ReviewBud

ReviewBud is a local Electron app for reading GitHub pull requests without using the GitHub web UI and without checking out PR branches in your active workspace.

Paste a pull request URL, fetch the PR through the GitHub CLI, review metadata and diffs in a focused desktop UI, add local notes, and Cmd-click symbols in TypeScript or JavaScript diffs to inspect surrounding implementation context.

Features

• Load GitHub pull requests by URL or by selecting from recent/searchable repositories. No extra access required other than your standard GitHub CLI access
• Review PR metadata, changed files, unified diffs, existing reviews, and inline discussions in a local desktop workspace.
• Keep GitHub file-viewed state in sync, navigate changed files with keyboard shortcuts, and track review progress.
• Draft line comments and a final review outcome locally without writing to the target repository.
• Expand collapsed diff gaps and inspect source context without checking out PR branches in your active workspace.
• Cmd/Ctrl-click symbols in TypeScript, JavaScript, and Python diffs to open implementation context, with raw file context as a fallback.
• Persist cached PR data, notes, draft comments, draft review state, and theme preference under Electron userData.

Requirements

• Node.js 20 or newer
• npm
• GitHub CLI (gh) installed and authenticated

gh auth status

Quick Start

npm install
npm run dev

In the app, paste a GitHub pull request URL such as:

https://github.com/owner/repo/pull/123

Commands

Command	Description
npm run dev	Start the Vite renderer and Electron app in development mode
npm run start	Start Electron from the built main process output
npm run build	Build the Electron main/preload files and Vite renderer
npm run typecheck	Typecheck the project
npm test	Run unit tests with Node's test runner
npm run install:macos-service	Install the macOS Services menu item for reviewing selected PR links

macOS Services Menu

Run this once to add Review PR to the macOS Services submenu for selected GitHub PR links in apps like Slack and Safari:

npm run install:macos-service

Start ReviewBud once after installing so macOS registers the reviewbud:// deep link handler. Then right-click a GitHub PR link and choose Services → Review PR.

Project Structure

Path	Purpose
src/main	Electron main process, GitHub access, IPC handlers, local storage, source snapshots, and TypeScript intelligence
src/preload	Safe renderer bridge exposed to the React app
src/renderer	React renderer UI and styles
src/shared	Shared types and pure utilities
tests	Unit tests for URL parsing, symbol context, and TypeScript intelligence
docs	Product spec and implementation plan

How It Works

ReviewBud shells out to gh api from the Electron main process so it can reuse your existing GitHub authentication without storing tokens in the project. Pull request payloads, local notes, and app-owned source snapshots are stored under Electron userData.

The app is designed to keep your active repository checkout untouched. It does not check out PR branches, change worktrees, or write review state into the target repository.

Verification

Before shipping changes, run:

npm test
npm run typecheck
npm run build

Boundaries

• GitHub access stays in the Electron main process.
• Renderer code talks to the main process through typed preload APIs.
• External GitHub data is normalized before use.
• Local persistence belongs in Electron userData, not in target repositories.
• GitHub tokens and secrets must not be committed.