openhands/github-pr-review

GitHub PR Review

Post structured code review feedback using the GitHub API with inline comments on specific lines.

Key Rule: One API Call

Bundle ALL comments into a single review API call. Do not post comments individually.

Posting a Review

Use the GitHub CLI (gh) with a JSON input file. The GITHUB_TOKEN is automatically available.

Important: Always use --input with a JSON file instead of -F flags. This avoids shell quoting issues with special characters in comment bodies (quotes, backticks, newlines, etc.) and eliminates the need for complex heredoc scripts.

Step 1: Create a JSON file

cat > /tmp/review.json << 'EOF'
{
  "commit_id": "{commit_sha}",
  "event": "COMMENT",
  "body": "Brief 1-3 sentence summary.",
  "comments": [
    {
      "path": "path/to/file.py",
      "line": 42,
      "side": "RIGHT",
      "body": "🟠 Important: Your comment here."
    },
    {
      "path": "another/file.js",
      "line": 15,
      "side": "RIGHT",
      "body": "🟡 Suggestion: Another comment."
    }
  ]
}
EOF

Step 2: Post the review

gh api -X POST repos/{owner}/{repo}/pulls/{pr_number}/reviews --input /tmp/review.json

Parameters

| Parameter | Description | |-----------|-------------| | commit_id | Commit SHA to comment on (use git rev-parse HEAD) | | event | COMMENT, APPROVE, or REQUEST_CHANGES | | path | File path as shown in the diff | | line | Line number in the NEW version (right side of diff) | | side | RIGHT for new/added lines, LEFT for deleted lines | | body | Comment text with priority label |

Multi-Line Comments

For comments spanning multiple lines, add start_line to specify the range:

{
  "path": "path/to/file.py",
  "start_line": 10,
  "line": 12,
  "side": "RIGHT",
  "body": "🟡 Suggestion: Refactor this block:\n\n```suggestion\nline_one = \"new\"\nline_two = \"code\"\nline_three = \"here\"\n```"
}

Important: The suggestion must have the same number of lines as the range (e.g., lines 10-12 = 3 lines).

Priority Labels

Start each comment with a priority label. Minimize nits - leave minor style issues to linters.

| Label | When to Use | |-------|-------------| | 🔴 Critical | Must fix: security vulnerabilities, bugs, data loss risks | | 🟠 Important | Should fix: logic errors, performance issues, missing error handling | | 🟡 Suggestion | Worth considering: significant improvements to clarity or maintainability |

Do NOT post 🟢 Nit or 🟢 Acceptable comments. If code is fine, simply don't comment on it. Inline comments that say "this looks good" or "acceptable trade-off" are noise — they create review threads that must be resolved without providing actionable value.

Example:

🟠 Important: This function doesn't handle None, which could cause an AttributeError.

```suggestion
if user is None:
    raise ValueError("User cannot be None")

## GitHub Suggestions

For small code changes, use the suggestion syntax for one-click apply:

~~~
```suggestion
improved_code_here()

Use suggestions for: renaming, typos, small refactors (1-5 lines), type hints, docstrings.

Avoid for: large refactors, architectural changes, ambiguous improvements.

## Finding Line Numbers

```bash
# From diff header: @@ -old_start,old_count +new_start,new_count @@
# Count from new_start for added/modified lines

grep -n "pattern" filename     # Find line number
head -n 42 filename | tail -1  # Verify line content
```

## Fallback: curl

If `gh` is unavailable, use curl with the JSON file:

```bash
curl -X POST \
  -H "Authorization: token $GITHUB_TOKEN" \
  -H "Accept: application/vnd.github+json" \
  "https://api.github.com/repos/{owner}/{repo}/pulls/{pr_number}/reviews" \
  -d @/tmp/review.json
```

## Summary

1. Analyze the code and identify important issues (minimize nits)
2. Write review data to a JSON file (e.g., `/tmp/review.json`)
3. Post **ONE** review using `gh api --input /tmp/review.json`
4. Use priority labels (🔴🟠🟡) on every comment
5. Do NOT post comments for code that is acceptable — only comment when action is needed
6. Use suggestion syntax for concrete code changes
7. Keep the review body brief (details go in inline comments)
8. If no issues: post a short approval message with no inline comments