critiq — AI Code Reviewer for VS Code

AI-powered code review directly in VS Code. Reviews your git changes before you push, shows issues as inline diagnostics and in a dedicated sidebar panel, and auto-fixes issues with a single click. Supports Claude, OpenAI, or local Ollama.

Features

• Inline diagnostics — findings appear as red/yellow squiggles and in the Problems panel
• 🌲 Findings Tree View — dedicated sidebar panel showing all issues grouped by file, sorted by severity; click any issue to jump to the exact line
• 🔧 One-click Fix — "Fix with critiq" lightbulb appears on any flagged line; auto-patches the file using the critiq CLI and refreshes diagnostics
• 🎨 Gutter decorations — colored circles in the editor gutter (red/yellow/blue/gray) and inline ghost text after flagged lines (GitLens-style): ⚡ SQL injection vulnerability
• Status bar — always shows your current review status with issue counts (click to re-run)
• Language-aware — automatically detects Python, Go, TypeScript, Rust, JavaScript, and injects language-specific antipattern checks
• Severity levels — CRITICAL (error/red), WARNING (yellow), INFO (info), SUGGESTION (hint)
• Multiple review modes — staged changes, vs branch, or current file
• Keyboard shortcut — Cmd+Shift+R (Mac) / Ctrl+Shift+R (Windows/Linux)

Requirements

Install the critiq CLI first:

pip install critiq

Set your API key (or use Ollama for zero-cost local review):

export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=your-key   # Claude (default)
export OPENAI_API_KEY=your-key      # or OpenAI

Commands

Command	Shortcut	Description
critiq: Review Staged Changes	Cmd+Shift+R	Review your git add-ed files
critiq: Review Changes vs Branch	—	Compare all changes vs a branch (e.g. main)
critiq: Review Current File	—	Review the file currently open in the editor
critiq: Fix All Issues in File	—	Auto-fix all issues in the current file using the critiq CLI
critiq: Clear All Diagnostics	—	Remove all critiq markers

Commands are also accessible from:

• Command Palette (Cmd+Shift+P → type "critiq")
• Source Control panel (SCM title bar)
• Editor title bar

Settings

Setting	Default	Description
critiq.provider	claude	LLM provider: claude, openai, ollama
critiq.model	(provider default)	Override model name
critiq.focus	all	Focus: all, security, performance, readability, correctness, style
critiq.severity	(all)	Minimum severity to show: critical, warning, info, suggestion
critiq.binaryPath	critiq	Path to critiq binary (if not in PATH)
critiq.anthropicApiKey	—	Anthropic API key (overrides env var)
critiq.openaiApiKey	—	OpenAI API key (overrides env var)
critiq.autoReviewOnStage	false	Auto-review on file save

Example: Use Ollama locally (no API key)

{
  "critiq.provider": "ollama",
  "critiq.model": "qwen2.5:1.5b"
}

Example: Only show critical issues

{
  "critiq.severity": "critical"
}

Example: Always focus on security

{
  "critiq.focus": "security"
}

How it works

1. Press Cmd+Shift+R (or use the Command Palette)
2. critiq runs critiq --json on your staged changes
3. Findings appear as VS Code diagnostics (Problems panel + inline squiggles)
4. Open the critiq sidebar (shield icon) to see all findings grouped by file
5. Colored circles appear in the editor gutter + inline ghost text after each flagged line
6. Hover over any flagged line → click the 💡 lightbulb → "Fix with critiq"
7. Status bar shows issue count — click to re-run

The extension requires the critiq CLI (pip install critiq). All LLM calls are made by the CLI, not the extension itself — your API keys stay in your environment.

Teach critiq your project preferences

Use critiq-learn in your terminal to customize what critiq checks:

# Don't flag these
critiq-learn ignore "Missing type annotations"

# Always check these
critiq-learn rule "Never use raw SQL strings"

# Set project defaults
critiq-learn set focus security

Preferences are saved to .critiq.yaml and picked up automatically on every review.

Related

• critiq — the CLI tool this extension wraps
• critiq-action — GitHub Action for CI integration
• testfix — AI that automatically fixes failing tests
• difftests — AI test generator from git diffs
• gpr — AI commit messages + PR descriptions
• standup-ai — AI daily standup generator

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Made by @faw21 · Report a bug