How to Set Up Automated Code Review in 5 Minutes

If your team has been talking about "adding code review automation" but it sounds complicated, stop. It takes five minutes.

Here's how to install CodeHawk — an AI code reviewer that posts inline feedback on every PR.

Step 1: Install the GitHub App (30 seconds)

Open CodeHawk on GitHub.

CodeHawk is free during beta — no credit card required.

Click "Install".

Step 2: Authorize CodeHawk (1 minute)

GitHub will ask you to authorize the app. You'll see what permissions CodeHawk needs:

• Read pull request content
• Write review comments

That's it. No unusual permissions. Click "Install".

Then select which repositories you want CodeHawk to review.

Pro tip: You can install it on all repos, or just a few to test it first. You can change this later.

Step 3: Open a Pull Request (2 minutes)

Push a branch with some changes and open a PR on GitHub.

CodeHawk runs automatically. It reads your diff, analyzes it with Claude AI, and posts inline comments within seconds.

You'll see comments like:

• "Potential null dereference: user could be undefined here"
• "Missing error handling: this Promise could reject"
• "SQL injection risk: use parameterized queries"

Each comment has a severity level:

• Error — blocks the PR (needs to be fixed)
• Warning — informational (consider fixing)
• Info — style/preference (optional)

Step 4: Review CodeHawk's Feedback (1 minute)

Read the comments. Agree with some? Disagree with others? That's normal. CodeHawk is doing the mechanical layer — the obvious bugs. Your team still does the architecture review.

Click "Resolve" or "Dismiss" on any comment you don't need.

That's It

Your next PR will automatically get reviewed by CodeHawk.

Optional: Customize CodeHawk

If you want to tweak how CodeHawk behaves, create a .codehawk.yml file in your repo root:

# Only flag error-level issues, skip warnings
severity_threshold: error

# Don't review these files
ignore_paths:
  - "*.lock"
  - "dist/"
  - "vendor/"
  - "*.generated.ts"

# Focus on specific areas if your team cares most about certain issues
focus_areas:
  - security
  - error-handling

No config file is required. The defaults work great for most teams.

Beta Access

CodeHawk is free during the beta period. Install it now to get in early, give feedback, and shape how it evolves before it goes to general availability.

Common Questions

Does CodeHawk store my code? No. Diffs are sent to Claude's API for analysis and deleted immediately. Your code is not retained.

What if CodeHawk is wrong? Dismiss the comment. You can also configure CodeHawk via .codehawk.yml to focus on specific issue types and reduce false positives.

Can I turn CodeHawk off for certain repos? Yes. You can install it on specific repos, or uninstall it entirely and reinstall later.

How fast is CodeHawk? Usually 5-30 seconds from PR open to review posted. Depends on PR size.

---

That's it. You now have AI code review. Your team will catch more bugs before they hit production. And it took five minutes to set up.

Install CodeHawk on your organization today.