git-review-cli

Provider-agnostic code review toolkit. Gathers merge/pull request data, verifies file ownership, runs analysis, and outputs structured reports — all from the CLI.

Providers

Provider	Status	Backend
GitLab	Implemented	glab CLI
GitHub	Planned	gh CLI

Currently implemented: GitLab. The provider/formatter/analyzer architecture makes adding new forges straightforward — one file implementing BaseProvider.

Why not just the native CLI?

The same workflow applies regardless of provider. Compared to running raw glab/gh commands:

Raw CLI	git-review-cli
4+ commands to gather MR/PR context	Single command
Raw JSON diffs, hard to scan	Structured markdown table
All files in diff treated equally	Ownership: MR commits vs branch drift
Lockfiles, binaries clutter the view	Auto-excluded noise files
No analysis	Deep mode: large changes, configs, missing tests
Full URL required every time	Shorthand: git-review-cli 123
Must manually checkout branch	Auto-checkout branch locally
Separate commands for notes	--post writes + posts in one step

Before: raw glab output

$ glab api projects/org%2Frepo/merge_requests/123/diffs --paginate

[{"old_path":"src/api/handler.go","new_path":"src/api/handler.go",
  "diff":"@@ -12,7 +12,9 @@ func ...\n-  old code\n+  new code\n...
  "new_file":false,"renamed_file":false,"deleted_file":false},
 {"old_path":"package-lock.json","new_path":"package-lock.json",
  "diff":"@@ -1,500 +1,520 @@ ...",
  "new_file":false,...}]

Hard to scan. Manual cross-reference with glab api .../commits to check ownership. Lockfiles and noise mixed in.

After: git-review-cli output

$ git-review-cli https://gitlab.com/org/repo/-/merge_requests/123

# MR !123 — Add healthcheck endpoint

- **Author:** Jane Doe
- **State:** opened
- **Source branch:** `feat/healthcheck`
- **Target branch:** `main`

### Description
Adds a /health endpoint with DB ping.

## Commits

- `a1b2c3d4` Add healthcheck handler (Jane Doe)

## Changed Files

| File | Changes | Owned by MR |
|------|---------|-------------|
| `src/api/handler.go (new)` | +45/-0 | ✅ 1 commit(s) |
| `src/api/handler_test.go (new)` | +30/-0 | ✅ 1 commit(s) |
| `package-lock.json` | +520/-500 | 🚫 excluded |

_3 files: 2 owned, 0 not owned, 1 excluded_

## Existing Comments

_2 non-system comments on MR_

One command. Clean table. Ownership verified. Noise filtered.

Architecture

src/
├── cli.py              # CLI entry point
├── git.py              # Shared git operations
├── providers/          # Code forge backends
│   ├── base.py         # Abstract provider interface
│   └── gitlab.py       # GitLab via glab CLI
├── formatters/         # Output plugins
│   ├── base.py         # Abstract formatter interface
│   ├── markdown.py     # Full / caveman markdown
│   └── json.py         # Machine-readable JSON
├── analyzers/          # Analysis plugins
│   ├── ownership.py    # File ownership verification
│   └── patterns.py     # Pattern-based findings
└── __version__.py

Adding a new provider (e.g. GitHub)

1. Implement providers/base.py::BaseProvider
2. Add platform detection in BaseProvider.resolve()
3. That's it — formatters and analyzers work with any provider's data

Requirements

• Python 3.9+
• glab (brew install glab)
• Authenticated to GitLab (glab auth login)

Installation

pip install git-review-cli

Usage

Arguments

git-review-cli <input> [options]

Argument	Required	Description
input	Yes	Full MR URL (https://gitlab.com/org/repo/-/merge_requests/123) or just the MR number (123) for shorthand mode

Shorthand mode auto-detects the repo from the current directory's git remote get-url origin. Works from any GitLab repo clone.

Options

Flag	Description
--json	Output raw JSON instead of markdown. Useful for piping into jq or feeding to other tools. Contains MR metadata, commits, and changed files with additions/deletions.
--caveman	Concise markdown output. Skips commit list, skips deep analysis. Just MR metadata + changed files table. Ideal for quick scans.
--deep	Full analysis markdown output. Includes commit list, categorized findings (large changes, config/infra changes, missing tests, all changes grouped by category). Mutually exclusive with --caveman.
--post <file>	Post the contents of a markdown file as a comment on the MR. The file is read as-is and posted via glab mr note. The review file content is also appended to stdout so you can review before posting.
--base <branch>	Override the base branch for git diff operations. Defaults to the MR's target branch from the API. Useful when the target branch differs from what's configured in the remote (e.g., a custom release/ branch).
--version	Print version and exit.

Examples

# Full MR URL — works from any directory
git-review-cli https://gitlab.com/org/repo/-/merge_requests/123

# Shorthand number — auto-detects repo from git origin
git-review-cli 123

# Quick scan, no fluff
git-review-cli 123 --caveman

# Deep dive with analysis
git-review-cli 123 --deep

# JSON for scripting
git-review-cli 123 --json | jq .files[].path

# Custom base branch
git-review-cli 123 --base release/2026-q3

# Write and post a review in one step
cat > /tmp/review-123.md << 'REVIEW'
## Review findings
- Tests cover the new endpoint
- Consider extracting the helper to a shared module
REVIEW
git-review-cli 123 --post /tmp/review-123.md

Exit Codes

Code	Meaning
0	Success
1	Usage / parse error
2	glab not found
3	Git operation failed
4	Posting failed

Planned

• GitHub provider — gh CLI backend. Implements BaseProvider to fetch PR metadata, diffs, commits, and reviews. All existing formatters, analyzers, and CLI flags work unchanged. Estimated: ~80 lines of new code.

License

MIT