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Usage and Automation

Local repo (CLI)

When running from your locally cloned PR-Agent repo (CLI), your local configuration file will be used. Examples of invoking the different tools via the CLI:

  • Review: python -m pr_agent.cli --pr_url=<pr_url> review
  • Describe: python -m pr_agent.cli --pr_url=<pr_url> describe
  • Improve: python -m pr_agent.cli --pr_url=<pr_url> improve
  • Ask: python -m pr_agent.cli --pr_url=<pr_url> ask "Write me a poem about this PR"
  • Reflect: python -m pr_agent.cli --pr_url=<pr_url> reflect
  • Update Changelog: python -m pr_agent.cli --pr_url=<pr_url> update_changelog

<pr_url> is the url of the relevant PR (for example: #50).

Notes:

(1) in addition to editing your local configuration file, you can also change any configuration value by adding it to the command line: 

python -m pr_agent.cli --pr_url=<pr_url>  /review --pr_reviewer.extra_instructions="focus on the file: ..."

(2) You can print results locally, without publishing them, by setting in configuration.toml: 

[config]
publish_output=false
verbosity_level=2
This is useful for debugging or experimenting with different tools.

Online usage

Online usage means invoking PR-Agent tools by comments on a PR. Commands for invoking the different tools via comments:

  • Review: /review
  • Describe: /describe
  • Improve: /improve
  • Ask: /ask "..."
  • Reflect: /reflect
  • Update Changelog: /update_changelog

To edit a specific configuration value, just add --config_path=<value> to any command. For example, if you want to edit the review tool configurations, you can run: 

/review --pr_reviewer.extra_instructions="..." --pr_reviewer.require_score_review=false
Any configuration value in configuration file file can be similarly edited. Comment /config to see the list of available configurations.

GitHub App

Configurations for PR-Agent Pro

PR-Agent Pro for GitHub is an App, hosted by CodiumAI. So all the instructions below are relevant also for PR-Agent Pro users. Same goes for GitLab webhook and BitBucket App sections.

GitHub app automatic tools when a new PR is opened

The github_app section defines GitHub app specific configurations.

The configuration parameter pr_commands defines the list of tools that will be run automatically when a new PR is opened. 

[github_app]
pr_commands = [
    "/describe --pr_description.final_update_message=false",
    "/review --pr_reviewer.num_code_suggestions=0",
    "/improve",
]
This means that when a new PR is opened/reopened or marked as ready for review, PR-Agent will run the describe, review and improve tools.
For the review tool, for example, the num_code_suggestions parameter will be set to 0.

You can override the default tool parameters by using one the three options for a configuration file: wiki, local, or global. For example, if your local .pr_agent.toml file contains: 

[pr_description]
generate_ai_title = true
Every time you run the describe tool, including automatic runs, the PR title will be generated by the AI.

To cancel the automatic run of all the tools, set: 

[github_app]
handle_pr_actions = []

You can also disable automatic runs for PRs with specific titles, by setting the ignore_pr_titles parameter with the relevant regex. For example: 

[github_app]
ignore_pr_title = ["^[Auto]", ".*ignore.*"]
will ignore PRs with titles that start with "Auto" or contain the word "ignore".

GitHub app automatic tools for push actions (commits to an open PR)

In addition to running automatic tools when a PR is opened, the GitHub app can also respond to new code that is pushed to an open PR.

The configuration toggle handle_push_trigger can be used to enable this feature.
The configuration parameter push_commands defines the list of tools that will be run automatically when new code is pushed to the PR. 

[github_app]
handle_push_trigger = true
push_commands = [
    "/describe",
    "/review  --pr_reviewer.num_code_suggestions=0 --pr_reviewer.final_update_message=false",
]
This means that when new code is pushed to the PR, the PR-Agent will run the describe and review tools, with the specified parameters.

GitHub Action

GitHub Action is a different way to trigger PR-Agent tools, and uses a different configuration mechanism than GitHub App.
You can configure settings for GitHub Action by adding environment variables under the env section in .github/workflows/pr_agent.yml file. Specifically, start by setting the following environment variables: 

      env:
        OPENAI_KEY: ${{ secrets.OPENAI_KEY }} # Make sure to add your OpenAI key to your repo secrets
        GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }} # Make sure to add your GitHub token to your repo secrets
        github_action_config.auto_review: "true" # enable\disable auto review
        github_action_config.auto_describe: "true" # enable\disable auto describe
        github_action_config.auto_improve: "true" # enable\disable auto improve
        github_action_config.enable_output: "true" # enable\disable github actions output parameter
github_action_config.auto_review, github_action_config.auto_describe and github_action_config.auto_improve are used to enable/disable automatic tools that run when a new PR is opened. If not set, the default configuration is for all three tools to run automatically when a new PR is opened.

github_action_config.enable_output are used to enable/disable github actions output parameter (default is true). Review result is output as JSON to steps.{step-id}.outputs.review property. The JSON structure is equivalent to the yaml data structure defined in pr_reviewer_prompts.toml.

Note that you can give additional config parameters by adding environment variables to .github/workflows/pr_agent.yml, or by using a .pr_agent.toml configuration file in the root of your repo

For example, you can set an environment variable: pr_description.publish_labels=false, or add a .pr_agent.toml file with the following content: 

[pr_description]
publish_labels = false
to prevent PR-Agent from publishing labels when running the describe tool.

GitLab Webhook

After setting up a GitLab webhook, to control which commands will run automatically when a new PR is opened, you can set the pr_commands parameter in the configuration file, similar to the GitHub App: 

[gitlab]
pr_commands = [
    "/describe",
    "/review --pr_reviewer.num_code_suggestions=0",
    "/improve",
]

BitBucket App

Similar to GitHub app, when running PR-Agent from BitBucket App, the default configuration file from a pre-built docker will be initially loaded.

By uploading a local .pr_agent.toml file to the root of the repo's main branch, you can edit and customize any configuration parameter. Note that you need to upload .pr_agent.toml prior to creating a PR, in order for the configuration to take effect.

For example, if your local .pr_agent.toml file contains: 

[pr_reviewer]
inline_code_comments = true

Each time you invoke a /review tool, it will use inline code comments.

BitBucket Self-Hosted App automatic tools

To control which commands will run automatically when a new PR is opened, you can set the pr_commands parameter in the configuration file: Specifically, set the following values:

[bitbucket_app]
pr_commands = [
    "/review --pr_reviewer.num_code_suggestions=0",
    "/improve --pr_code_suggestions.commitable_code_suggestions=true",
]

Azure DevOps provider

To use Azure DevOps provider use the following settings in configuration.toml: 

[config]
git_provider="azure"

Azure DevOps provider supports PAT token or DefaultAzureCredential authentication. PAT is faster to create, but has build in expiration date, and will use the user identity for API calls. Using DefaultAzureCredential you can use managed identity or Service principle, which are more secure and will create separate ADO user identity (via AAD) to the agent.

If PAT was chosen, you can assign the value in .secrets.toml. If DefaultAzureCredential was chosen, you can assigned the additional env vars like AZURE_CLIENT_SECRET directly, or use managed identity/az cli (for local development) without any additional configuration. in any case, 'org' value must be assigned in .secrets.toml: 

[azure_devops]
org = "https://dev.azure.com/YOUR_ORGANIZATION/"
# pat = "YOUR_PAT_TOKEN" needed only if using PAT for authentication

Azure DevOps Webhook

To control which commands will run automatically when a new PR is opened, you can set the pr_commands parameter in the configuration file, similar to the GitHub App: 

[azure_devops_server]
pr_commands = [
    "/describe",
    "/review --pr_reviewer.num_code_suggestions=0",
    "/improve",
]

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