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Overview

Better Hub transforms pull request reviews with a streamlined interface, inline diff rendering, AI-powered insights, and real-time collaboration features. Review code faster and more thoroughly than ever before.

Key Features

Inline Diff Viewer

Side-by-side or unified diff view with syntax highlighting

AI Summaries

Ghost AI generates PR summaries and identifies potential issues

Review Comments

Thread-based discussions on specific code lines

Conflict Resolution

Visual merge conflict resolver built into the interface

PR Review Interface

The pull request page is organized into three main tabs:
  • PR description and context
  • All comments and review threads
  • Timeline of events (commits, reviews, status changes)
  • Issue and commit cross-references

Inline Diff Viewer

Better Hub’s diff viewer provides a superior code review experience:

Diff Modes

Split View (Default)
  • Left: Original code (base branch)
  • Right: Changed code (PR branch)
  • Line-by-line comparison
  • Best for large changes
Unified View
  • Single column with additions and deletions
  • More compact for small changes
  • Toggle with the view switcher

Syntax Highlighting

All code is syntax-highlighted using the same engine as your editor:
  • Supports 150+ programming languages
  • Automatic language detection from file extension
  • Theme matches your Better Hub color theme

Code Navigation

  • File tree: Navigate between changed files in the sidebar
  • Jump to file: Press ⌘K → “Go to File” to search
  • Expand/collapse: Click file headers to focus on specific changes
  • Sticky headers: File name stays visible while scrolling

Review Comments

Add contextual feedback directly in the code:

Adding a Comment

  1. Hover over any line number in the diff
  2. Click the + icon that appears
  3. Type your comment (supports Markdown)
  4. Choose:
    • Single comment: Post immediately
    • Start a review: Add to pending review

Comment Features

All comments support GitHub-flavored Markdown, including code blocks, lists, links, and emoji.
  • Line ranges: Select multiple lines for context
  • Suggestions: Propose code changes that can be committed with one click
  • @mentions: Tag team members for input
  • #references: Link to issues or other PRs
  • File attachments: Drag and drop images or files

Review Threads

Comments on the same code location form a thread:
  • Threaded discussions keep context together
  • Mark threads as resolved when addressed
  • Outdated threads auto-minimize when code changes
  • Filter: Show all / Hide resolved

AI-Powered PR Summaries

Ghost AI analyzes pull requests and provides intelligent insights:

Getting a Summary

  1. Open any pull request
  2. Press ⌘I to open Ghost AI
  3. Click a suggestion:
    • “Summarize this PR”
    • “What are the key changes?”
    • “Are there any potential issues?”
Or type your own question:
  • “Explain the authentication flow changes”
  • “What files are most critical to review?”
  • “Check for security concerns”

What Ghost Analyzes

  • Code changes: All modified files and their diffs
  • PR description: Context from the author
  • Commit messages: Intent behind each change
  • Comments: Previous review feedback
  • Related issues: Linked GitHub issues
Use Ghost AI to get oriented quickly when reviewing complex PRs. Ask “What should I focus on?” for a prioritized review checklist.

Submitting a Review

Better Hub supports GitHub’s three review types:

Review Workflow

  1. Add comments to specific lines as you review
  2. Click “Start a Review” in the comment box
  3. All comments are batched (not posted yet)
  4. Add more comments across different files
  5. Click “Finish Review” in the top bar
  6. Choose review type:
    • Comment: General feedback, no approval
    • Approve: LGTM, ready to merge
    • Request Changes: Needs fixes before merge
  7. Add an optional summary comment
  8. Submit review

Pending Reviews

While a review is in progress:
  • Draft indicator: Shows you have pending comments
  • View pending: See all batched comments
  • Edit drafts: Modify comments before submitting
  • Discard: Cancel the review and delete drafts

Author Dossier

Better Hub provides context about the PR author:
  • Contribution score: Activity level in this repository
  • Recent PRs: Author’s last 5 pull requests
  • Review history: Past approval/request changes ratio
  • Response time: Average time to address feedback
The score combines: commits in the last 90 days, PRs opened, reviews given, and issues addressed. It helps you gauge the author’s familiarity with the codebase.

Merge Panel

When you’re ready to merge (requires write access):

Merge Options

Creates a merge commit preserving all individual commits from the PR.Best for: Feature branches with meaningful commit history

Pre-Merge Checks

Better Hub shows merge readiness:
  • All checks passed: CI/CD workflows succeeded
  • Approved: Required reviews completed
  • No conflicts: Branch can merge cleanly
  • Up to date: Based on latest base branch
If any check fails, the merge button is disabled with an explanation.

Conflict Resolution

When a PR has merge conflicts, Better Hub provides a visual resolver:
  1. Detect conflicts: Banner appears on the PR
  2. Click “Resolve conflicts”
  3. Choose resolution for each conflict:
    • Accept changes from your branch
    • Accept changes from base branch
    • Edit manually to combine both
  4. Mark as resolved for each file
  5. Commit resolution to the PR branch
The conflict resolver supports both simple and complex conflicts. For very large conflicts, you may prefer resolving locally with git.

Keyboard Shortcuts

ShortcutAction
⌘IOpen Ghost AI for PR analysis
⌘KCommand center (pin PR, navigate)
CJump to conversation tab
FJump to files changed tab
RStart a new review
⌘EnterSubmit comment or review
N / PNext / Previous file

Best Practices

Review in passes: First pass for architecture/approach, second pass for implementation details, third pass for edge cases.
Use suggestions: When you spot a simple fix, use GitHub’s suggestion syntax so the author can commit it with one click.
Ask Ghost first: Before deep-diving, ask Ghost “What are the key changes?” to build a mental model.
Resolve threads: Mark review threads as resolved once the author addresses them. Keeps the PR clean.