Path-based review instructions

Customize how CodeRabbit reviews different parts of your codebase using glob patterns. Apply focused, context-aware instructions to controllers, tests, documentation, and more.

CodeRabbit provides two path controls. Path filters exclude files that don’t benefit from review: lock files, binaries, and generated code. Path instructions apply targeted guidance to specific paths, such as security checks for API controllers, coverage requirements for tests, or clarity rules for documentation.

If your team already has coding guidelines and standards documented, point CodeRabbit to them using Code Guidelines.

Path instructions

Add custom review instructions for specific file paths using glob patterns. Instructions let you tell CodeRabbit exactly what to focus on for any part of the codebase.

Configure path instructions

Configuration file

.coderabbit.yaml

reviews:
  path_instructions:
    - path: "src/controllers/**"
      instructions: |
        - Focus on authentication, authorization, and input validation.
        - Flag any direct database queries that bypass the ORM layer.
    - path: "tests/**"
      instructions: |
        Review the following unit test code written using the Mocha test library. Ensure that:
        - The code adheres to best practices associated with Mocha.
        - Descriptive test names are used to clearly convey the intent of each test.
        - Edge cases and error paths are covered.
    - path: "docs/**.md"
      instructions: |
        Check for clarity, accuracy, and completeness.
        Flag any references to deprecated APIs or outdated behavior.

Web UI

Configure path instructions in Organization Settings → Reviews → Behavior.

Paths accept glob patterns. See the minimatch documentation for more information.

Path instructions only affect CodeRabbit’s review guidance for matching files. They do not disable other features that inspect the same code. For example, suppressing docstring-related review guidance with reviews.path_instructions does not disable Generate docstrings or the Docstring Coverage pre-merge check.

When to add path instructions

CodeRabbit’s built-in review logic covers a wide range of issues by default. Path instructions work best as a targeted supplement, not a replacement.

• Observe a few reviews first. If something is consistently missed or needs to be applied differently for a specific part of the codebase, that’s a good candidate for a path instruction.

• When you identify a gap, consider which mechanism fits best:

  • Path instructions — rules scoped to specific files or directories in CodeRabbit’s review.
  • Code guidelines — existing standards documents (like AGENTS.md or .cursorrules) that CodeRabbit picks up automatically, and that also benefit AI coding agents.
  • Custom checks — pass/fail conditions you define that run as part of every review.

After CodeRabbit has reviewed several pull requests, it may have accumulated path-instruction suggestions. Post @coderabbitai emit path instructions as a PR comment to collect suggestions from the past 7 days and open a pull request that merges them into your .coderabbit.yaml without overwriting existing entries. See the command reference for details.

Path filters

Path filters control which files CodeRabbit includes or excludes from review. Excluding irrelevant files, such as lock files, binaries, and generated code, keeps reviews focused and fast. CodeRabbit ships with sensible defaults, but you can extend the ignore list with your own patterns, or override defaults to force-include paths that would otherwise be skipped.

Configure path filters

Patterns prefixed with ! exclude paths from review (for example, !dist/** skips the dist folder). Patterns without ! include paths explicitly, which is useful for overriding a default exclusion.

Path filters define CodeRabbit’s review scope. Files excluded here, or skipped by the default ignored paths below, do not appear in CodeRabbit review surfaces such as the walkthrough or CodeRabbit Review. GitHub can still show those files in the pull request’s full file list.

Configuration file

.coderabbit.yaml

reviews:
  path_filters:
    - "!dist/**"
    - "!node_modules/**"
    - "src/**"

Web UI

Configure path filters in Organization Settings → Reviews → Behavior.

Default ignored paths

By default, CodeRabbit intentionally skips certain file paths and extensions — things like lock files, binaries, generated code, and media assets. If you want CodeRabbit to review any of these, you can explicitly include them in your Path Filters configuration.

Default ignored paths

Build and dependency directories

Path Pattern	Description
!**/dist/**	Build output directory
!**/node_modules/**	Node.js dependencies
!**/.svelte-kit/**	SvelteKit build directory
!**/.webpack/**	Webpack build directory
!**/.yarn/**	Yarn cache directory
!**/.docusaurus/**	Docusaurus build directory
!**/.temp/**	Temporary files directory
!**/.cache/**	Cache directory
!**/.next/**	Next.js build directory
!**/.nuxt/**	Nuxt.js build directory

Lock files

Path Pattern	Description
!**/package-lock.json	npm lock file
!**/yarn.lock	Yarn lock file
!**/pnpm-lock.yaml	pnpm lock file
!**/bun.lockb	Bun lock file
!**/*.lock	Generic lock files

Generated code

Path Pattern	Description
!**/generated/**	Generated code directory
!**/@generated/**	Generated code directory (alternative)
!**/__generated__/**	Generated code directory (alternative)
!**/__generated/**	Generated code directory (alternative)
!**/_generated/**	Generated code directory (alternative)
!**/gen/**	Generated code directory (alternative)
!**/@gen/**	Generated code directory (alternative)
!**/__gen__/**	Generated code directory (alternative)
!**/__gen/**	Generated code directory (alternative)
!**/_gen/**	Generated code directory (alternative)
!**/*.generated.*	Generated File Suffix

Binary and compiled files

Path Pattern	Description
!**/*.app	Application bundle
!**/*.bin	Binary file
!**/*.class	Java compiled class
!**/*.dll	Windows dynamic library
!**/*.dylib	macOS dynamic library
!**/*.exe	Windows executable
!**/*.o	Object file
!**/*.so	Shared object file
!**/*.wasm	WebAssembly file

Archives and compressed files

Path Pattern	Description
!**/*.bz2	Bzip2 archive
!**/*.gz	Gzip archive
!**/*.xz	XZ archive
!**/*.zip	ZIP archive
!**/*.7z	7-Zip archive
!**/*.rar	RAR archive
!**/*.zst	Zstandard archive
!**/*.tar	TAR archive
!**/*.jar	Java archive
!**/*.war	Web application archive
!**/*.nar	NAR archive

Media files

Path Pattern	Description
!**/*.mp3	MP3 audio
!**/*.wav	WAV audio
!**/*.wma	WMA audio
!**/*.mp4	MP4 video
!**/*.avi	AVI video
!**/*.mkv	MKV video
!**/*.wmv	WMV video
!**/*.m4a	M4A audio
!**/*.m4v	M4V video
!**/*.3gp	3GP video
!**/*.3g2	3G2 video
!**/*.rm	RealMedia video
!**/*.mov	QuickTime video
!**/*.flv	Flash video
!**/*.swf	Flash animation
!**/*.flac	FLAC audio
!**/*.ogg	OGG audio

Images and fonts

Path Pattern	Description
!**/*.ico	Icon file
!**/*.svg	SVG image
!**/*.jpeg	JPEG image
!**/*.jpg	JPEG image
!**/*.png	PNG image
!**/*.gif	GIF image
!**/*.bmp	BMP image
!**/*.tiff	TIFF image
!**/*.webm	WebM image
!**/*.ttf	TrueType font
!**/*.otf	OpenType font
!**/*.woff	Web Open Font Format
!**/*.woff2	Web Open Font Format 2
!**/*.eot	Embedded OpenType font

Documents and data files

Path Pattern	Description
!**/*.pdf	PDF document
!**/*.doc	Word document
!**/*.docx	Word document
!**/*.xls	Excel spreadsheet
!**/*.xlsx	Excel spreadsheet
!**/*.ppt	PowerPoint presentation
!**/*.pptx	PowerPoint presentation
!**/*.csv	CSV data file
!**/*.tsv	TSV data file
!**/*.dat	Data file
!**/*.db	Database file
!**/*.parquet	Parquet data file

Development and system files

Path Pattern	Description
!**/tags	Tags file
!**/.tags	Tags file
!**/TAGS	Tags file
!**/.TAGS	Tags file
!**/.DS_Store	macOS system file
!**/.cscope.files	Cscope files
!**/.cscope.out	Cscope output
!**/.cscope.in.out	Cscope input/output
!**/.cscope.po.out	Cscope output
!**/*.log	Log file
!**/*.map	Source map
!**/*.out	Output file
!**/*.sum	Checksum file
!**/*.work	Work file
!**/*.md5sum	MD5 checksum file

Game and 3D assets

Path Pattern	Description
!**/*.tga	Targa image
!**/*.dds	DirectDraw surface
!**/*.psd	Photoshop document
!**/*.fbx	FBX 3D model
!**/*.obj	OBJ 3D model
!**/*.blend	Blender file
!**/*.dae	COLLADA 3D model
!**/*.gltf	GL Transmission Format
!**/*.hlsl	HLSL shader
!**/*.glsl	GLSL shader
!**/*.unity	Unity scene
!**/*.umap	Unreal map
!**/*.prefab	Unity prefab
!**/*.mat	Material file
!**/*.shader	Shader file
!**/*.shadergraph	Shader graph
!**/*.sav	Save file
!**/*.scene	Scene file
!**/*.asset	Asset file

Python-specific files

Path Pattern	Description
!**/*.pyc	Python compiled file
!**/*.pyd	Python dynamic module
!**/*.pyo	Python optimized file
!**/*.pkl	Python pickle file
!**/*.pickle	Python pickle file

Go-specific files

Path Pattern	Description
!**/*.pb.go	Protocol buffer Go file
!**/*.pb.gw.go	Protocol buffer gateway Go file

Terraform files

Path Pattern	Description
!**/*.tfstate	Terraform state file
!**/*.tfstate.backup	Terraform state backup

Xcode-specific files

Path Pattern	Description
!**/*.xcworkspace/contents.xcworkspacedata	Xcode workspace metadata
!**/Package.resolved	Swift Package Manager resolved-dependencies file

Minified files

Path Pattern	Description
!**/*.min.js	Minified JavaScript
!**/*.min.js.map	Minified JavaScript source map
!**/*.min.css	Minified CSS

What’s next

AST-based instructions

Write review instructions using ast-grep rules for precise, syntax-aware review instructions.

Code guidelines

Point CodeRabbit to your existing coding standards documents: AGENTS.md, .cursorrules, and similar files.

Custom checks

Define pass/fail conditions that run as part of every review to enforce your team’s standards automatically.