Coderabbit Review

coderabbit-review

Local CodeRabbit CLI review of committed changes. Complements Codex and GLM: CodeRabbit catches lint/security/style issues with static-analysis backing, the LLM reviewers catch architectural/spec-compliance issues.

The shared review policy — the 3 auto-integration gates, consensus, [CONSENSUS] escalation, the Phase 6.5 enable condition, and the reviewer roster — lives in ../pipeline/references/review-chain.md. This file only covers the CodeRabbit-CLI-specific mechanics.

1. Context Reception

The calling skill (typically pipeline Phase 6.5) passes:

2. Prerequisites

command -v coderabbit >/dev/null || CR_UNAVAILABLE=1

If coderabbit not found → skip review with warning: "CodeRabbit CLI unavailable. Install: curl -fsSL https://cli.coderabbit.ai/install.sh | sh" and return. Skipping never blocks the pipeline (see review-chain.md, Phase 6.5 enable condition).

Auth is managed by the CLI — do NOT check coderabbit auth state. If auth fails at runtime, the coderabbit review command prints a login hint; surface it to the user. The CodeRabbit free tier is rate-limited — a rate-limit or auth failure surfaces on the ERROR path below, not as a clean pass.

3. Execution (FOREGROUND)

Pre-clear any stale output, short-circuit on an empty diff, then run the CLI.

cd "$(git rev-parse --show-toplevel)"

# Pre-clear a stale file so the post-run guard can't accept an old review as success.
rm -f "$output_file"

# Empty-diff pre-check: nothing to review between base_ref and HEAD.
if [ "$(git rev-list --count "$base_ref"..HEAD)" -eq 0 ]; then
  echo "# CodeRabbit Review — impl ($(date -u +%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ))" > "$output_file"
  echo "" >> "$output_file"
  echo "Base: $base_ref → HEAD" >> "$output_file"
  echo "Type: committed changes" >> "$output_file"
  echo "---" >> "$output_file"
  echo "" >> "$output_file"
  echo "(no changes) — no commits between base_ref and HEAD; review skipped." >> "$output_file"
  # log to session.log and return
  exit 0
fi

# Write the header FIRST, then append the CLI output.
# base_ref is a SHA from Phase 5; --base takes a branch name, so a SHA needs
# --base-commit. Verify the flag with `coderabbit review --help` on upgrade.
{
  echo "# CodeRabbit Review — impl ($(date -u +%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ))"
  echo ""
  echo "Base: $base_ref → HEAD"
  echo "Type: committed changes"
  echo "---"
  echo ""
} > "$output_file"

# --agent findings appended to $output_file; process/progress/rate-limit/auth
# lines (stderr) go to the sibling runtime log, NEVER into the verbatim file.
# < /dev/null: coderabbit's default mode is interactive and can hang on
# inherited stdin / auth prompts. timeout 600 caps a wedged run.
timeout 600 coderabbit review \
  --agent \
  --type committed \
  --base-commit "$base_ref" \
  < /dev/null \
  >> "$output_file" 2> "${output_file}.runtime.log"
CR_EXIT=$?

• Print: "CodeRabbit is reviewing... (typically 30-90 seconds)"
• Block until exit.
• Do NOT delete output on failure — the user needs to see what broke.

Post-run guard (mandatory)

if [ $CR_EXIT -eq 0 ] && [ -s "$output_file" ]; then
  echo "[coderabbit-review] OK: $output_file"
else
  # exit≠0, timeout (124), or empty file → tool produced nothing.
  {
    echo ""
    echo "## ERROR"
    echo ""
    echo "CodeRabbit review did not complete (exit=$CR_EXIT). Possible causes:"
    echo "auth/login required, free-tier rate limit, network, or a wedged run (timeout)."
    echo ""
    echo "Runtime log tail (see \`${output_file}.runtime.log\` for full):"
    echo ""
    tail -n 20 "${output_file}.runtime.log" 2>/dev/null | sed 's/^/    /'
  } >> "$output_file"
  echo "[coderabbit-review] FAIL: exit=$CR_EXIT — treated as SKIPPED, not a clean pass." >&2
fi

Guard semantics (do not conflate these three states):

• exit==0 && [ -s "$output_file" ] → the run succeeded. If the CLI reported no issues, that is a genuine clean pass — log (0 findings).
• exit==0 but the file is empty (only the header, so [ -s ] on the appended body fails / tool wrote nothing) → the tool produced nothing. Treat as skipped, NOT a clean pass.
• exit≠0 (including timeout 124) → failure; append the ## ERROR section and treat as skipped. Name the rate-limit mode explicitly in the error text.

4. Output Format

CodeRabbit --agent mode emits structured findings: one block per issue with file path, line range, severity, rule, and suggested fix. The calling skill reads the file verbatim — no summarization. Only the findings file is verbatim; stderr lives in ${output_file}.runtime.log and is never read as findings.

The output file is assembled in two steps (see §3): the header is written first, then the raw CLI output is appended. The final file looks like:

# CodeRabbit Review — impl (2026-07-02T10:00:00Z)

Base: <base_ref SHA> → HEAD
Type: committed changes
---

{raw coderabbit --agent output, or "(no changes)", or a ## ERROR section}

The header is a 4-line block (title, blank, Base:, Type:) followed by the --- rule — not "3 lines". impl is the fixed review type for this skill (the only caller is Phase 6.5); it is not a received parameter.

5. Finding Severity

CodeRabbit's native levels map to the pipeline's P-scale (canonical map in ../pipeline/references/review-chain.md):

The scale stops at P2 — there is no lower tier. nit maps to P2 as advisory: surfaced and logged, but never auto-applied. The calling skill feeds these into the 3-gate auto-integration model from review-chain.md.

6. Auto-Integration & Escalation

This skill does not decide fixes — it only writes findings. The pipeline applies them under the shared model in ../pipeline/references/review-chain.md:

• Findings that pass the 3 gates (concrete patch; not auth/payments/data migration; no conflicting patch) are auto-applied.
• A CodeRabbit finding at the same file:line as an independent reviewer (Codex or GLM) forms consensus → mark [CONSENSUS], escalate severity to the highest, apply even if judgment-only.
• Escalation triggers (iteration cap with open high, conflicting patches, auth/payments/data-migration domain, etc.) are the shared list in review-chain.md — escalate in the terminal, never on GitHub.

There are no interactive review gates in this skill — the pipeline auto-integrates via review-chain.md.

7. Important Rules

• NEVER summarize or filter findings. Raw --agent output, verbatim, in $output_file.
• stderr is not findings. Progress/rate-limit/auth noise goes to ${output_file}.runtime.log only.
• Foreground ONLY. No background job, no polling.
• Distinguish skip from clean. Empty file (exit 0) or error ≠ "0 findings". Only a completed run with no reported issues is a clean pass.
• Log to session.log: [timestamp] CodeRabbit review {complete|skipped|failed}: {output_file} ({N findings, severity breakdown} | (0 findings) | (no changes))
• Do NOT fix findings. The pipeline auto-integrates via review-chain.md's 3 gates; this skill only writes the file.
• Evidence tag: All CodeRabbit findings are [TOOL] (static analysis + AI) — highest evidence weight.