Review Lens: review GitHub pull requests inside the IDE (feedback welcome)

Showcase & Feedback
1

Hi everyone,

I’d like to share Review Lens, a free, open-source plugin for reviewing GitHub pull requests inside IntelliJ IDEA, PyCharm, WebStorm and GoLand.

Why I built it

For a while now, reviewing PRs has been the hardest part of my week. There are more of them, and much of the code is written with AI. The lines usually look fine; the structure is what needs checking. Does it fit the codebase? Who calls it? Is it tested? Those questions are hard on a diff page and easy in the IDE, so the plugin moves the whole review there.

What it does

  • Opens a PR read-only in the current window, after setting the developer’s uncommitted work aside (restored on exit)
  • Full files with the PR’s changes in the gutter, so navigation and Find Usages work on the PR’s code
  • Everyone’s GitHub comments under their lines, replies in place, and a Comments tab
  • Viewed files synced with GitHub, and “review only new commits” after a push
  • Comments, replies and verdict posted to GitHub as one review

Review Lens

Platform pieces it’s built on, in case they help someone

  • Gutter marks: SimpleLocalLineStatusTracker against the PR’s base, so the IDE’s own change markers do the work.
  • Comments in the editor: EditorEmbeddedComponentManager for the cards and the comment box.
  • Theming: every color is a lazy JBColor from one place, so theme switches need no code.
  • Compatibility: CI runs the Plugin Verifier against several IDEs on every PR, one job per IDE (running them all in one job ran out of disk).

Where I’d love feedback

Thanks for reading!