Controlling Nitpickiness

With noise control, Greptile limits reviews to high-signal insights, skipping low impact or repetitive feedback.

Configuration Options Overview

You can fine-tune review behavior with these configuration options in .greptile/config.json or greptile.json:

Parameter	Type	Description
`strictness`	number	Filters comments by importance (1-3 scale)
`commentTypes`	array	Categories of feedback to generate
`ignorePatterns`	string	Files/folders to skip (newline-separated patterns)
`triggerOnUpdates`	boolean	Review on every commit, not just PR open
`skipReview`	string	Set to `"AUTOMATIC"` for manual-only reviews

Severity Threshold Settings

Control how strict Greptile is about leaving comments with the strictness setting (1–3).

1. Low (Verbose)

Comments on everything (low threshold).Perfect for initial setup or deep reviews where you want every potential issue flagged.

2. Default (Recommended)

Provides moderate filtering (default).Balanced approach highlighting real issues while filtering common noise. We recommend starting here.

3. High (Critical)

Shows only the most critical issues (high threshold).Ideal for final reviews or teams that want minimal interruption.

How to Configure

.greptile/ (Recommended)
greptile.json
Dashboard

Set strictness in .greptile/config.json at your repository root or any subdirectory:

.greptile/config.json

{
  "strictness": 2
}

1 = verbose (all issues)
2 = balanced (default)
3 = critical only

In a monorepo, child directories can override the root setting — for example, a packages/db/.greptile/config.json with "strictness": 1 makes database reviews stricter while the rest of the repo stays at 2. See Cascading Configuration.

Create greptile.json at your repository root:

{
  "strictness": 2
}

1 = verbose (all issues)
2 = balanced (default)
3 = critical only

This overrides dashboard settings for this repository.

Path: AI Code Review Agent → Settings

Comment Type Filtering

Filter which categories of feedback Greptile provides. All types are enabled by default. Available comment types:

logic - Business logic issues, algorithmic problems, potential bugs
syntax - Language-specific best practices, proper usage patterns
style - Code formatting, naming conventions, structural consistency
info - Informational comments about code context and patterns

How to Configure

.greptile/ (Recommended)
greptile.json
Dashboard

Set commentTypes in .greptile/config.json:

.greptile/config.json

{
  "commentTypes": ["logic", "syntax"]
}

This array replaces the default — only the types you list will appear. Like strictness, child directories can override this for their own scope.

Only critical issues:

{
  "commentTypes": ["logic"]
}

Code quality without style nitpicks:

{
  "commentTypes": ["logic", "syntax"]
}

Everything (default):

{
  "commentTypes": ["logic", "syntax", "style", "info"]
}

Navigate to AI Code Review Agent → Settings → Comment Types

Ignore Patterns

Exclude files that don’t need review to speed up analysis and reduce noise.

{
  "ignorePatterns": "*.generated.*\n**/*.test.js\n**/node_modules/**\n*.config.js\npackage-lock.json\n*.md"
}

Common patterns to ignore:

*.generated.* - Generated code
**/*.test.js - Test files
**/node_modules/** - Dependencies
*.config.js - Config files
package-lock.json - Lock files
*.md - Documentation

Impact: Ignoring generated/vendor files can speed up reviews by 30-50% and eliminate irrelevant comments.

ignorePatterns will only ignore those files during PR review. Greptile will still index them while indexing your repository, which can lead to other errors. For instance, in the case of large binary files. Reach out to Greptile support.

Trigger Configuration

Control when Greptile performs reviews. This affects developer workflow and review frequency.

.greptile/ (Recommended)
greptile.json
Dashboard

Set trigger behavior in .greptile/config.json:

.greptile/config.json

{
  "triggerOnUpdates": true
}

To disable automatic reviews entirely (manual trigger via @greptileai only):

.greptile/config.json

{
  "skipReview": "AUTOMATIC"
}

Review on every commit:

{
  "triggerOnUpdates": true
}

Manual trigger only (skip automatic reviews):

{
  "skipReview": "AUTOMATIC"
}

triggerOnUpdates - When true, reviews on each push (not just PR open)
skipReview: "AUTOMATIC" - Skips automatic reviews, only triggers via @greptileai

Navigate to AI Code Review Agent → Settings → Review Triggers

Start with dashboard defaults, then add a .greptile/ folder to repos that need custom settings.

Troubleshooting

Settings not taking effect

Check these in order:

If using greptile.json, did you commit and push it?
Are you looking at a new PR? Settings don’t affect existing reviews
Wait 2-3 minutes - config changes aren’t always instant

Dashboard settings not working?

Check if the repo has a greptile.json (it overrides dashboard)
Verify you saved the settings (look for confirmation message)

Still too many comments with strictness: 3

Progressive solutions:

Reduce comment types to ["logic"] only
Add more ignore patterns for generated/test files
Consider skipReview: "AUTOMATIC" for non-critical repos
Give the learning system 2-3 weeks to adapt to your reactions

Missing important issues

Check these settings:

Is strictness too high? Try reducing by 1
Are all comment types enabled that you need?
Check ignore patterns - are they too broad?
Has the team been giving 👍 to important catches?

Different teams want different settings

Best practice:

Set conservative org defaults in dashboard (strictness: 2, all types)
Let teams create .greptile/ folders with per-directory overrides — each package in a monorepo can have its own strictness and comment types
Share successful configurations as templates
Review settings quarterly as teams evolve

See Cascading Configuration for how per-directory overrides work.

Excluded authors still getting reviewed

In Dashboard: Go to Settings → Review Triggers → Excluded Authors and add:

dependabot[bot]
renovate[bot]
Any other bot accounts

Note: This is dashboard-only, not available in greptile.json

Reviews triggering on disabled/release branches

Solutions:

Add release branches to excluded branches in dashboard
Use greptile.json with branch-specific rules
Set skipReview: "AUTOMATIC" for release repos

What’s next?

.greptile/ Configuration → for cascading per-directory settings
Train the learning system → to automatically reduce noise over time
Add custom standards → for team-specific rules
Set up pattern repositories → for cross-repo context

Getting Started

Code Review

Self-Hosting

Account

How Greptile Works

Controlling Nitpickiness

Configuration Options Overview

Severity Threshold Settings

How to Configure

Comment Type Filtering

How to Configure

Ignore Patterns

Trigger Configuration

Troubleshooting

What’s next?

Getting Started

Code Review

Self-Hosting

Account

How Greptile Works

​Configuration Options Overview

​Severity Threshold Settings

​How to Configure

​Comment Type Filtering

​How to Configure

​Ignore Patterns

​Trigger Configuration

​Troubleshooting

​What’s next?

Configuration Options Overview

Severity Threshold Settings

How to Configure

Comment Type Filtering

How to Configure

Ignore Patterns

Trigger Configuration

Troubleshooting

What’s next?