🔍 ReviewPal

AI-powered code review for any language.

> Let Claude review your code changes and catch issues before your teammates do.

⏱️ Installation (Step-by-Step)

> 📖 Detailed Guide: See INSTALL.md for a complete installation guide with troubleshooting.

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1. Go to https://console.anthropic.com
2. Sign up or log in
3. Click "Get API Keys"
4. Click "Create Key"
5. Copy the key (starts with sk-ant-...)

> 💡 Tip: Keep this key secret! Don't commit it to your repo.

---

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1. Go to your GitHub repo (e.g., github.com/yourname/yourrepo)
2. Click Settings (top right)
3. In the left sidebar, click Secrets and variables → Actions
4. Click "New repository secret"
5. Name: ANTHROPIC_API_KEY
6. Value: Paste your API key from Step 1
7. Click "Add secret"

✅ Your API key is now securely stored!

---

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Option A: Quick Install (Terminal)

``bash


Navigate to your repo

cd your-repo

Create workflow directory

mkdir -p .github/workflows

Download ReviewPal workflow

curl -o .github/workflows/reviewpal.yml \
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Arephan/reviewpal/main/examples/github-action-workflow.yml

Commit and push

git add .github/workflows/reviewpal.yml
git commit -m "Add ReviewPal workflow"
git push
`

Option B: Manual Setup (GitHub Web UI)

1. In your repo, click "Add file" → "Create new file"
2. File path: .github/workflows/reviewpal.yml
3. Paste this content:

`yaml
name: ReviewPal
on:
pull_request:
types: [opened, synchronize]

jobs:
review:
runs-on: ubuntu-latest
permissions:
contents: read
pull-requests: write
steps:
- uses: actions/checkout@v4
with:
fetch-depth: 0

- uses: Arephan/reviewpal@v1
with:
anthropic_api_key: ${{ secrets.ANTHROPIC_API_KEY }}
`

4. Click "Commit changes"

---

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1. Create a new branch: git checkout -b test-reviewpal
2. Make some code changes
3. Commit and push: git push -u origin test-reviewpal
4. Create a Pull Request on GitHub
5. Wait ~30-60 seconds
6. ReviewPal will comment on your PR! 🎉

---

✅ That's It!

ReviewPal will now automatically review every PR in your repo.

Need help? Open an issue

---

What It Does

ReviewPal uses Claude AI to:
- ✅ Detect the language automatically (Python, JS, Go, Rust, Java, etc.)
- ✅ Find code quality issues - bugs, anti-patterns, security concerns
- ✅ Spot AI-generated patterns - over-defensive code, verbose comments, over-abstraction
- ✅ Give actionable suggestions - specific fixes, not vague advice

Language agnostic - works with any programming language!

---

Example Output

`markdown


🔍 ReviewPal

$3

Lines 45-89

Language: TypeScript

Summary: Added user authentication with token validation and error handling.

Issues Found:

🟡 Excessive try-catch nesting (4 levels deep)
💡 Fix: Use a single try-catch at the function boundary. Let errors bubble up naturally.

🟡 Missing input validation before database query
💡 Fix: Add schema validation using zod or joi before the database call.

🟢 Consider using a constant for the token expiry time
💡 Fix: Move magic number 3600 to a named constant: TOKEN_EXPIRY_SECONDS


`

---

Installation

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`yaml
name: ReviewPal
on:
pull_request:
types: [opened, synchronize]

jobs:
review:
runs-on: ubuntu-latest
permissions:
contents: read
pull-requests: write
steps:
- uses: actions/checkout@v4
with:
fetch-depth: 0

- name: ReviewPal
uses: Arephan/reviewpal@v1
with:
anthropic_api_key: ${{ secrets.ANTHROPIC_API_KEY }}
`

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`bash
npm install -g reviewpal

Set your API key

export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=sk-ant-...

Review staged changes

reviewpal

Review a git range

reviewpal --git HEAD~3..HEAD

Pipe from git

git diff main..feature | reviewpal -
`

---

Configuration

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| Input | Description | Default |
|-------|-------------|---------|
| anthropic_api_key | Required - Your Anthropic API key | - |
| max_hunks | Max code blocks to analyze | 20 |
| model | Claude model to use | claude-sonnet-4-20250514 |
| comment_on_pr | Post as PR comment | true |

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`bash
reviewpal --help

Options:
-g, --git Git diff range (e.g., HEAD~3..HEAD)
-f, --format Output: friendly, json
-m, --max-hunks Max hunks to analyze (default: 20)
--model Claude model (default: claude-sonnet-4-20250514)
-q, --quiet Minimal output
`

---

Supported Languages

All of them! 🌍

ReviewPal uses Claude AI to understand any programming language:
- JavaScript, TypeScript, Python, Java, Go, Rust, C++, C#, Ruby, PHP, Kotlin, Swift...
- Even SQL, YAML, Dockerfile, shell scripts, and more

Claude automatically detects the language and applies appropriate review standards.

---

How It Works

1. Parse the git diff into code changes
2. Send to Claude with context about the file and change
3. AI analyzes for:
- Language detection
- Code quality issues
- AI-generated patterns
- Improvement opportunities
4. Format results as friendly PR comments

---

Why ReviewPal?

Problem: AI-generated code is hard to review
- Over-defensive (try-catch everywhere)
- Over-verbose (obvious comments)
- Over-engineered (unnecessary abstractions)

Solution: Let AI review AI-generated code
- Catches patterns humans miss
- Works with any language
- Gives specific, actionable feedback
- Fast and consistent

---

🔧 Troubleshooting

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Check 1: Is the workflow running?
- Go to your repo → Actions tab
- Look for "ReviewPal" workflow runs
- Click on the latest run to see logs

Check 2: Is the API key set correctly?
- Go to repo Settings → Secrets and variables → Actions
- Verify ANTHROPIC_API_KEY exists
- If not, add it (see Step 2 above)

Check 3: Does the workflow file exist?
- Look for .github/workflows/reviewpal.yml in your repo
- If missing, add it (see Step 3 above)

Check 4: Are there code changes in the PR?
- ReviewPal only analyzes files with code changes
- Empty PRs or README-only changes won't trigger a review

---

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This means the API key is missing or invalid.

Fix:
1. Verify your API key at https://console.anthropic.com
2. Make sure it starts with sk-ant-
3. Re-add it to GitHub Secrets (Settings → Secrets → Actions)
4. Close and reopen your PR to trigger a new run

---

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Normal timing:
- Small PR (< 200 lines): 30-60 seconds
- Medium PR (500 lines): 1-2 minutes
- Large PR (1000+ lines): 2-5 minutes

If it's slower:
- Check GitHub Actions status page (status.github.com)
- Check Anthropic API status (status.anthropic.com)
- Reduce max_hunks in the workflow to speed it up

---

$3

Just change @v1 to @v1.1.0 (or latest) in your workflow file:

`yaml
- uses: Arephan/reviewpal@v1.1.0 # specific version


or


- uses: Arephan/reviewpal@v1 # auto-updates to latest v1.x
`

Recommendation: Use @v1 to get automatic updates.

---

Development

`bash


Clone

git clone https://github.com/Arephan/reviewpal
cd reviewpal

Install

npm install

Build

npm run build

Test locally

export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=sk-ant-...
node dist/index.js --git HEAD~1
`

---

API Key Safety

Your ANTHROPIC_API_KEY is:
- ✅ Stored in GitHub Secrets (encrypted)
- ✅ Only accessible to your workflows
- ✅ Never logged or exposed in output
- ✅ Can be rotated anytime at console.anthropic.com

---

Cost

ReviewPal uses Claude Sonnet 4 by default (~$3 per million tokens).

Typical usage:
- Small PR (100 lines): ~$0.01
- Medium PR (500 lines): ~$0.05
- Large PR (2000 lines): ~$0.20

Set max_hunks` to control costs on massive PRs.

---

Contributing

PRs welcome! Keep it:
1. Language agnostic
2. Actionable (not vague)
3. Friendly in tone

---

License

MIT

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Made with Claude, for reviewing code written by Claude. 🤖