reviewdog

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Introduction

reviewdog is an automated code review tool that integrates with any code analysis tool regardless of programming language. It reads linter output in formats such as errorformat, checkstyle, SARIF or its own diagnostic format, and posts the findings as review comments or check annotations on the pull request.

Its key feature is filtering. By default it only reports findings on added or modified lines, so teams can adopt a strict linter on a legacy codebase without being flooded by old warnings. Reporters cover GitHub (checks, PR reviews and annotations), GitLab merge requests, Bitbucket and Gerrit, and many ready-made GitHub Actions wrap popular linters.

In the quality loop it is glue that turns linter output into reviewer-friendly feedback.

The source code is at reviewdog/reviewdog on GitHub under the MIT licence, with about 9,700 stars; the most recent commit was on 11 November 2026.

Features

1. Any linter: errorformat, checkstyle, SARIF and rdjson input.
2. Diff filtering: Report only on changed lines.
3. Multiple reporters: GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket, Gerrit and local.
4. Suggested changes: Post fixes as suggestions.
5. Fail levels: Choose when to fail CI.
6. Action ecosystem: Many prebuilt actions for common linters.

Pros

1. Legacy-friendly: Lets strict rules apply to new code only.
2. Free to use: Open source under the MIT licence, so the core tool costs nothing to use.
3. Actively maintained: The repository had commits as recent as 11 November 2026.
4. Community: About 9,700 GitHub stars.

Cons

1. Glue, not a linter: You still need the analysis tools.
2. Token setup: Needs API tokens for each platform.
3. Comment noise: Untuned rules can still clutter reviews.

Usage and Links (Example)

golangci-lint run --out-format=line-number ./... | \
  reviewdog -f=golangci-lint -reporter=github-pr-review -filter-mode=added -fail-level=error

Resources:

• reviewdog website

Pricing

reviewdog is free and open source under the MIT licence.

Recommended for?

1. Teams adopting new linters on old code.
2. Multi-language repos wanting one review-comment flow.

Conclusion

reviewdog makes any linter feel like a reviewer.

Its diff filtering is the easiest way to raise the bar without a cleanup project.

On CheckOps, reviewdog is filed under the Release & CI gates stage. Related tools listed here include SonarQube, MegaLinter, Super-Linter, pre-commit, Qlty and Codacy. When comparing them, weigh the licence, the languages and platforms each supports, whether it is self-hosted or managed, and how cleanly it slots into your existing CI pipeline. Details on this page were checked against the official website, documentation and repository on 11 November 2026.