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CoReview

An AI Assistant for you Pre-Commit code review.

Screenshot of the Plugin at work

Inspiration

CoReview was an idea born as a result of our own experiences with code reviews. We realized that code reviews are an essential part of the development process. However, we also understood that code reviews can be time-consuming and tedious. We wanted to create a tool that would simplify the review process and improve overall code quality. We think that CoReview is a solution to the nitpicking issues that plague code reviews. And so we set our goal:

We want to help developers focus on the important parts of code reviews.

What it does

CoReview is an AI-based (OpenAI GPT-3.5) automated code review plugin that intelligently scans your uncommitted changes, providing instant feedback and improving overall code quality beyond what a static linter can provide. CoReview identifies potential issues, ensures adherence to coding standards, and fosters a more productive development environment.

How to use it

Install the plugin from the Jetbrains Plugin Marketplace (coming soon™) or build it from source. You need to provide an OpenAI API key in your settings. After that, you can use the plugin by clicking on the CoReview button in the Commit Window. Or by adding CoReview to your pre commit checks. CoReview will then analyze your changes and provide you with suggestions on how to improve your code.

The Team

We are 4 students with a computer science background. We are passionate about software development and the IDEs from Jetbrains are our daily tools for getting our work done (and also our degrees).

How we built it

We built CoReview as a plugin for the Jetbrains family of IDEs. We integrated the OpenAI GPT-3.5 API using langchain4j to provide users with a simple in-editor experience. The Jetbrains Plugin SDK and Kotlin were used to develop the plugin. Even though we had no prior experience with the Jetbrains Platform SDK (and Kotlin btw.), we were able to create a working prototype in such a short amount of time.

Challenges we ran into

The problems we ran into were twofold:

At first, we had no idea how to create a plugin for Jetbrains IDEs. We had to learn the basics of the Jetbrains Platform SDK as well as Kotlin.
We also had to learn how to use the OpenAI API and how to integrate it into our plugin. We had little to no prior experience with AI and how to integrate it into applications.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We are really proud of what we achieved in this short amount of time, especially with our severely limited experience. The surprising amount of finishing touches we were able to get done in a very short amount of time is also something we are really happy about. We think that we created a really cool experience that could actually be useful with a little more work and polish.

What we learned

Throughout the development of CoReview, we gained valuable insights into the intricacies of how our daily tools work. We learned how to use the Jetbrains Platform SDK and Kotlin to create a plugin for Jetbrains IDEs. We especially learned how mighty an extensible IDE can be. We also learned how to use the OpenAI API and how to integrate it into software.

What's next for `CoReview`

The journey doesn't end here. We envision CoReview evolving by incorporating more advanced AI features, like giving more context to the AI and making a discussion about the code comments possible. We think that CoReview would be even more helpful if you could chat with your AI reviewer about their comments. Also, we'd like to incorporate code change suggestions into the plugin.

CoReview could also go beyond your commit: We think CoReview could make working with PRs (Merge Requests) even more productive.