Code Review Automation: 5 Key Capabilities

Code review automation is the process of utilizing software tools to automatically analyze and evaluate code for potential vulnerabilities, bugs, and adherence to coding standards. Automated code review solutions help coders by efficiently scanning large codebases, identifying security flaws, detecting performance issues, and suggesting best practices. 

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These tools streamline the code review process, reduce human error, and enable faster, more reliable software development. By identifying issues early in the development cycle, automated solutions contribute to enhanced code quality, security, and maintainability.

How Does Automated Code Review Work? 

Automated code review involves using software tools to evaluate and verify code against a predefined set of guidelines. These tools offer faster and more comprehensive code analysis, examining the code for security risks, style inconsistencies, errors or bugs, and poor practices.

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Upon detecting anomalies, code review tools enable developers to push modifications to their codebase. These tools can be integrated with code management systems such as GitHub, providing real-time notifications when issues are identified during the code review process.

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Learn more in our detailed guide to code review process

Automated Code Review vs. Manual Code Review 

Automated code reviews and manual code reviews differ in several aspects, each having their unique advantages and limitations. Benefits of automated code reviews include:

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• Faster error identification: Automated tools can quickly scan large volumes of code, detecting errors, bugs, and security vulnerabilities more efficiently than human reviewers.
• Reduced human error: By following predefined rules and guidelines, automated tools eliminate the risk of human oversight, ensuring a consistent and thorough review.
• Minimized personal bias: Automated reviews are objective, relying on established standards, which reduces the influence of personal preferences and unconscious biases that may be present in manual reviews.

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Despite these advantages, automated code reviews have limitations and should not be considered a complete replacement for manual reviews:

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• Lack of context: Automated tools may not fully understand the context or intent behind specific code segments, leading to false positives or overlooking subtle issues.
• Limited scope: Automated tools focus primarily on syntax, style, and predefined patterns, while human reviewers can better assess architectural and design considerations.
• Inability to learn: While machine learning is improving, automated tools cannot yet match the learning and adaptability of human reviewers, who can understand new trends and technologies and apply that knowledge to code review.

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Manual code reviews, conducted by experienced developers, can provide valuable insights, feedback, and mentoring opportunities that automated reviews cannot. Combining automated and manual code reviews offers a more comprehensive and effective approach to ensure high-quality, secure, and maintainable code. The key is to leverage the speed of code review automation with the experience and attention to detail of human reviewers to create a balanced and efficient code review process. 

5 Key Capabilities to Look For in Automated Code Review Tools 

When choosing a code review automation tool, it is important to consider the following features and capabilities.

1. Collaboration

Ensuring that the code review tool is designed to facilitate collaboration is crucial because it promotes efficient communication, knowledge sharing, and teamwork among developers. Different team members possess diverse skills and experience, which can be leveraged to improve the overall quality of the codebase. Collaborative tools make it easier to exchange ideas and solutions, fostering collective growth.

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During the code review process, disagreements may arise due to varying opinions or interpretations. A collaborative tool helps manage these conflicts constructively, ensuring that the best solution is adopted. When developers work together, they can collectively identify and address issues more effectively, resulting in higher-quality and more maintainable code.

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Collaboration also enables team members to learn from each other's experiences and mistakes, fostering continuous improvement and professional growth.

2. Security

Using a secure static code analysis tool is vital for maintaining software security, code quality, and reliability. These tools evaluate the source code without executing it, identifying potential vulnerabilities, coding standard violations, and other issues that may compromise the software. 

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By identifying security flaws during the development phase, developers can address issues before they manifest into critical vulnerabilities in production, reducing the cost and effort of remediation. 

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Static analysis enforces consistent coding practices, resulting in cleaner, more maintainable code that is less prone to bugs and vulnerabilities. By providing feedback on security best practices, static analysis tools help developers improve their coding skills and security awareness, contributing to a more secure development process. 

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Some static code analysis tools also incorporate behavioral analysis, which investigates the source code to understand its expected behavior and identify anomalous or potentially malicious actions. This adds an extra layer of security by uncovering vulnerabilities that may not be detected by syntax or pattern-based analysis, further bolstering the software's resilience against attacks and exploitation.

3. Integrations

A code review tool with strong integrations is essential for streamlining the development workflow and maximizing efficiency. Ideally, the code review tool should be web-based or self-managed to provide flexibility and keep up with changing demands. A tool with strong integrations can adapt to different project requirements and existing toolchains, enabling customization and flexibility for teams with unique workflows and processes.

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The code review solution should also integrate seamlessly with various development environments to accommodate the diverse needs and preferences of developers. Seamless integration with popular repositories like Git ensures that the code review tool can effectively manage version control, track changes, and handle branching and merging operations without disrupting the workflow.

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Another important type of integration is with the deployment tools. By integrating with CI/CD pipelines, the code review tool can provide real-time feedback, enabling developers to catch and address issues early in the development cycle, reducing the risk of deploying faulty code.

4. Metrics and Analytics

A versatile and customizable code review tool is essential to cater to diverse development needs, project requirements, and team preferences. It can be tailored to track and report metrics that are most relevant to the project or team, ensuring a focused approach to improving code quality.

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It is also important to consider the tool’s code analysis capabilities. It should support various programming languages, frameworks, and libraries - this makes it suitable for a wider range of projects and teams.

5. Visualization 

Code visualization is an important capability in a code review tool because it helps to improve understanding, increase efficiency, facilitate communication, and identify issues early in the review process. By providing a visual representation of the code, reviewers can quickly identify relationships between different parts of the code, communicate feedback effectively, and save time by focusing on critical areas. Code visualization techniques such as UML diagrams, flowcharts, call graphs, and code maps can be used to achieve these benefits.

‍Related content: Read our guide to code review best practices