Online code review tool with git integration

Question

Hi all,

For our dev team we need to conduct code reviews regularly. Our core requirements are:

1. It is hosted somewhere so we don't have to bother with supporting the infrastructure for it
2. It can integrate with our existing git repository
3. It has simple and straightforward work flow: create a code review request based on the differences between revisions, review with inline comments by reviewer, assign back to author/approve.

(1) is the most crucial requirement - we can't be asked to host the damn thing ourselves!

Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

Atlassian Fisheye/Crucible has a Git SCM plugin in beta right now. There code review tools are excellent and super-intuitive but I'm sure if they offer a hosted solution.

Answer 2

Have you considered using github.com? You can use their "Fork Queue" and "Gist" featuers, along with git repository hosting, to fulfill your requirements.

UPDATE:

1) This article explains how to use github effectively for code-review (at the very end of the article, but the entire article is worth a read)

2) Gists are like pastebins, except that they are real git repositories, i.e. they can be forked, version-ed, etc. So say you have an idea you want to implement, or some test pseudo-code that you want to get an opinion on before writing the real code, you can make a gist and follow the same process as outlined in the article above.

3) Fork Queues are an easy way to track changes to all the forks of your git repository on the network as well as to selectively merge code into your repository. Works very well with the workflow described in the article linked in point 1.

Answer 3

SmartBear's CodeCollaborator is a very good solution with git integration. It's web based, so you can access it from anywhere in the world. It does a lot of things to support your workflow and does a great jobs in collecting metrics about your review process. This is very valuable to improve and adjust your process.

From their website:

Integrates with many version control systems including CVS, Git, Mercurial, Perforce, Subversion, Vault, AccuRev, ClearCase, CMVC, MKS, Rational Synergy, StarTeam, Surround, Team Foundation Server, Visual Source Safe. Review before or after check-in.

Before local file changes are checked into version control, upload them for review with a single click. Or upload already checked-in changes by label, date, branch, changelist number, and more.

You can even upload arbitrary files or file-differences from your local hard drive.

AFAIK there's no hosted version available. However, I wouldn't feel confident in hosting my company code somewhere else.