Reference
Settings reference
Every Review rules setting with its default and effect, plus where the rest of HeyDeer’s configuration lives and its limits.
The first four tables follow the sections of Workspace settings → Review rules. Defaults are the values a new workspace starts with, and each setting links to the page that explains it. A repository follows the workspace value until you customize it; see How settings work.
When to review
| Setting | Default | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Review schedule | Manual only | Whether HeyDeer reviews pull requests on its own: Once per PR, On every push or Manual only. |
| Maximum automatic reviews per PR | 5 | With On every push, stops automatic reviews of a pull request after this many succeed: 1, 2, 3, 5, 10, 20 or Unlimited. |
| Stop automatic reviews when a PR closes | On | Stops queued and running automatic reviews when a pull request is closed or merged. |
| Automatic review filters | PR state → Is not draft, PR source → Is any of → Same repository, and Author → Is none of → dependabot[bot], renovate[bot], pre-commit-ci[bot], snyk-io[bot], snyk-bot | Which pull requests automatic reviews cover, by labels, author, team, account type, draft state and source. A pull request must match every row. |
How to review
| Setting | Default | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Default review depth | Standard | Standard or Deep. Deep spends longer on each step, uses more credits and requires a paid plan. |
| Review only new changes | On | Later reviews cover only what changed since the last one and recheck earlier concerns. |
| Feedback scope | Balanced | Which findings HeyDeer reports, by confidence and severity: Concise, Balanced or Detailed. |
| Review language | English | The language of everything HeyDeer posts to GitHub, including findings, the HeyDeer Review check and command replies: English, 简体中文, 日本語, Español, 한국어, Português (Brasil), Deutsch. Code and file paths stay as they are. |
| Read related issues and PRs | On | Lets HeyDeer read issues and pull requests in the same repository that explain the change. |
| Walkthrough | On | Add a guide through the change: group related edits, and highlight the important ones. |
Publish results
| Setting | Default | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Automatic approval | Off | Lets HeyDeer approve pull requests that meet the two conditions below. Works only while Post review comments on the pull request is on. |
| PRs HeyDeer may approve | Low- and medium-risk PRs | The highest risk level HeyDeer approves: Low-risk PRs, Low- and medium-risk PRs or PRs at any risk level. |
| Remaining issues | No unresolved issues | Whether HeyDeer may approve while Low-severity findings or earlier concerns remain: No unresolved issues or Allow Low issues. |
| Publish GitHub check | On | Shows review progress and results in the HeyDeer Review check. |
| Fail the check when issues are found | Off | Fails the check for findings, open or unconfirmed earlier concerns, and incomplete reviews. Applies only while Publish GitHub check is on. |
| Post review comments on the pull request | On | Posts each review on the pull request. Off also turns off automatic approval and conversation resolution. |
| Resolve addressed HeyDeer conversations | On | Resolves HeyDeer’s conversations once a later review finds the concern fixed or accepts a decision not to act. |
Manual review access
| Setting | Default | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Who can request reviews | Anyone with repository write access | Who can request reviews from HeyDeer, in PR comments or on the check. The other option, Selected users or teams with write access, takes up to 100 usernames and, in organizations, 30 teams. |
Configured in HeyDeer
A review uses the review rules, instructions and connectors saved when HeyDeer queues it. A pull request can’t change them.
| Configuration | Where | Who can change it | Rules and limits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Review rules | Workspace settings → Review rules, or Repositories → (a repository) → Review rules | Workspace admins | A repository follows each workspace default until you customize it. |
| Review instructions | Workspace settings → Review instructions, or Repositories → (a repository) → Review instructions | Workspace admins | Plain text or Markdown, up to 12,000 characters at each level. Repository instructions take precedence where they conflict. |
| Connectors | Workspace settings → Connectors | Workspace admins who also own the GitHub organization or account | Connectors are included in paid plans. Up to 50 per workspace, each a Streamable HTTP server at a public HTTPS endpoint. |
Admins can change a repository’s settings only if they can access it on GitHub. See Workspace members.
Repository files
HeyDeer also reads these files from the repository under review. Anyone who can push to a pull request’s branch can change the files read from it; see What a pull request can change.
| File | Read from | Rules and limits |
|---|---|---|
AGENTS.md, CLAUDE.md | The pull request’s own version | Any directory. Applies to its directory and below; deeper files take precedence. CLAUDE.md is read where a directory has no AGENTS.md. Up to 32 KiB in total from the root down to one directory; the rest is left out. |
REVIEW.md | The pull request’s own version | Any directory. Applies to changes in its directory and below; deeper files take precedence. A symbolic link is not read. |
.agents/checks/*.md | The pull request’s own version | One Markdown file per check, directly in .agents/checks, with files in its frontmatter. Names start with a letter or digit and use letters, digits, ., _ and -. Up to 16,000 bytes per file. A review runs at most 10 matching checks, in file name order. |
.agents/skills/ | The pull request’s own version | Used when a check lists it. Each skill is a folder with a SKILL.md, named with lowercase letters, digits and single hyphens, up to 64 characters. |
.gitattributes | The base branch | Files marked linguist-generated, and lock files it already has unless marked -linguist-generated, are left out of the review. Anyone who can merge into the base branch can change it. |
Check frontmatter
Every check starts with YAML frontmatter between two --- lines. HeyDeer ignores other keys.
| Key | Value | Effect |
|---|---|---|
files | A pattern or a list of patterns | Required; without it, HeyDeer ignores the file. The changed files the check covers. Prefix a pattern with ! to exclude files; exclusions need at least one including pattern. |
skills | A skill name or a list of names | Optional. Skills the check uses, loaded from the pull request. A missing skill doesn’t stop the review. |