GitContext Changelog

Online Teammate Tracking

Collaboration is at the heart of every successful code review process. It's not just about checking each other's work—it’s also an opportunity to share insights, discuss best practices, and solve problems together. At GitContext, we’re committed to fostering a more cohesive and collaborative team environment.

What’s New:

• See Who’s Online: A new sidebar on the main screen now displays which teammates are currently online.
• Track Engagement: You can see at a glance which pull requests your teammates are reviewing, enhancing your ability to jump in and collaborate.
• Real-Time Presence Indicators: On the pull request detail view, each participant’s avatar lights up with a green indicator when they are online, making it easier to know who’s available for immediate feedback.

With these updates, conducting a code review in GitContext is now more like having a real-time conversation. We’re only starting to scratch the surface of real-time collaboration we’re looking to bring to the code review process - stay tuned for more!

Pull Request Timeline

Pull requests are dynamic, evolving with each review, commit, and update. While we’ve excelled at tracking code changes within pull requests, we recognized the need for a clearer view of the pull request's overall progression. Today, we’re excited to bridge that gap with our new feature: the Pull Request Timeline.

In the collapsable sidebar of every pull request you can now view a timeline of events associated with the pull request.  It provides a chronological view of all significant events - comments, reviews, new commits, deployments, and more.

Pop open a pull request, click to expand the sidebar, and check it out.  It provides valuable context you've been missing when conducting a code review, making your code review process more informed and efficient.

Real-Time Updates

Shit just got real, as Martin Lawrence would say. We're excited to announce that real-time, synchronous updates have arrived on GitContext! Our new front-end socket connections now push updates automatically, enhancing the user experience without requiring any manual interaction.

What's New:

• Automatic Addition of New Pull Requests: As soon as they are created, new pull requests appear in your dashboard.
• Real-Time Updates for Existing Pull Requests: Changes like submitted reviews, new commits, merges, and more are reflected instantly.
• Immediate Notifications for New Branches: Get instant notifications with an option to create a new pull request whenever new branches are pushed.

This new functionality ensures that everything in GitContext feels natural and seamless, just as it should be. We’ve designed these updates to make your workflow smoother and keep you continuously informed with zero delays.

Pull Requests Needing Attention

Many former Googlers rave about Critique, Google's internal code review tool. They are especially fond of the "Attention Set" - a feature that highlights open pull requests currently waiting on you. Inspired by this concept, we've integrated a similar feature into GitContext, but with our own flair.

What’s New:

• Prioritized Pull Request List: When you log into GitContext, you'll now see your pull requests neatly subdivided, with those needing your attention prominently displayed at the top. This list acts like a To-Do list, specifically tailored to ensure you never miss a critical task.
• Response Time Indicator: Each pull request that needs your attention includes a badge outlining how long it's been waiting on you. These badges change from friendly to urgent colors as time passes and your coworkers wait.
• Rewards for Completion: Completing your entire pull request To-Do list brings not only satisfaction but also fun rewards. For those familiar with Critique, think of this as your Attention Set "going green."

This is all made possible by GitContext's advanced turn tracking capabilities, which allows us to track who's turn it is to act - down to the individual conversation level - better than any other code review tool out there.

We believe this new functionality will not only enhance your productivity but also add a little fun to your day. Check it out the next time you sign-in.

Front-end Framework Upgrade to Svelte 5

At GitContext, we understand that speed is crucial when crafting the ideal user experience for conducting code reviews. Even milliseconds can be the difference between frustration and joy. That’s why we originally chose Svelte - one of the fastest front-end frameworks available - as the foundation of our application.

We’ve always appreciated Svelte's performance and developer-friendly ergonomics. With the release of Svelte 5, our enthusiasm has only grown. Svelte 5 introduces a major overhaul of the framework, switching to signals as the primary mechanism for reactivity, which brings it closer to the performance of running vanilla JavaScript in the browser.

Today we're thrilled to announce we've upgraded GitContext to Svelte 5, making our platform quicker and more efficient than ever. We invite you to sign in, experience the enhanced performance, and see how GitContext provides the fastest and most efficient code reviewing experience out there.

Keyboard Shortcuts

At GitContext, we're committed to building the most user-friendly and efficient code reviewing experience possible. We strive to minimize the effort required for code reviews, and we're excited to announce that our efforts now extend to reducing hand movements. Our newly launched keyboard shortcuts enable you to conduct an entire code review without reaching for your mouse.

Simply open a pull request and press "Shift + ?" to bring up the keyboard shortcut help menu. Use your left hand to quickly handle file-related actions, such as navigating to the next file or marking a file as reviewed. Use your right hand for commenting on code and engaging in existing conversations.

These shortcuts are designed to significantly cut down the time and effort needed to complete your code reviews. Dive in and experience the difference!

Streamlined Permissions for Enhanced Security

We are excited to share a significant update to our GitHub application that enhances security without sacrificing functionality. In response to your feedback about the importance of security and sensitivity surrounding repository permissions, we have made some changes:

• Reduced Permissions: Our main GitHub app now only requires read permissions for connected repositories. This update has been applied automatically to all existing and future installations - no action is required on your part.
• Optional Advanced Permissions: For users who need to merge pull requests or perform other write-dependent tasks, we offer the "GitContext - Advanced Permissions" application. Installing this optional application is only necessary if you need those advanced features. Should you try to perform an action that requires it, you’ll receive a prompt to install this additional application.

This streamlined approach ensures our commitment to your security while providing the flexibility to tailor the features to your needs. Thank you for your trust and continued support.

IDE Direct Linking

We are pleased to announce a powerful new feature that seamlessly bridges the gap between our code review platform and your local development environment.

There you are, meticulously reviewing your coworker's pull request. While GitContext is providing an incredible code review experience, you have the urge to see a particular piece of modified code directly in your IDE. Now with IDE direct links, you're one click away.

How It Works:

• Setup in Seconds: Simply specify your IDE and set a prefix to the absolute path where your repository resides in the initial one-time setup.
• Navigate with Ease: During any code review, right-click on a line of code and select "Open in IDE" from the link menu. You'll be taken straight to that line in the corresponding file within your IDE, allowing you to edit or examine the code within the context of your full project.

No more fumbling to switch between the code review and IDE experience. IDE direct linking is fully customizable, and will work with any IDE and coding environment setup.

Pull Request History Mode

GitContext is designed to make reviewing code as efficient as possible.  Reviewers should never have to review the same code twice if they don't want to, and GitContext defaults to only showing you changes from where you last left off.

At the heart of this is our revision system.  Each time you complete a review, we snapshot the code at that point in time as a new revision. When you return, you only review changes from your last reviewed revision forward, simplifying your workflow. All revisions are tracked and displayed in the history bar, which you can use to easily select and compare any two revisions. It’s a valuable tool for seeing how the code evolves over time and monitoring other reviewers’ progress.

New History Mode Settings

Today we're excited to provide you with more control over how pull request history is tracked. You can now select a "History Mode" setting for individual pull requests and select from the following options:

• Revisions Mode (default): By default, the history bar uses the "Revisions" mode, which intelligently groups multiple commits into a single revision for streamlined reviews.
• Commits Mode: For those who need finer detail, we now offer a "Commits" mode. This setting displays every individual commit in the history bar, providing a granular view of changes throughout the lifecycle of the pull request.

Users can switch between these modes at any point during a pull request’s lifecycle according to their needs. We are excited to offer this new level of flexibility in GitContext, helping you tailor the review process to best suit your workflow.