Amazon Q Developer Enhances Code Review in GitHub
Code reviews are a critical part of software development, ensuring quality, consistency, and growth among engineers. However, they are also one of the most time-consuming steps in the development lifecycle. Developers often open a pull request (PR), receive automated or peer comments, and must search through documentation, Slack threads, or past code to understand why a change was suggested. This lack of context slows teams down, adds back-and-forth cycles, and distracts from the larger goal of building great products.
In the initial preview, teams used Amazon Q Developer in GitHub for feature work, automated code reviews, and modernization tasks, keeping work inside GitHub and reducing handoffs. Automatic reviews on new or reopened PRs surfaced findings early, but teams still desired more context and a tighter loop within the PR.
Today, an interactive code review experience for PRs is introduced. Users can ask Amazon Q Developer questions using /q, view a concise summary with threaded findings, and apply suggested changes without leaving GitHub. Code reviews by Amazon Q Developer now complete faster, reducing wait time and shortening the review cycle, allowing teams to merge sooner and focus more on building.
To get started, install the Amazon Q Developer GitHub App in your GitHub organization or repository. The app is available through the GitHub Marketplace and can be used without an AWS account during the preview. During installation, choose whether to provide access to all repositories or only selected ones in your GitHub organization. Increase free usage by registering the app installation in the Amazon Q Developer console.
For more details on installation, permissions, and configuration options, refer to the Amazon Q Developer for GitHub documentation. Once installed, Q Developer can be used to review PRs automatically.
An end-to-end walkthrough of the new interactive code review experience using a simple card game built with Amazon Q Developer is available. With the code review complete and checks passing, merging was accomplished. The new interactive code review experience reduced wait time and review cycles, clarifying the 'why' behind each finding and suggested change.
Amazon Q Developer for GitHub is available today in preview. Whether an individual developer or part of a large engineering team, this update helps ship cleaner code with fewer cycles and makes code reviews something to look forward to rather than avoid. Try it out on your next PR. Type /q, ask a question, and see how smarter conversational reviews transform your workflow.