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Open Code Review (VS Code Extension)

A VS Code code-review extension built on the open-code-review (ocr) CLI. It recreates the prototype experience with a Preact WebView and brings AI code review into the editor: start reviews from the sidebar, stream logs live, and apply / dismiss / flag-as-false-positive each comment inline — kept in sync with the sidebar both ways.

Features

• Three review modes: workspace changes, branch comparison (--from / --to), and a single commit (--commit).
• Files-to-review preview: lists changed files from the current Git state; click a file to view its changes in the native diff view.
• Custom review prompt: optionally append a --background hint for the current review.
• Streaming logs: tail the CLI output live during review, cancel anytime.
• Results + two-way sync: on completion, comment cards appear in the sidebar while CommentThreads render in the editor; apply / dismiss / false-positive actions stay in sync on both sides.
• Empty / cancelled / failed states: dedicated views for no issues, user cancellation, and CLI failure (failures are retryable and surface the real error returned by the CLI).
• Configuration management: view / edit the LLM provider config inside the extension (persisted via ocr config set).
• Model switching / connectivity test: switch models and test connectivity to the LLM from the status bar.

Prerequisites

1. Install the ocr CLI globally:

   npm i -g @alibaba-group/open-code-review
   

2. Configure a working LLM (endpoint, API key, model). Configure it via the CLI directly, or in the extension's config view:

   ocr config set llm.url https://api.anthropic.com/v1/messages
   ocr config set llm.auth_token sk-...
   ocr config set llm.model claude-opus-4-6
   ocr config set llm.use_anthropic true
   

   The config is written to ~/.opencodereview/config.json.

Development

Environment

• Node.js ≥ 18, with Yarn as the package manager (the repo ships a yarn.lock).
• VS Code ≥ 1.74.
• A globally available ocr CLI (see "Prerequisites" above) — the extension is essentially a GUI front-end for ocr.

Start the dev environment

cd extensions/vscode
yarn install      # install dependencies
yarn watch        # watch-mode dev build (recommended: rebuilds out/ on change)

Then open the extensions/vscode folder in VS Code and press F5 to launch the Extension Development Host (debug config is provided in .vscode/launch.json). In the new window, open a project with Git changes — you'll see the Open Code Review icon in the activity bar and can start a review.

After editing code: WebView changes require reopening the sidebar in the dev host window (or running Developer: Reload Webviews); Extension Host changes require restarting the debug session (the ⟳ button on the debug toolbar, or Cmd+R in the host window).

Scripts

yarn compile      # one-off dev build (webpack development)
yarn watch        # watch-mode dev build
yarn build        # production build (webpack production; runs automatically before packaging)
yarn test         # run Jest unit tests
yarn lint         # ESLint
yarn package      # produce a distributable .vsix package (see "Build a release package")

Debugging notes

• Two-way messaging: the WebView and Extension Host communicate via postMessage; message types live in src/shared/messages.ts. Both sides route through dispatch / handle — start there when debugging.
• CLI invocation: all ocr sub-commands run via child_process.spawn in src/extension/services/CliService.ts. runRaw rejects on a non-zero CLI exit code and includes the Error: text from stderr, which helps diagnose "review failed / connection failed".
• Config read/write: ConfigService reads ~/.opencodereview/config.json and delegates writes to ocr config set. WebView fields are camelCase (e.g. useAnthropic) while the disk/CLI side is snake_case (e.g. use_anthropic); the conversion lives in src/extension/services/configParse.ts.

Build

Compile artifacts only

yarn build        # production build (webpack production)

Artifacts: out/extension.js (Extension Host) + out/webview.js (WebView SPA).

Build a release package (.vsix)

yarn package      # = vsce package --no-yarn

This command:

1. Triggers vscode:prepublish → runs the yarn build production build;
2. Excludes source, tests, and dev files per .vscodeignore;
3. Produces open-code-review-vscode-<version>.vsix in the current directory.

The packaging tool is @vscode/vsce, installed as a devDependency — no global install or network download needed. --no-yarn skips vsce's default npm dependency-tree check (this project uses Yarn).

The release package contains only the runtime essentials: package.json, README.md, resources/icon.svg, out/extension.js, out/webview.js.

Install / verify locally

code --install-extension open-code-review-vscode-<version>.vsix

Or in VS Code: Extensions panel → top-right ⋯ → Install from VSIX… → pick the generated .vsix file.

To publish to the Marketplace, use vsce publish instead (requires a publisher account and PAT); for everyday distribution the .vsix above is enough.

Architecture

It uses a Monolithic WebView + Thin Extension Host design:

• The WebView is a separately built Preact SPA that reproduces the full visual and interactive prototype.
• The Extension Host layer is thin, handling only CLI invocation, the file system, Git operations, and editor comments.
• The two communicate via postMessage, with shared TypeScript types in src/shared/ for type safety.

src/
├── extension/      Extension Host (Node.js): services / providers / commands
├── webview/        WebView SPA (Preact): views / components / store / bridge
└── shared/         shared types and the postMessage protocol (no vscode dependency)

License

Apache-2.0