hunk-review

Comment on diffs in VS Code and send the comments to a live hunk session where a coding agent can read them.

What the extension does

• Opens a review of uncommitted changes (working tree + staging) in native VS Code diff editors; changed lines are highlighted.
• Lets you comment on changed lines: click "+" → type text in the thread editor → press the "Add Comment" button. This works on both sides of the diff editor — added/context lines on the new (right) side and deleted lines on the original/HEAD (left) side.
• Stores comments locally in .hunk-review/comments.json (store-and-forward: you can comment even without hunk running).
• "Send comments to agent" — sends pending comments as a batch to the live hunk session; if no session exists, it starts one in a hidden background terminal ("hunk review session") that does not steal focus.
• "Connect to session" (hunk-review.connectToSession) — reveals the hidden terminal with the running hunk TUI so you can interact with the session.
• Picks up agent replies and notes from hunk into VS Code threads (replies land in the thread of the original comment).
• Keeps the review live: saving files or git operations (commit/stash/checkout) refresh the highlights and threads, reload the hunk session contents so the agent reviews fresh code, and mark comments whose lines drifted out of the diff as stale.
• Detects a session that died outside VS Code (or when the diff became empty), stops polling, clears the state and shows session liveness in the status bar (hunk • live).
• After you commit, comments whose lines went into the commit are moved to .hunk-review/archive.json (with the commit sha); comments on lines that are still changed stay active.
• Stops the session when the working tree becomes clean (committed or reverted), or via the "Stop hunk Session" command.

Requirements

• hunk CLI in PATH (verified with 0.21.1) — see the install docs.
• VS Code 1.136+.

Agent setup: the hunk-review skill

For the coding agent to read and answer your comments, it needs the hunk-review skill bundled with hunk. Print its path with:

hunk skill path            # .../skills/hunk-review/SKILL.md

Then link the skill directory into your agent's skills folder so it stays in sync across hunk upgrades. For example, for Claude Code:

mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills
ln -s "$(dirname "$(hunk skill path)")" ~/.claude/skills/hunk-review

For other agents, load or symlink the printed SKILL.md the way that agent expects skills to be installed. See the hunk docs for details.

Running the dev build

git clone https://github.com/onpavlov/vscode-hunk-review.git hunk-review
cd hunk-review
npm install

Then in VS Code:

1. File → Open Folder… → the repository folder.
2. F5 (the "Run Extension" config) — builds the bundle (watch task) and opens an Extension Development Host window.
3. The EDH window opens without a folder: inside it, File → Open Folder… → a project with uncommitted changes.
4. Cmd+Shift+P → Developer: Reload Window — so the extension activates with the folder already open.
5. Cmd+Shift+P → "Open Working Tree Review".

Tests: npm test (launches a real VS Code instance; the smoke test skips itself when no live hunk session is available). Types and lint: npm run check-types, npm run lint. Build: npm run compile; production package: npm run package.

Typical review loop

1. Click "Start review" in the status bar (or the compare button in the editor toolbar or the Source Control title, or run "Open Working Tree Review") → the diff opens in VS Code. If the hunk CLI is not installed, a warning with install instructions is shown.
2. "+" on a changed line → text → "Add Comment" (status bar shows hunk: N pending).
3. "Send Comments to Agent" → a hidden terminal with the hunk TUI starts in the background, comments are sent as a batch and become you (sent). Use "Connect to Session" to open the TUI.
4. Agent replies arrive in the threads automatically (~5 s).
5. Once you commit or revert the changes, the background session stops itself.

Extension Settings

None so far.

Known Issues

• The JSON shape of hunk session * --json may change between hunk versions; the extension targets 0.21.x.
• Comments on lines that no longer exist in the diff are marked stale on the next send.

Release Notes

0.2.1

Documentation: hunk-review skill setup, dev build clone link, disclaimer.

0.2.0

One-click "Start review" button in the editor toolbar and status bar, warning when the hunk CLI is not found, comments that went into a commit are archived to .hunk-review/archive.json.

0.1.0

First working release: working-tree review, comments into a hunk session, agent reply sync, automatic session stop.

Disclaimer

hunk-review is an independent community extension. It is not affiliated with or endorsed by Modem or the hunk project.