Auto Copilot Review: Outsourcing My Insecurities to an LLM on Every Git Add

Writing code is fun. Reviewing code is boring. Reviewing your own code is functionally impossible because you already convinced yourself it was correct an hour ago.

You know that exact moment before you finalize a commit? The moment where your cursor hovers over the 'Commit' button in VS Code, and you get that cold, creeping dread that you definitely left a console.log("here") somewhere or broke a type definition in a file you vaguely remember touching?

Normally, you have two choices:

1. Manually scroll through the diff, lie to yourself that it looks fine, and send it.
2. Explicitly open GitHub Copilot Chat, copy-paste your diff, and ask it to review it.

Number 1 leads to embarrassing PR comments. Number 2 breaks your flow entirely and feels like a chore.

What if there was a Number 3?

Making Staging Aggressively Helpful

I decided the moment I stage a file (git add), my editor should immediately, silently judge me.

So I built a VS Code extension that hooks directly into the Git API. Every single time you stage a file, Auto Copilot Review wakes up, grabs the diff of your staged changes, and shoves them straight into the GitHub Copilot Chat view with a "review this diff" command.

It happens entirely magically in the background.

The "Oh God Slow Down" Problem (Debouncing)

My first iteration was eager. Too eager.

I tend to stage files by rapidly clicking the '+' icon next to 5 different files in a row.

In V1 of the extension, this resulted in 5 identical, overlapping requests hitting the Copilot API in the span of a second, causing the Chat UI to have a panic attack and aggressively flash 5 different competing code reviews at the same time.

It turns out that teaching a machine to instantaneously review your code requires teaching a machine patience.

I added a configurable debounce timer (defaulting to 5 seconds). Now, you can rapidly stage as many files as you want. Once you stop moving for 5 seconds, it gathers everything up into one neat, tidy package and fires a single review request.

The Results

It actually works phenomenally well. I stage files, glance over at the Copilot chat panel, and within seconds there's a neat breakdown of my logic flaws, typos, and forgotten debug statements waiting for me.

It feels like having a highly pedantic junior developer sitting permanently on your shoulder, eagerly waiting for you to prep a commit so they can point out your mistakes before you push them to master.

It is completely frictionless. It requires zero clicks the moment it’s installed. It just exists, watching, reviewing, and saving me from PR embarrassment.

If you have a Copilot subscription and a complete lack of faith in your own late-night coding sessions, install the extension here. You're welcome.