Batch Review

A collaborative code and markdown review tool that bridges human reviewers and AI agents. Both can browse files, inspect git diffs, leave structured comments, and save a final review report — all from the same UI, in real time.

Features

GitHub-style math example

The preview uses the delimiter rules from Writing mathematical expressions: inline $…$, GitHub’s dollar-backtick inline form (rewritten to $…$ before parsing), display $$…$$, and fenced math code blocks. Rendering is KaTeX rather than GitHub’s MathJax, so a few uncommon macros can differ even when markdown syntax matches.

This app does not embed raw HTML in the markdown preview, so GitHub’s <span>$</span> workaround for literal dollar signs in prose is unavailable here—inside math, escape $ as \$ per GitHub’s docs.

Examples:

Inline: $\sqrt{3x-1}+(1+x)^2$

Dollar-backtick (GitHub-compatible): $e^{i\pi} + 1 = 0$

$$ \nabla_\theta J(\theta) = \mathbb{E}{(s, a) \sim \pi\theta} \left[\nabla_\theta \log \pi_\theta(a \mid s), R(s, a)\right] $$

WaveDrom example

Fenced ```wavedrom blocks are parsed as WaveJSON (via JSON5, so unquoted/single-quoted keys are fine) and rendered inline, with the same source/rendered toolbar toggle as Mermaid. Three diagram kinds are supported, selected automatically from the JSON shape:

A digital timing diagram (signal):

{signal: [
  {name: 'clk',  wave: 'p.....'},
  {name: 'data', wave: 'x.345x', data: ['head', 'body', 'tail']},
  {name: 'req',  wave: '0.1..0'},
  {name: 'ack',  wave: '1.....'}
]}

A bit-field / register diagram (reg):

{reg: [
  {bits: 7, name: 'opcode'},
  {bits: 5, name: 'rd'},
  {bits: 3, name: 'funct3'},
  {bits: 5, name: 'rs1'},
  {bits: 12, name: 'imm[11:0]'}
], config: {bits: 32}}

A logic / schematic diagram (assign):

{assign: [["z", ["|", "a", ["&", "b", "c"]]]]}

Architecture

At runtime, Batch Review is a single Python application that serves the browser UI, exposes REST and WebSocket endpoints for that UI, and optionally exposes the same review session to MCP clients.

flowchart LR
    CLI["CLI entry point<br/>`uv run batch-review`"]
    Browser["Browser UI<br/>React + Zustand"]
    McpHost["MCP host<br/>Cursor / Claude Desktop / VS Code / other clients"]
    AgentCli["Coding agent<br/>Claude Code / Cursor CLI / Codex<br/>`batch-review <verb>`"]

    subgraph Backend["Batch Review backend process"]
        Server["FastAPI app<br/>static frontend `/`<br/>REST `/api/*`<br/>WebSocket `/ws`"]
        Mcp["FastMCP server<br/>stdio transport<br/>HTTP transport `/mcp`"]
        State["Shared AppState<br/>repo root, comments, MCP session,<br/>connected WebSocket clients"]
    end

    Repo["Git repository under review"]
    Output["Saved review output<br/>`review_comments.json`<br/>`review_comments.md`"]
    PortFile[".batch_review/server.json<br/>discovery file"]

    CLI --> Server
    CLI --> Mcp
    Server --> Browser
    Browser -->|"REST reads/writes"| Server
    Browser <-->|"live sync"| Server
    Server --> State
    Mcp --> State
    McpHost -->|"stdio or HTTP MCP"| Mcp
    AgentCli -->|"REST `/api/*`"| Server
    AgentCli -.->|"reads for discovery"| PortFile
    Server -.->|"writes on start"| PortFile
    State -->|"read files, diffs, existing review data"| Repo
    State -->|"save/load review reports"| Output
    State -.->|"broadcast UI events"| Browser

• The browser loads the React app from the FastAPI server, fetches files/comments/config over REST, and stays synchronized through /ws.
• MCP tools and REST routes both operate on the same in-memory AppState, so agent-created comments appear in the UI immediately.
• In --mcp mode, the HTTP server keeps the web UI available while FastMCP also runs over stdio for editor and CLI hosts.
• In CLI client mode, coding agents invoke batch-review <verb> (e.g. add-comment, diff) which calls the same REST endpoints — no MCP tool schemas loaded into agent context. The server writes .batch_review/server.json on startup so CLI verbs can discover it.

Distribution

• PyPI — batch-review-mcp — published wheels and sdist for pip / uv.
• Official MCP Registry — io.github.hevangel/batch-review-mcp — latest published server metadata (JSON API; the registry site is still preview).

Requirements

• Python ≥ 3.13 with uv
• Node.js ≥ 22 (for the one-time frontend build; matches GitHub Actions)

Installation

git clone https://github.com/hevangel/batch-review-mcp.git
cd batch-review-mcp
uv sync

The first run will automatically build the React frontend if frontend/dist/ does not exist (requires Node.js + npm on PATH).

Usage

Standalone mode (browser opens by default)

# Review the current directory
uv run batch-review

# Review a specific git repository
uv run batch-review --root /path/to/your/repo

# Custom host / port
uv run batch-review --root /path/to/repo --host 0.0.0.0 --port 9100

# Specify output filenames
uv run batch-review --root /path/to/repo --output review --output-dir /tmp/reviews
# → saves /tmp/reviews/review.json and /tmp/reviews/review.md

The server auto-selects a free port in the 9000–9999 range if the default port is already in use.

MCP stdio mode (Claude Desktop / Cursor / any MCP client; browser opens by default)

uv run batch-review --mcp --root /path/to/repo

The HTTP server starts in a background thread (so the browser UI remains accessible), your default browser opens to the app URL (same as standalone mode; use --no-browser to skip), and the MCP stdio transport runs in the main thread.

Claude Desktop config (claude_desktop_config.json):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "batch-review": {
      "command": "uv",
      "args": ["run", "batch-review", "--mcp", "--root", "/path/to/repo"]
    }
  }
}

CLI client mode (token-efficient agent interface)