Skip to main content

Core Settings

Kodus has three config levels: Global, Repository, and Directory. Learn how they work in Config Inheritance & Overrides.

Config Priority

You can keep your review configuration in a kodus-config.yml file at the root of your repository instead of the web UI.
The file is ignored until you opt in. By default kodusConfigFileOverridesWebPreferences is false, which means Kody never reads kodus-config.yml — committing the file alone does nothing.Turn it on first in Settings → Code Review → the repository → General, or set kodusConfigFileOverridesWebPreferences: true at the repository (or directory) level in the web UI. Only then does the file take effect.
Once enabled, the file is merged on top of your web settings, so you only need to declare the keys you want to change — anything you omit keeps its web value.
Unknown keys are silently dropped. Any top-level key that isn’t part of the current schema is removed before the config is applied — no error, no warning. If a setting appears to have no effect, check the spelling against the sample below.
This sample mirrors the shipped defaults. The canonical source is default-kodus-config.yml in the kodus-ai repository.

Review Behavior

Automated Review

Kody can review PRs automatically when opened, or only when you comment @kody start-review.
This affects the initial review only. For subsequent commits, see Review Cadence below.

Review Cadence

How Kody handles reviews on subsequent commits:
Review every new push. Continuous feedback on all changes.

PR Workflow

Auto-approve PRs

Kody approves PRs when no issues are found. Platforms: GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket

Request Changes

Kody requests changes when finding critical issues. Platforms: GitHub, Bitbucket

Skip Conditions

Ignored Files: Use glob patterns (e.g., **/*.js), one per line. Default: yarn.lock, package-lock.json, package.json, .env, **/*.json Ignored Titles: Skip PRs with specific keywords (case-insensitive, max 100 chars) Base Branches: Restricts which base branches get reviewed.
Empty (the default) means every base branch is reviewed — there is no built-in dev/release/master list. Add entries only when you want to narrow the scope: once the list is non-empty, Kody reviews only PRs targeting those branches (your repository’s default branch is always included).Entries are matched against the PR’s target branch and support a small pattern syntax:When several entries match, the most specific one wins. Each entry is limited to 100 characters, may only use a-z A-Z 0-9 / * - _ ! = :, and ** is not allowed.
Draft PRs: runOnDraft is true by default, so drafts are reviewed. Set it to false to skip them until the PR is marked ready.

Analysis Types

Kody reviews across four categories. Enable or disable each one under Analysis Types, or via reviewOptions in kodus-config.yml.
  • Bug — logic errors, race conditions, null dereferences, edge cases, and incorrect behavior.
  • Security — vulnerabilities, injection, auth issues, data exposure, and secrets.
  • Performance — N+1 queries, hot-path allocations, missing caching, and blocking I/O.
  • Business Logic — validates the implementation against business rules, requirements, and acceptance criteria linked in the PR. See Business Logic Validation.
Kody Rules are not one of these categories — they always run, independently of reviewOptions. See Kody Rules.