krit

NO WARRANTY — ACTIVE DEVELOPMENT. krit is 0.x and pre-release. The wire protocol, the CLI surface, the settings file and the on-disk state format all change without notice or migration, and a version bump may well eat your in-progress review. Use it on work that is committed somewhere else.

A local code review tool designed for the coding-agent workflow. Review AI-generated changes in a GitHub-PR-like web UI, leave inline comments, and have your agent respond to them live as you write them — reply, resolve, and rewrite without leaving the review.

krit is a single static Rust binary with the web UI embedded.

cargo install --git https://github.com/kmosher/krit krit
# or from a checkout:
just install

The build embeds the web UI and rebuilds it automatically when UI sources change (requires pnpm; set KRIT_SKIP_UI_BUILD=1 to embed dist/client as-is).

Run in any git repository:

krit

This starts a local server on a random available port and opens the review UI — a browser tab by default, or the desktop app (below). The server waits for inline comments; click Done reviewing when finished (Ctrl+C to abort). That button opens a box for concluding notes and then ends the session — comments are optional, so a clean review is just notes, or nothing at all.

krit-tui renders the same review in a terminal pane — useful next to the agent, or over SSH. It needs nothing set up first: it attaches to the krit server for the current worktree and branch, or starts one.

krit-tui                    # the working tree
krit-tui -- --staged        # anything after -- goes to git, as with krit

j/k move, n/p jump by hunk, ]/[ by file, z collapses a file, f hides the file list, r refetches, ? lists the keys. The wheel scrolls and a click moves the cursor; m hands the mouse back to the terminal when you want to select text the ordinary way. It follows the same live event stream the browser does, so edits show up as they land. Reading only for now — comments are still the browser's job. Honors NO_COLOR.

desktop/ is a thin Tauri shell (krit.app) that gives each review its own window under one dock icon instead of a browser tab. Build and wire it up:

cargo install tauri-cli --version "^2"       # one time
cd desktop/src-tauri && cargo tauri build    # → target/release/bundle/macos/krit.app

Move krit.app to /Applications, launch it once so macOS registers the krit:// scheme, then set { "launcher": "app" } in ~/.config/krit/settings.json. See desktop/README.md for details.

~/.config/krit/settings.json persists preferences across sessions, including launcher ("browser" default, or "app"), diffStyle ("split" / "unified"), defaultTabSize, the staged / untracked toggles, and refreshMode. The in-UI settings panel writes the same file.

krit [options] [-- <git-diff-args>]

Options:
  -p, --port <port>   Server port (default: random available)
  --host <host>       Bind address (default: 127.0.0.1; pass 0.0.0.0 for LAN)
  --no-open           Don't auto-open the UI
  -v, --version       Show version
  -h, --help          Show help

Examples:
  krit                           # Review working tree changes
  krit -- --staged               # Only staged changes
  krit -- HEAD~3                 # Diff against 3 commits ago
  krit -- main..HEAD             # Diff between branches
  krit --host 0.0.0.0            # Allow other machines on the LAN to review

While a krit server is running, the same binary works as a client for it, auto-discovered via a state file ($KRIT_STATE_FILE, else $CLAUDE_TMPDIR/krit-state.json, else ~/.krit/state-<hash(cwd)>.json):

krit state                        # Print state JSON (port, pid, url, etc.)
krit comments [open|resolved|replied|all]
krit reply <id> <text...>         # Reply to a comment (tagged author: 'agent')
krit resolve <id>                 # Mark a comment resolved
krit reopen <id>                  # Reopen a resolved comment
krit refresh                      # Re-diff and push updates to the UI
krit wait-for-submit              # Block until the user clicks Done reviewing, then print
                                  # the submit as JSON (with their concluding notes, if any)

The WebSocket endpoint ws://<host>:<port>/api/events-ws is the integration point for an agent responding to comments live — each new comment or user reply arrives as one JSON frame. The stream carries only human-originated events (the agent's own replies and file edits don't echo back), so there's no self-feedback loop.

• Split / Unified view — Toggle between side-by-side and inline diff
• Syntax highlighting — Powered by Shiki with GitHub themes; respects .editorconfig for per-file tab size
• File tree — Hierarchical browser with search filter, collapsible sidebar, and file change-type icons
• Inline comments — Click the + on any line, or drag the gutter across a range; select text for character-anchored comments
• Suggested edits — Rewrite the selected code inline; the agent (or the UI) can apply it to the working tree
• Conversation threads — Reply from the browser; agents reply via krit reply. Replying to a resolved comment auto-reopens it.
• Live refresh — A filesystem watcher re-diffs as the agent edits; comments re-anchor to their new positions
• Expandable context — Expand unedited lines above, below, and between hunks; lazy-loaded per file
• Comment status tracker — Sidebar widget with queued / open / replied / resolved counts and click-to-navigate
• Queued comments — Hold a comment back from the agent until you post it (or finish the review)
• Drafts — Unsent comment text is saved server-side, so a reload or a closed pane doesn't lose it
• Copy comments — One-click copy as structured XML for an offline agent
• Image preview — Side-by-side comparison for added, modified, and deleted images
• Viewed tracking / Staged & Untracked toggles / custom git diff args / persistent settings

skills/krit/ in this repo is a Claude Code skill exposing the streaming review loop as /krit: the agent launches the server, subscribes to the WebSocket, and replies/resolves as you comment; the session ends when you click Done reviewing.

Batch-style without an attached agent: click Copy in the toolbar and paste the XML into any chat.

"Copy comments" produces structured XML (<code-review-comments version="2">): one <file> per path, one <comment> per thread with line/endLine attributes and the commented code as +/--prefixed diff lines inside <code>, XML-escaped. The version attribute lets consumers detect shape changes.

just            # list targets
just install    # both binaries (krit embeds a fresh UI build)
just test       # Rust tests + TS typecheck + Vitest
just check      # fmt + clippy + typecheck
just dev        # vite dev server (UI) — pair with a debug-build krit server
just tui        # the terminal client, against this worktree's krit server

MIT — original diffx © wong2; krit and later work © Keith Mosher. See LICENSE.