Skip to main content

Reviewing Agent Diffs (tuicr, lgtm)

Two tools cover this loop: tuicr for a GitHub-style pass with exported structured markdown after the agent finishes, and lgtm for a live pane beside the agent that re-renders as it writes and sends #id path:line references into the agent's input box.

tuicr​

tuicr is the user-facing half of the agent loop.

Flow:

  1. The agent edits the working tree.
  2. You review the diff in a GitHub-style TUI.
  3. You drop line, file, or review comments.
  4. tuicr exports structured markdown.
  5. You paste that markdown back to the agent for a one-pass fix.

This is the inverse of the review workflow, where the agent reviews your diff.

Use after an agent has made edits, when you want to give structured feedback back to it.

Install​

home/readonly_dot_Brewfile.tmpl — AI & LARGE LANGUAGE MODELS section, homebrew-core formula tuicr.

Config​

Theme + comment-type vocabulary: home/dot_config/tuicr/readonly_config.toml → ~/.config/tuicr/config.toml.

Comment types are actionable categories (issue, suggestion, question, nit, praise); severity (CRITICAL/HIGH/MEDIUM/LOW from the review SOP) stays internal and is intentionally not encoded as a comment type.

Loop​

Invoke tuicr directly — no wrapper:

# 1. agent makes edits (claude / ,codex / opencode / cursor-agent / pi / agent)

# 2. review and export to clipboard, then paste into the next agent prompt:
tuicr
tuicr -r main..HEAD              # scope to a revision range (Git/JJ/Hg syntax)

# or one-shot: export straight to stdout for piping:
tuicr --stdout | claude --print
tuicr --stdout | ,codex exec
tuicr --stdout | cursor-agent
tuicr --stdout > /tmp/review.md

On export, tuicr copies markdown to the system clipboard (handling tmux/SSH OSC 52 propagation automatically). .tuicrignore (gitignore-style, repo-local) excludes generated files from the review surface; not managed by chezmoi.

lgtm​

lgtm reviews the diff while the agent is still writing it, in a tmux pane next to the agent.

Install​

home/readonly_dot_Brewfile.tmpl — same AI & LARGE LANGUAGE MODELS section as tuicr, via the kunkka19xx/tap Homebrew tap.

Config​

home/dot_config/lgtm/readonly_config.toml → ~/.config/lgtm/config.toml.

It sets the catppuccin theme (matching tuicr), nerd-font icons, inline comment rendering, lockfile ignores for tracked generated files, and the compose-box question presets. Everything else stays compiled-in default.

A repo-local .lgtm/config.toml overrides the home config key by key, so a single repo can change the theme or ignore list without touching the managed file.

Loop​

# split a tmux pane beside the agent and run it there
lgtm                              # HEAD vs working tree, live
lgtm --base main                  # whole branch incl. uncommitted, live
lgtm --base main --target HEAD    # committed work only, static

Keys:

  • <CR> — compose a reference for this line
  • V / v — select lines / words
  • <Space>c — comment
  • <C-s> — submit all comments as .lgtm/review-N.md and mark read
  • ]m — walk changes since the mark
  • ]w — walk weakened tests
  • ]t — walk snapshot turns
  • R — restore a file from a turn
  • <Space>t — pick the target pane

State: .lgtm/ holds comments, reviews, and read state and gitignores itself; snapshots live under refs/lgtm/**, invisible to git branch/git status but visible to git log --all. Neither is managed by chezmoi.

Pane targeting: with exactly two panes lgtm infers the agent's pane and types into it with tmux send-keys. Otherwise it opens a pane picker, or take --pane %N.