# PR Lens by Coldtea

See a pull request as an animated architecture or data-flow diagram before reading the diff. PR Lens highlights additions, modifications, and removals through a GitHub App, CLI, or agent skill.

Canonical URL: https://aiidelist.com/ide/pr-lens

Language: en

Updated: 2026-09-11

## Overview

- Category: Code Review & Testing
- Pull-request visualization through animated architecture and data-flow diagrams.
- Editor base: Browser
- Open source: Yes
- Bring your own API key: Yes

## Quick verdict

Useful for understanding broad diffs before line-by-line review; keep source inspection and tests as the final evidence.

## Best for

- Reviewers reading changes across several components
- Teams explaining agent-generated pull requests

## Strengths

- Gives reviewers a visual starting point for changes across several files.
- Offers several integration paths and an MIT-licensed toolkit.

## Limitations

- Users seeking a standalone bug detector or test runner
- An inferred diagram still needs checking against the actual code.
- Visualization does not replace tests or defect-focused review.

## Read the system change before the individual lines

PR Lens is designed to answer questions such as which component now calls a service and where data moves after a refactor. New, modified, and removed elements use different visual treatments. The view keeps relevant surrounding components so the change can be understood in context.

For example, a change that moves email delivery into a queue is easier to discuss as API → queue → worker. That example illustrates the kind of relationship to inspect, not a diagram that every PR will produce.

## Try a diagram on a real pull request

1. Choose a PR with a clear change across a few files and use the [official GitHub App or skill](https://prlens.dev/).
2. Generate the architecture or data-flow view for that change.
3. Open the canvas and follow the modified components and their connections.
4. Compare the important edges with the source, correct misleading labels through repository configuration, and continue the code review.

The documented skill installation command is:

```bash
npx skills add coldteadotai/pr-lens
```

## Use the diagram to guide questions

Ask what happens on failure, which caller still uses the old path, and whether the tests exercise the new boundary. Those questions turn a visual overview into a review aid. A polished diagram is a model of the code, not proof that the code behaves correctly.

## Features

### Understand the change

- Architecture and data-flow views
- Added, modified, and removed components distinguished visually
- Interactive canvas with pan, zoom, and guided walkthrough

### Bring it into review

- GitHub App with an updated PR comment on pushes
- CLI, GitHub Action, and agent skill
- Repository configuration for correcting the generated view

## Installation

````````sh
npx skills add coldteadotai/pr-lens
````````

## Pricing

open-source toolkit; free GitHub App for open source

- Open-source toolkit: $0 — MIT-licensed rendering and tooling. Model usage depends on the chosen workflow.
- GitHub App for open source: $0 — The project advertises free use for open-source repositories. Private-repository terms should be checked with the maintainer.

Pricing checked: 2026-09-12

## Privacy and data handling

GitHub App, CLI, and skill workflows have different access paths. A local renderer does not imply that the agent producing its diagram uses local inference.

## Sources

- [Official website](https://prlens.dev/)
- [Documentation](https://github.com/coldteadotai/pr-lens)
- [Installation](https://github.com/apps/coldtea-pr-lens)
- [PR Lens product and examples](https://prlens.dev/)
- [PR Lens repository and integration instructions](https://github.com/coldteadotai/pr-lens)
- [PR Lens MIT license](https://github.com/coldteadotai/pr-lens/blob/main/LICENSE)

Last checked: 2026-09-12