Coderabbit Review Commit

CodeRabbit Review of a Single Commit

Review exactly one commit — including a non-tip one — with the CodeRabbit CLI. The CLI only diffs base → HEAD, so this skill pins the target commit in a throwaway git worktree (detached HEAD = C) and reviews base = C~1 → HEAD = C. The current branch and working tree are never touched; the worktree is force-removed on every exit path.

Procedure

Step 1: Resolve the target commit

1. Default to HEAD~1 (the penultimate commit) unless the user names a commit-ish or SHA.
2. Confirm it resolves: git rev-parse --short <target>.

Done when: a concrete short SHA is in hand.

Step 2: Run the review in the background

1. Execute the bundled helper (mutating: creates a temp worktree + log file; never alters the branch), backgrounded — the review takes minutes: bash <coderabbit-review-commit-dir>/scripts/review-commit.sh <target>
2. The helper tees to <repo>/.coderabbit/reviews/<short-sha>.log and cleans its worktree on exit.
3. Override with env only when needed: CR_REVIEW_OUT (log dir), CR_CONFIG (config file), CR_REVIEW_TYPE (default committed).

Done when: the helper is running and its log path is reported.

Step 3: Report the outcome

1. On completion, surface the log path and the CodeRabbit findings.

Done when: the user has the findings and the log location.

Error Handling

• coderabbit not in PATH → helper exits 127; the user must install and auth the CLI (coderabbit auth login).
• Target is a root commit (no parent) → helper exits 1; there is no base to diff.
• Too many files! (commit exceeds CodeRabbit's 300-file cap) → review a subdirectory (coderabbit review --dir <path>) or split the commit.