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Ariekei

Reviewing in Ariekei

How the review view works, and the research it is based on.

What it does

Section titled “What it does”
  • Scopes: all changes vs the base branch (like GitHub’s Files tab), or one commit, picked from the scope menu in the review bar.
  • Review order, not alphabetical: Source (grouped by directory) → Tests → Config & build → Generated, lock & vendored (folded; includes linguist-generated/linguist-vendored from .gitattributes). Switch to Tree (alphabetical) order.
  • Noise and layout: ignore whitespace (w, whitespace-only files labelled), unified or side-by-side (u; unified by default when the diff column is under 880 px, and always for an added or deleted file), syntax highlighting for any language, git-exact hunks, unchanged code collapsed, long lines scrolled sideways by a scrollbar right below the diff; the Inbox and the file panel collapse (below a 1200 px window the Inbox steps aside by itself once the file panel opens).
  • Keys: n/p next/previous change (the change you are on is marked in the gutter; past a file’s last change n goes on to the next file’s first one, p back to the previous file’s last one, skipping folded sections; at the ends of the scope a note by the change says there is no change further on), ]/[ next/previous file, u, w, a to ask the agent about the selection, c to comment on it, ? for the list, Esc to drop a selection. They do nothing while you type or when the terminal has focus.
  • Ask the agent about code: right-click a line, or a selection of lines on either side of the diff, and choose Ask agent… (the ContextMenu key or a works too). Your prompt goes to the item’s agent with the file, the lines, which version they are from (old or new side, the commit, or the working tree with unsaved edits) and the code itself (up to 80 lines). Then the agent’s Terminal opens, where the answer appears; the Review tab keeps your place. While the agent waits for permission nothing can be sent, since the text would answer its prompt; while it works, Claude Code reads it after the turn. The prompt is sent as you wrote it: ask a question or ask for a change.
  • Comments are drafted in the dock under the diff and show as cards right below their lines (their lines keep a mark in the gutter). On someone else’s PR the agent drafts its own beside yours, with Ariekei’s tools, and its replies in other reviewers’ threads; each can be edited, or sent back to the agent with a prompt to redraft it. They go to GitHub as a review (line comments where GitHub accepts them) or, on your own work, to the agent (not while it waits for permission).

Why

Section titled “Why”
  • Where to start matters: files shown later get fewer comments, and in an experiment a bug was 64% less likely to be found when its file came last (Fregnan et al. 2022); ~90% of developers do not think alphabetical order is best (ICSE 2026). Hence the review order.
  • Stay within a session’s capacity: defect detection falls above ~400 lines and ~500 lines/hour, and attention fades after 60–90 minutes (SmartBear/Cisco). Single-commit scopes keep each pass small.

Not yet

Section titled “Not yet”
  • Tracking comments sent to the agent until they are verified (Done/Ack, like Critique and Gerrit).
  • Highlighting weakened tests (removed assertions, loosened tolerances) and build/test results next to the diff (planned as “checks”).
  • Moved-code detection, and hunk-level accept/reject.