suggest-reviewers

Name

git:suggest-reviewers

Synopsis

/git:suggest-reviewers [base-branch]

Description

The git:suggest-reviewers command analyzes changed files and suggests the most appropriate reviewers for a pull request. It works with both committed changes on feature branches and uncommitted changes (even on the main branch), making it useful before you've created a branch or made any commits. It prioritizes developers who have actually contributed to the code being modified, using git blame data as the primary signal and OWNERS files as supporting information.

The command performs the following analysis:

• Identifies all files changed (both committed and uncommitted changes)
• Runs git blame on changed lines to find recent and frequent contributors
• Searches for OWNERS files in the directories of changed files (and parent directories)
• Aggregates and ranks potential reviewers based on:
  • Frequency and recency of contributions to modified code (highest priority)
  • Presence in OWNERS files (secondary consideration)
• Outputs a prioritized list of suggested reviewers

This command is particularly useful for large codebases with distributed ownership where choosing the right reviewer can be challenging. You can use it at any stage of development - from uncommitted local changes to a complete feature branch ready for PR.

Implementation

Step 1: Determine the base branch

• If base-branch argument is provided, use it
• Otherwise, detect the main branch (usually main or master)
• Verify the base branch exists

# Detect main branch if not provided
git symbolic-ref refs/remotes/origin/HEAD | sed 's@^refs/remotes/origin/@@'

Step 2: Get changed files

• Determine the current branch name
• Detect if we're on the base branch (main/master) or a feature branch
• Detect if there are uncommitted changes (staged or unstaged)
• List all modified, added, or renamed files based on the scenario
• Exclude deleted files (no one to blame)

Scenario detection:

# Get current branch
current_branch=$(git branch --show-current)

# Check if on base branch
if [ "$current_branch" = "$base_branch" ]; then
  on_base_branch=true
else
  on_base_branch=false
fi

# Check for uncommitted changes
has_uncommitted=$(git status --short | grep -v '^??' | wc -l)