Review Workspace

Review the change, not the file list

Review Workspace is a reviewer-focused VS Code extension for Azure DevOps and GitHub pull requests, local code changes, and technical designs.

It organizes related files by intent, keeps diffs and discussions connected, and provides one place for work coming in for review and work being prepared before it is published.

• Understand the change — review related files as coherent intents instead of reconstructing the story from an alphabetical file list.
• Stay focused — use native diffs, source-anchored discussions, review actions, and progress in VS Code.
• Review before publishing — capture stable local code snapshots or review technical designs without first creating a pull request.

Preview: Review Workspace is under active development. Review generated analysis and proposed changes before acting on them.

Why Review Workspace

Large pull requests are difficult to review when their purpose is spread across many files, discussions are separated from the code, and reviewers must repeatedly switch between the browser and editor.

Work that has not reached a pull request has the opposite problem: designs, uncommitted changes, and early feedback are easily scattered across chat, temporary documents, and local files.

Review Workspace connects those workflows:

• Review Inbox brings Azure DevOps and GitHub pull requests into a focused review queue.
• Review Outbox holds local code-change snapshots and technical designs that need feedback before they are shared.
• Both use the same intent-based organization, native review surfaces, and persistent discussions.

Review Inbox

Review Inbox is the home for published Azure DevOps and GitHub pull requests.

• Brings Azure DevOps and GitHub review requests into one focused queue, including followed repositories and provider readiness evidence.
• Organizes every changed file into intent groups with complete coverage, so reviewers follow the purpose of a change instead of an alphabetical file list.
• Keeps exact-revision diffs, review progress, and source-anchored discussions connected, including PR-wide, outdated, and otherwise unmappable threads.
• Opens Markdown and HTML changes as rendered document reviews by default in Review Inbox and Review Outbox, including file lists, intent groups, and walkthrough navigation.
• Keeps VS Code's native source diff as an explicit secondary action. Markdown rendered diffs align Original and Modified content side by side and highlight only the changed text within otherwise shared blocks.
• Carries reviewed state forward by file content identity. Marking a file reviewed keeps it visible in the current review. When a newer PR snapshot is pushed, Review new snapshot focuses Intent Groups, Files, and Walkthrough on the files that still need review while keeping that focused set stable as files are completed.
• For Azure DevOps pull requests, Updates presents the pull request's iterations as expandable cards with their changed files inline. Review this update enters a scoped review for the historical delta between that iteration and the preceding pull request state. Copilot generates Intent Groups and a Code Walkthrough for only those changes, while Files opens the historical iteration-to-iteration diffs. Reviewing an older file version does not mark a later version reviewed; completion carries forward only when the file content remains unchanged.
• Discussions defaults to Needs attention. It includes open threads and closed comments only when Copilot finds clear evidence that a requested code update is still missing. Questions, explanations, acknowledgements, unclear cases, and analysis failures remain under Closed without a warning.

Review Outbox

Review Outbox is the home for local work that needs feedback before it is published.

• Captures stable snapshots of committed and uncommitted text changes without modifying the branch, index, worktree, or Git configuration.
• Automatically discovers changed worktrees in open and tracked repositories, keeps their Outbox snapshots current, and imports existing changed worktrees.
• Provides a persistent Auto track switch in Review Outbox. Turn it off to stop worktree discovery and show only code changes and designs that were explicitly added or created; turn it back on to restore automatic items and resume discovery. Auto tracking defaults to on, and the distinct cleanup action is shown only while it is enabled.
• Provides a Copilot-assisted cleanup view for every discovered worktree, grouped by repository with exact names, paths, local-change counts, pull request evidence, age, and protected states. Completed pull requests and old commits affect recommendations rather than visibility.
• Removes clean worktree directories after an exact-path confirmation while preserving named local branches. Dirty worktrees are never preselected and require an explicit destructive confirmation before staged, unstaged, and untracked files are force-deleted. Primary and currently open worktrees cannot be deleted.
• Permanently dismisses unwanted worktrees from automatic Outbox tracking without deleting their directories. Dismissed worktrees can still be added explicitly with Track Local Changes.
• Generates a concise Copilot title once for each code-change item, retaining the repository and branch title when Copilot is unavailable.
• Groups items by type or repository, supports updated, discovered, and branch sorting, and remembers collapsed sections.
• Applies the same intent-grouped review and durable discussions before a pull request exists, then reconnects the session when the work is published.
• Reviews multi-document Markdown and HTML designs with Mermaid rendering, source-mapped feedback, document outlines, and repository context.
• Keeps local feedback and proposals in a persistent catalog, verifies source state before applying changes, and lets reviewers inspect, keep, undo, or request revisions safely.
• Permanently deletes design or code-change items and their Outbox-owned artifacts without modifying the source worktree.

Set reviewWorkspace.worktreeCleanupAgeDays to control when a clean worktree is recommended as old during cleanup. The default is 30 days.

• Orders Inbox and Outbox discussions by their latest comment or reply, with the most recently active thread first.

Getting started

1. Install Review Workspace and open its activity-bar icon.
2. Sign in through VS Code when Microsoft, GitHub, or Copilot authentication is requested.
3. Configure Review Inbox sources, open a pull request URL, create a design, or track local changes.
4. Select an Inbox or Outbox item to begin reviewing.

Requirements

• VS Code 1.100 or later.
• GitHub Copilot Chat with access to Copilot agent and chat features.
• Git installed locally.
• An Azure DevOps or GitHub account for the corresponding Review Inbox features.

Copilot review conversations

Use Ask Copilot in Review Inbox or Review Outbox to open the native VS Code Chat composer with an extension-compatible model. Review conversations initially use Copilot Auto and retain the last model submitted to a review participant until the window reloads. If Auto is unavailable, choose a compatible model from the model picker rather than silently switching to a different paid model. Copilot Auto continuations retain the request's routing text alongside repository tool results; named models keep their existing tool-message format. Explicit provider selection depends on VS Code's native Chat command supporting modelSelector; older versions may retain their native model-picker selection.

Copilot agent-session models (agent-host-copilotcli:*) do not support the language-model API used by contributed chat participants. Manually mentioning @review-workspace, @review-outbox, or @design-review while one of those models is selected can still fail before the extension receives the request. Reopen the conversation through Ask Copilot to select a compatible route.

Privacy and safety

• Azure DevOps and GitHub access use VS Code authentication; a Personal Access Token is not required.
• The extension does not collect telemetry.
• Credentials are used only for provider requests and Git operations needed to prepare the exact review checkout.
• Credentials are never included in prompts or tool results.
• Local diagnostics exclude source content, diffs, comments, prompts, responses, credentials, and access tokens.
• Markdown is sanitized, and interactive HTML runs in an isolated sandbox.
• Repository paths and local proposals are validated before files are read or changed.