Terminal-first code review for Vim users and power developers
tuicr (Terminal UI Code Reviewer) presents a continuous, keyboard-driven review workflow that shows all changed files in a single scrollable stream, ideal for auditing large diffs. Developed by Almog Gavra, the tool targets terminal-centric developers and Vim power users, offering Vim-style modal navigation, multi-VCS support, and session persistence. It emphasizes fast, local review of uncommitted changes, commit ranges, or remote pull requests so teams minimizing browser context switches can inspect AI-generated or bulk edits efficiently.
What does tuicr offer for reviewing code from the terminal?
tuicr provides a TUI that renders diffs as a continuous stream, letting you review local changes, commit ranges, or remote pull requests without leaving the terminal. The app shows line-level, range-level, and file-level comments across multiple forges, and it can expand hidden context between hunks. The continuous scroll view mirrors GitHub-style presentation while keeping navigation within Vim motions such as j/k and g/G.
Does it affect system performance while scanning or rendering diffs?
tuicr is written in Rust and designed for low-latency navigation, which the developer positions as zero-latency compared to web UIs. The implementation focuses on in-terminal rendering rather than launching a browser process, so CPU and memory impact stay tied to the terminal emulator and the Rust binary, rather than a separate web renderer. Session persistence saves progress to disk, avoiding heavy in-memory state for long reviews.
Is it safe to use on a development machine and how does it handle VCS operations?
tuicr reads repository data and supports Git, Jujutsu, and Mercurial, which lets it present uncommitted and committed diffs in the same interface. The tool operates as a reviewer: it displays diffs and collects comments rather than rewriting history. Cross-forge comment support covers GitHub, GitLab, Gitea, Bitbucket, Azure DevOps, and Gerrit, so forge interactions are limited to the review layer rather than low-level repository mutation.
Will a Vim user or a team using AI code assistants gain practical value?
Vim keybindings and export options target keyboard-centric workflows and AI-assisted review, including an export to Markdown format tuned for consumption by AI agents. Session autosave and more than 20 themes such as Catppuccin and Tokyo Night support long audits. The app suits developers who prefer staying in the terminal and need structured, human-in-the-loop checks for high-volume, AI-generated changes.
tuicr is a strong terminal review tool for keyboard-first developers
The tool suits developers who want to keep reviews inside the terminal and rely on keyboard navigation to move through large diffs. It supports multiple VCSes and hosting forges while preserving review state on disk, which helps with long-running audits. Recommended. Consider running reviews in a dedicated terminal session to keep the terminal process isolated from other development tasks.
