handlers/.

Inspection

Use commitbrief dry-run to see exactly how many files each layer removes:

Files (input): 12
  built-in ignore filtered:        3
  .commitbriefignore net filtered: 1
  --file/--dir path filter:        2
Files (review): 6

See Dry-run command for the full report.

Pre-send guards (not filters)

Two other layers run before the LLM call but are not filters in the sense above:

  • The .commitbrief/ guard (ADR-0007) prompts/aborts on a diff that touches files under .commitbrief/. It does not silently remove them.
  • The secret scanner looks for credential patterns and prompts/aborts but does not remove flagged lines.

See Secret scanner and Review command §"Pre-send guards" for details.

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