Calling Chakshu

Call Chakshu and it works out which reviewers fit the change. If you know the review you want, name the reviewer.

Ways to ask

Where	What to do
Pull request comment	@acme/chakshu, optionally with a note: @acme/chakshu check the refund flow. Chakshu reacts with 👀.
By name	@acme/chakshu security runs the security reviewer. Several work too: @acme/chakshu security, payments: check the refund flow.
Reviewers list	Request @acme/chakshu like any reviewer. The request clears once the review is posted.
Portal	Repositories, then the repo. Toggle the reviewers you want, or none for the automatic choice, add an optional note and press Review.
Automatically	Reviewers with auto run on those PR events without anyone asking.

The note travels with the request and shows up in the run's details.

Naming reviewers

Words right after the mention that match a reviewer's name pick that reviewer. Case doesn't matter, and names can be separated by spaces, commas or a colon. Everything after the names is the note. A named reviewer runs even if its repos or paths don't cover the change, as long as it isn't broken.

In the portal, a name that doesn't match a working reviewer is refused with the list of available ones.

How Chakshu picks reviewers when you don't name one

1. Keep reviewers whose repos include this repository.
2. Of those, keep the ones whose paths match at least one changed file.
3. For automatic runs, keep the ones that list this PR event in auto.
4. If nothing is left, run the default reviewer if it covers the repo. Otherwise reply with the reviewers that exist and how to call one by name.

Any team's reviewer can be run by anyone who may ask. owner_team says who looks after a reviewer, not who may use it.

Who can ask

People with write, maintain or admin access to the repository. Anyone else gets a short reply, nothing runs and nothing is billed. Comments from bots are ignored.

Asking twice

Asking again for the same commit doesn't start a second review while the first is queued, running or done. A new push, or a change to the reviewers repo, makes the next request a new review. After a push, that review looks only at what changed since the last one (see How a review runs). Findings already posted on the pull request aren't repeated, and Chakshu's own threads on code that has since been fixed are resolved.

Spend cap

If an admin set a monthly spend cap and this month's reviews have reached it, Chakshu replies that reviews are paused and runs nothing new until the cap is raised or the month ends.

Why @acme/chakshu and not @chakshu

A bare @chakshu would notify any GitHub user who happens to have that name, and a self-hosted app can't appear in GitHub's Reviewers list. An empty organization team called chakshu solves both: it autocompletes, shows up in the Reviewers list and notifies nobody. Chakshu can create it for you during setup.

Personal repos outside an organization can start a line with /chakshu instead.