AI Powered Code Review Assistant - What The Diff
Education
Introduction
In the world of software development, efficiently managing code reviews is essential. One tool that has gained attention for streamlining this process is What The Diff. This AI-powered tool generates summaries of all changes made when you create a pull request on GitHub, significantly simplifying the code review process. Best of all, it offers a free version alongside a paid option.
Getting Started with What The Diff
To begin using What The Diff, you need to sign in with your GitHub account. If you haven't signed up yet, the tool guides you through the registration process seamlessly.
Once signed in, you'll be taken to your list of repositories. For repositories where you'd like to enable What The Diff, you can easily do so with a click. For example, in my repository titled Lara Tips Official Tips and Tricks, I have already enabled the tool. You’ll see options to configure What The Diff, and it is highly recommended to check the box that allows auto-updates for descriptions upon posting new commits to the same branch.
Using What The Diff for Pull Requests
After enabling What The Diff for your repository, you can start creating branches and making changes. For instance, I added a new column titled published_at to a migration.
Here's a step-by-step breakdown:
- Create a new branch using
git checkout -b hotfix/what-the-diff. - Commit your changes with a descriptive comment, then push this branch to GitHub.
- Create a pull request with a brief title—without an elaborate description.
- View the auto-generated summary from What The Diff once the pull request is created.
This tool automatically summarizes the changes, as it was designed to save developers time and effort. For example, it effectively captures the addition of the published_at column, identifying its type and providing context on the change.
Updating the Pull Request
If further changes are made, perhaps commenting out a line in the controller, you can simply commit this again to the same branch and push. While initially, it may seem that the pull request does not update automatically, there are times when What The Diff reflects the latest changes immediately.
This behavior might vary slightly, as I found it takes several minutes for some updates to appear. However, in my experience, once the tool catches up, it continues to provide useful descriptions of changes made, highlighting alterations in user creation and other logic clearly.
Conclusion
Overall, What The Diff is an incredible tool for developers seeking to simplify their code review processes. By generating insightful summaries of changes automatically, it allows teams to focus on quality and collaboration without getting bogged down in the details of writing descriptions manually.
I highly recommend trying out What The Diff if you work with GitHub, as it can significantly improve your workflow. What are your thoughts on this tool? Let me know in the comments below!
Keywords
- What The Diff
- GitHub
- Pull Requests
- Code Review
- Automatic Summarization
- Repository
- Branch
FAQ
1. What is What The Diff?
What The Diff is an AI-powered tool that generates summaries of changes made in GitHub repositories, helping developers streamline their code review process.
2. Is What The Diff free to use?
Yes, What The Diff offers a free version alongside a paid option for additional features.
3. How do I enable What The Diff for my repository?
After signing in with your GitHub account, you can enable What The Diff for your desired repository from the dashboard.
4. Does What The Diff automatically update descriptions for commits?
Yes, you can enable an option during setup that allows What The Diff to automatically update descriptions when new commits are made to the same branch.
5. Can What The Diff summarize changes in private repositories?
Absolutely! What The Diff can be enabled for both public and private repositories on GitHub.
