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Review Notes

Review notes are the core of changAIs. They give you a focused way to inspect what an AI changed and why that change may matter.

Changed Files

Section titled “Changed Files”

Start with the list of changed files. Open each file and compare the before and after state in the diff view.

changAIs Review list showing multiple changed files and review counts

Use this step to answer basic review questions:

  • What file changed?
  • What behavior might this change affect?
  • Is the change small enough to understand?
  • Does the change need tests or manual verification?

Diff View

Section titled “Diff View”

The diff view shows the previous and current versions of a file. Read the surrounding context, not just the highlighted lines.

Side-by-side changAIs diff for reportSummary.js with changed lines highlighted

AI-generated code can look plausible while still missing edge cases, error handling, or project-specific conventions.

AI Notes

Section titled “AI Notes”

AI notes are pinned to the changed files or lines they describe. A note may explain intent, flag risk, suggest a follow-up, or document a decision made during generation.

AI note card pinned beside the exact changed code it describes

Treat notes as prompts for review. They are not guarantees.

Replies

Section titled “Replies”

Use replies to capture your own review decisions or follow-up questions. A reply can be useful when you need to remember why a note was accepted, rejected, or deferred.

AI note reply controls with reply categories, text input, and send reply button

Prepare AI Follow-up Prompt

Section titled “Prepare AI Follow-up Prompt”

After adding replies, you can prepare a prompt for your AI assistant.

Use Prepare AI Prompt in the review toolbar, or run changAIs: Prepare AI Follow-up Prompt from the Command Palette. changAIs writes .changais/prompt.md using the current report and replies.

Give that file to your AI assistant and ask it to act on the feedback. The AI should update .changais/report.json with fresh notes after it makes changes.

Checked and Resolved State

Section titled “Checked and Resolved State”

Use checked or resolved state to track progress through the review:

  • Checked means you looked at the note.
  • Resolved means the note no longer needs action.

For risky changes, verify behavior with tests or manual checks before marking the note resolved.

changAIs review progress showing a checked note and updated reviewed counters

Review Habits

Section titled “Review Habits”
  • Review security-sensitive code slowly.
  • Check generated dependencies and configuration changes.
  • Confirm that tests still pass.
  • Commit only the changes you understand.