Viewed state and reactions
Mark files viewed to track progress across a large diff, and add reactions to comments.
Two small features carry more weight than they look. Viewed state is how you keep your place across a large diff, and reactions are the lightest way to acknowledge a comment without writing a reply. Both persist, and reactions behave differently depending on the run mode — worth knowing before you rely on them.
Follow along in mock mode with fixture #204 (a 2,400-line diff, where viewed state earns its keep) and #312 (existing threads and reactions).
Mark files viewed
On the Files screen, each file has a viewed checkbox. Toggle it on the
focused file with v, or click the checkbox in the file header or tree.
- Viewed is per file, per PR — a way to mark "I have read this one" so a big diff doesn't blur together.
- It persists. In direct mode viewed state is written to your local SQLite store keyed to your git-config email, so it survives a restart. In the reserved broker mode it would persist per human on the host and survive a workspace rebuild; broker mode is not runnable today.
- On a large PR like #204, ticking files off as you go is the difference between finishing a review and losing your place halfway.
Add a reaction
Reactions are quick acknowledgments on a comment — the same emoji reactions GitHub supports. Add one from a comment's reaction control, in a thread or in the Conversation timeline.
In direct mode a reaction is yours: it posts to GitHub under your account, exactly like reacting on github.com.
Reactions in broker mode are shared — and honest
This is the one place the reserved broker mode changes the meaning of a reaction, so it is called out explicitly.
Reactions on GitHub are per GitHub user. In broker mode there is only one GitHub user — the shared bot identity. So a reaction is not attributable to an individual human the way a stamped comment body is: two people's 👍 are the same 👍, and if one person removes theirs, it is removed for everyone. revu ships this as shared and honest — the reaction rollup is real data, it just reflects the shared identity rather than simulating a per-human reaction for the least important control on the page.
Comments and replies do not have this limitation: in broker mode their bodies are stamped with the human's name, so authorship stays legible. Reactions are the one signal that collapses to the shared identity. (Broker mode is designed and reserved but not a shipped boot option — see run modes.)
Next
- Track progress on a real diff: Your first sync.
- Understand who a comment is attributed to across modes: Identity.