local-review

local-review is a local, single-user git review tool: review a branch's diff, leave line/range comments, mark files reviewed, and export the review as markdown for a coding agent. Go backend + React frontend, shipped as a single binary with the frontend embedded via go:embed.

Comments survive rebasing and new commits through a two-tier anchoring system. The primary tier uses git diff <commit_sha> head -- path with precise line mapping — each comment records the commit SHA it was anchored against. A snippet matching fallback handles worktree comments and edge cases. Staleness is recomputed on every read, never trusted from persisted flags.

The backend is canonical; the frontend caches. SSE pings with data: changed tell clients to refetch full state, avoiding desync and serialization duplication. Reviewed files are tracked with SHA-256 content fingerprints — changed files automatically lose their reviewed mark. Comments form two-level threads (root + flat replies), and the markdown export uses backtick-safe fencing that scans snippets for the longest backtick run to avoid prematurely closing code blocks.

Architecture highlights: SQLite with SetMaxOpenConns(1) to make foreign_keys pragma authoritative; custom diff parser that correctly handles ---/+++ in content; idempotent schema migration via PRAGMA table_info checks; working tree diff that includes untracked non-ignored files; and Shiki syntax highlighting with JS regex engine to avoid WASM load failures.

The tool is designed for a specific workflow: a human reviews code, then hands a markdown artifact to a coding agent to act on. No authentication, no multi-user support — local-only on 127.0.0.1. This constraint simplifies every layer, from the lack of a user table to the absence of permission checks.

Unlike AI code review tools (OpenCodeReview, Metis — ARM AI Security Code Review) which have AI generate reviews, local-review has humans write reviews for AI to act on. Unlike workflow tools (Bram) it produces artifacts without executing or approving anything. Unlike provenance tools (DeltaDB) it captures only the review moment, not the history of how code was produced.

Source: raw/local-review Last updated: 2026-08-01