ADO Review Hub

The Azure DevOps PR review workflow, inside VS Code. Review queue, approve, comment, diff — without leaving your editor.

Why ADO Review Hub?

PRs are piling up. Your team creates pull requests faster than they get reviewed because nobody actively monitors the Azure DevOps web UI. By the time someone checks, PRs are days old.

ADO Review Hub fixes this by putting the PR queue where developers already live — in VS Code. The sidebar badge makes pending reviews impossible to ignore, and the full review workflow (approve, comment, diff, complete) happens without a browser tab.

Features at a Glance

Feature	Description
PR Queue	Urgency-ranked review queue with three sections: Needs Your Review, Your PRs, Team Activity
Approve from VS Code	Approve, reject, comment, and complete PRs directly — no browser needed
Native Diff	Click any file to open VS Code's built-in diff editor
Quick Approve	Small PRs (<50 lines) show inline diff with one-click approve
AI Diff Summary	Claude-powered 2-3 sentence summary of what changed (opt-in)
SLA Timer	Countdown showing how long until the review deadline
PR Dependencies	Warns when multiple PRs modify the same files
Bookmarks	Pin important PRs to the top of your queue
Bulk Actions	Select multiple PRs and approve/nudge all at once
Team Dashboard	See who has pending reviews and who's overloaded
Review Heatmap	When does your team review most? Hour-by-day grid
Review Leaderboard	Weekly top reviewers — who's reviewing fastest?
Confetti on Merge	Because shipping code should feel good
Keyboard Shortcuts	j/k navigate, a approve, d diff, n nudge, b bookmark

Getting Started

Step 1: Install

Search "ADO Review Hub" in the VS Code Extensions tab, or install from the Marketplace.

Step 2: Configure

Click the ADO Review Hub icon in the Activity Bar (left sidebar). If it's your first time, the Settings panel opens automatically.

Enter your Azure DevOps details:

Setting	Value	Example
Organization	Your ADO org name	`adctsfa01`
Project	Your ADO project name	`IntegrationTeam`
Authentication	PAT (auto-detected from environment or enter manually)	—

Tip: If you already have AZURE_DEVOPS_PAT set as an environment variable, the extension detects it automatically — zero configuration needed.

Step 3: Review PRs

Your PR queue loads immediately. Click any PR to see full details, then:

Approve — Click the green Approve button (or press a)
Comment — Type in the reply box and press Ctrl+Enter
View Diff — Click any file to open VS Code's diff editor (or press d)
Nudge — Remind pending reviewers with one click (or press n)
Complete — When approved, merge the PR directly from VS Code

The PR Queue

The queue is organized into three urgency-ranked sections:

Needs Your Review

PRs where you're assigned as a reviewer and haven't voted yet. Sorted by urgency:

Age — Older PRs float to the top
Almost done — PRs needing just 1 more approval get a +50 urgency boost
Your teammates — PRs from teammates get a +20 boost

Your PRs

PRs you created. Shows current approval status, active comments, and build status. Complete or set auto-complete from here.

Team Activity

All other active PRs in the project. Lower priority but visible for awareness.

Visual Indicators

Indicator	Meaning
🟢 Green age badge	Created less than 4 hours ago
🟡 Yellow age badge	4-24 hours old
🟠 Orange age badge	1-3 days old
🔴 Red age badge	More than 3 days old
⏱ SLA timer	Countdown to review deadline
🔥 Glowing border	PR is aging and needs attention
⚠ Conflict badge	Another PR modifies the same files
★ Star	Bookmarked PR

PR Detail Panel

Click any PR in the queue to see the full detail panel:

Reviewers

Each reviewer shown with their vote status:

✅ Approved (green)
✅ Approved with suggestions (blue)
⏳ Pending (yellow) — hasn't voted yet
⏸ Wait for author (gray)
❌ Rejected (red)

The required approval count is fetched from your repo's branch policies — it shows "1/2 required" dynamically based on actual ADO configuration.

Status Timeline

Visual dots showing the PR lifecycle:

● Created  →  ● In Review  →  ○ Approved  →  ○ Merged
   2d ago        4h ago

Actions

Button	What it does	Keyboard
Approve	Cast an approve vote	`a`
Suggestions	Approve with suggestions	—
Wait	Set "wait for author"	—
Reject	Reject (requires comment)	—
Nudge	Post a reminder comment mentioning pending reviewers	`n`
Complete	Merge the PR (when all approvals met)	—
Auto-Complete	Set auto-complete so it merges when policies pass	—

Complete & Merge

When a PR has all required approvals, the Complete section appears:

Merge strategy: No Fast-Forward (default), Squash, or Rebase
Delete source branch: Checkbox (default: checked)
Auto-Complete: Toggle to auto-merge when all policies are satisfied

Files Changed

Lists all modified files with change type icons. Click any file to open the diff.

Comments

All PR comment threads displayed inline. Reply directly from the panel — press Ctrl+Enter (or Cmd+Enter on Mac) to send.

AI Diff Summary

Optional feature — requires an Anthropic API key

When enabled, the extension sends the PR diff to Claude (Haiku model) and displays a 2-3 sentence summary of what changed. Helps reviewers quickly understand the scope before diving into the code.

Setup

Click the ⚙ gear icon to open Settings
Toggle AI Summary on
Enter your Anthropic API key (stored securely in VS Code's Secret Storage — never in plain text)

Or set the ANTHROPIC_API_KEY environment variable for automatic detection.

How it looks

A blue highlighted box appears in the PR detail between the header and reviewers:

AI Summary: This PR adds email validation to the customer API endpoint, updates the HTTP listener configuration, and includes 3 new MUnit test cases for valid and invalid email formats.

Summaries are cached per PR iteration — switching between PRs is instant.

Sub-Tabs

The extension has 5 views accessible via tabs at the top:

PR Queue (default)

The urgency-ranked PR review queue with all features described above.

Velocity

PR velocity metrics for your team:

Average time to first review
Average time to merge
Total completed PRs
Recent completed PRs table with timing

Sprints

Current sprint progress:

Sprint name and dates
Work items completed vs remaining
Progress bar

Work Items

Work items linked to PRs:

ID, Title, Type, State
Linked PRs for each work item

Team

Team review dashboard:

Each team member's review load
Pending reviews, completed today/this week
Average response time
Load indicators: 🟢 Light, 🟡 Moderate, 🔴 Overloaded
PR Flow Funnel showing bottlenecks

Minimap

A collapsible 30-day activity overview at the top of the PR queue. Each bar represents one day, stacked by category:

Blue — PRs needing your review
Green — Your PRs
Gray — Team activity

Click ▼ Activity to expand, ▲ to collapse.

Bookmarks & Bulk Actions

Bookmarks

Click the ★ star icon on any PR card to pin it to the top of your queue. Bookmarked PRs appear in a dedicated section above "Needs Your Review." Press b to toggle.

Bulk Actions

Select multiple PRs (Shift+click for range, Ctrl/Cmd+click for individual), then use the bulk action bar:

Approve All — Approve every selected PR
Nudge All — Remind reviewers on all selected
Bookmark All — Pin all selected

Keyboard: Shift+A to approve all selected.

Keyboard Shortcuts

Key	Action
`j`	Move down in PR list
`k`	Move up in PR list
`Enter`	Select/open PR detail
`Escape`	Close PR detail
`a`	Approve selected PR
`d`	Open diff for first file
`n`	Nudge pending reviewers
`b`	Toggle bookmark
`r`	Refresh queue
`Shift+A`	Bulk approve all selected

Shortcuts are disabled when focus is in a text input or textarea.

Settings

Access settings by clicking the ⚙ gear icon in the header. All settings are also available in VS Code Settings (Cmd+,) under "ADO Review Hub".

Setting	Default	Description
`adoReviewHub.organization`	—	Azure DevOps organization name
`adoReviewHub.project`	—	Azure DevOps project name
`adoReviewHub.notifications`	`mine-only`	Notification level: `off`, `mine-only`, `all-actionable`
`adoReviewHub.diffMode`	`native`	Diff display: `native` (VS Code editor) or `inline` (in panel)
`adoReviewHub.pollingInterval`	`120`	Seconds between auto-refreshes
`adoReviewHub.slaHours`	`24`	PR review SLA target in hours
`adoReviewHub.aiSummary`	`false`	Enable AI-powered diff summaries
`adoReviewHub.compactMode`	`false`	Dense single-line PR cards

Notifications

Three levels of toast notifications:

Level	What you get
Off	Sidebar badge only — no popups
Mine only (default)	Notified when someone approves, rejects, or comments on YOUR PRs
All actionable	Also notified when new PRs need your review

The sidebar badge and status bar (👁 X PRs) always show your pending review count regardless of notification level.

Authentication

The extension connects to Azure DevOps using a Personal Access Token (PAT). Three methods, checked in order:

Environment variable — If AZURE_DEVOPS_PAT is set in your shell, it's used automatically. Zero config.
VS Code Secret Storage — Encrypted in your OS keychain (macOS Keychain, Windows Credential Manager). Set via the Settings panel.
Manual prompt — If neither is found, you're prompted to enter a PAT on first use.

Creating a PAT

Go to https://dev.azure.com/{your-org}/_usersSettings/tokens
Click + New Token
Scopes needed: Code (Read & Write), Work Items (Read)
Copy the token and paste it in the extension Settings

Accessibility

ADO Review Hub is designed to be accessible:

Keyboard navigation — Tab through PR cards, Enter to select, Escape to close
Screen reader support — ARIA labels, roles, and live regions throughout
High contrast — Respects VS Code's high contrast themes
Reduced motion — All animations disabled when prefers-reduced-motion is set
Skip to content — Link available for keyboard users

Troubleshooting

"Azure DevOps not configured"

Click the ⚙ gear icon and enter your organization and project name. The extension may auto-detect these from your git remote.

PR queue is empty

Verify your organization and project are correct
Check that your PAT has Code (Read) scope
Click Refresh to re-query

AI Summary shows "API key not configured"

Toggle AI Summary on in Settings, then either:

Set ANTHROPIC_API_KEY environment variable, OR
Enter the key in the Settings panel (stored in encrypted Secret Storage)

Extension not auto-refreshing

Check adoReviewHub.pollingInterval in settings. Default is 120 seconds. The extension also refreshes on git changes (commits, branch switches).

Requirements

VS Code 1.109 or later
Azure DevOps account with PAT
Optional: Anthropic API key for AI Diff Summary

Privacy & Security

No data is sent to any server except Azure DevOps (for PR queries) and optionally Anthropic (for AI summaries)
PATs are stored in VS Code's encrypted Secret Storage — never in plain text settings files
The extension runs entirely locally — no telemetry, no analytics, no tracking
Source code is hosted on Azure DevOps (private)

Changelog

v0.3.2 (Latest)

Fixed CI/CD pipeline VSIX artifact publishing
All 32 features complete

v0.3.0

Loading skeletons and smooth animations
PR status timeline
Compact mode toggle
PR aging flame effect
Confetti on merge
Review leaderboard
PR Bookmarks
Bulk actions (multi-select approve/nudge)
Team Review Dashboard with PR Flow Funnel
Minimap (30-day activity timeline)
Full accessibility audit (ARIA, keyboard nav, screen reader)
Azure Pipeline CI/CD for auto-publishing

v0.2.0

AI Diff Summary via Claude API
PR SLA Timer with countdown
Repo-specific review requirements from branch policies
PR Dependencies and merge conflict detection
Review Heatmap and stats with badges
Configurable notifications (off/mine-only/all-actionable)
PR Velocity, Sprint Burndown, Work Items sub-tabs

v0.1.0

Initial release
PR Queue with urgency scoring
PR Detail panel with reviewers, files, comments
Approve/Reject/Comment/Nudge from VS Code
VS Code native diff + inline diff toggle
Quick Approve for small PRs
Activity Bar sidebar + status bar
In-extension settings with auto-detect
Keyboard shortcuts

License

MIT

Built with Claude Code | Published by William Kelley