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Every team has conventions that generic linters don’t cover — architecture boundaries, naming patterns, testing requirements, or business-specific constraints. Custom code review rules let you encode these into automated checks.

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Creating a rule in Kodus

  1. Go to Code Review Settings → Kody Rules
  2. Click Add Rule
  3. Configure:
    • Name — what the rule checks (e.g., “Service files must have tests”)
    • Scope — File-level (analyzes individual files) or PR-level (analyzes the entire PR)
    • Path — glob pattern to target specific files (e.g., src/services/**/*.ts)
    • Severity — Critical, High, Medium, or Low
    • Instructions — detailed description of what to check

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What makes rules powerful

Rules can access rich context:
  • Variables like fileDiff, pr_title, pr_description, pr_files_diff
  • File references with @file:path/to/file.ts to compare against patterns
  • MCP functions to fetch data from connected tools (Jira, repository structure, etc.)

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Example: Architecture boundary rule

Name: Domain layer must not depend on infrastructure
Scope: Pull Request
Instructions: Check pr_files_diff for any import in src/domain/
that references src/infrastructure/. Reference
@file:docs/architecture.md for allowed dependencies.

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Example: Test coverage rule

Name: Every service must have a test file
Scope: Pull Request
Instructions: For each file modified in src/services/,
verify a corresponding test file exists in test/services/.
Use MCP to check the repository file tree.

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More ways to add rules

  • Import from Rules Library — browse proven rules by language and category
  • Sync from IDE tools — auto-import rules from Cursor, Copilot, Claude
  • Repository rules — define rules in markdown files in your repo
  • Auto-generation — Kody suggests rules based on your review history
For the full reference, see Kody Rules.