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Use the pull request workspace

Every reviewed pull request has a workspace in Anvil at /review/<owner>/<repo>/<number>. The walkthrough comment links to it ("Open the change stack in Anvil"), and Pull requests in the dashboard lists every PR the bot has seen.

The workspace has three columns: the change stack on the left, the diff in the middle, and context (summaries, comments, questions) on the right. Either side panel can be hidden.

Layers #

Anvil splits each pull request into layers: steps of the change in the order a person should read them, for example "Invitation data model", then "API and emails", then "Members UI". Each layer has a title, a short summary, the files it touches, and the earlier layers it depends on.

The Layers tab lists them. Hover over a layer to see its summary, what it depends on, and how many findings it has: a red dot means a critical or major finding, an orange dot means other comments. Click a layer to see only its files.

Above the layers are four views of the whole PR:

  • Overview: the summary, the review effort (1 to 5), the risk (low, medium or high), the branches, and the change stack in reading order.
  • Security blast radius: what the change touches that matters for security (authentication, input handling, secrets), plus every finding in the security category.
  • Architecture impact: how the change moves module boundaries and data flow, with the sequence diagram drawn natively.
  • Anvil Verify: the result of each pre-merge check and the CI jobs that ran on the head commit.

Files #

The Files tab lists every changed file, grouped by directory, with lines added and removed. All files shows the whole diff at once.

Each file header has the path, the language, the line counts and a Viewed button. Marking a file viewed collapses it and ticks it in the file list. Viewed state is yours alone, and it resets when a new push changes the head commit, so you see files again after they change.

Split and unified diffs #

Switch between Split (old and new side by side) and Unified (one column) at the top of the diff. Code is syntax-highlighted in both. Collapsed stretches of unchanged code can be expanded in place.

Findings inline #

Findings from the latest review appear under the line they're about, the way they do in the pull request itself. Each card shows:

  • the severity (critical, major, minor or nit) and a label for the category, such as "Potential issue", "Security" or "Missing test";
  • a title and an explanation;
  • Committable suggestion: the replacement code as a diff, when Anvil has one, with an Apply button that commits it to the pull request's branch as you;
  • Prompt for AI agents: a self-contained instruction you can copy and paste into Claude Code or another coding agent ("In src/auth.ts around line 42: ...");
  • Ask, which opens a question about that finding in the Ask panel.

Findings Anvil couldn't attach to a changed line are listed in the walkthrough comment under "Comments outside the diff".

Apply and Apply all #

Apply commits a finding's suggestion to the pull request's branch, as you, after checking that the lines it replaces haven't changed since the review. If they have, the card says why it can't apply; if the change is already there, it shows Applied with a link to the commit. Apply all, under the summary on the overview, commits every suggestion that still applies in one commit and skips the rest. You need write access to the repository; without it the buttons are locked and say so. See Let Anvil change code.

Summaries #

The Summaries tab on the right lists change summaries: what each changed function, endpoint or block now does, with its line range and a complexity rating (low, medium, high). Filter by complexity to find the parts that deserve the closest reading. Click a summary to jump to its lines. Each one has Comment and Chat with AI buttons.

Ask #

The Ask tab is a private conversation with Anvil about this pull request. It reads the checkout to answer, so it can follow a call into a file the PR didn't touch. Answers stay in Anvil and are only visible to you; nothing is posted to the pull request.

You can also ask about a specific line: hover over a line in the diff, click +, write your question and choose Ask Anvil.

Comments #

The Comments tab shows the PR conversation and lets you add to it. To comment on a line, hover over it in the diff, click +, write the comment and choose Comment.

Submit a review #

Submit review at the top right posts a review: Comment, Approve or Request changes, with an optional message (required unless you approve).

Comments post as you #

Everything you post from the workspace (line comments, conversation comments and reviews) goes to the pull request through your own account. It appears under your name, exactly as if you had written it there (on GitHub, through the account you connected). Questions in the Ask panel are the exception: they stay in Anvil.