Repo level settings

Configure repository-specific Code Review Agent settings using the .bito.yaml file.

Repo-level Agent settings let you control how the AI Code Review Agent behaves for each repository.

By placing a .bito.yaml file in the root of your repository, you can define custom review preferences that apply only to that repository.

Bito automatically detects the presence of a .bito.yaml file in a repository and applies its configuration to override the global Agent settings defined by admins in the Bito Cloud UI.

Workspace admins can track in the Bito dashboard which repositories are using repo-level settings from the .bito.yaml file and which ones are using the default global settings.

This gives developers fine-grained control while admins maintain global oversight and billing management.

Why use repo-level settings

Large organizations often have different review needs across projects.

Centralized (agent-level) settings don’t scale well — especially when each repo has its own coding standards, branch structure, or tooling.

Repo-level configuration helps by:

• Enabling custom review behavior per repository.

• Allowing custom guidelines flexibility at the repo level.

• Keeping settings version-controlled and transparent.

How it works

1. Add a .bito.yaml file to the root of your repository. To get started, download a sample .bito.yaml file.

2. Add the supported configuration fields (key-value pairs) to specify how the Code Review Agent should behave for that repository.

3. When the Code Review Agent runs, Bito automatically detects the file and applies those settings for that repository.

Note: Repo-level overrides are applied only if your workspace admin has enabled “Allow config file settings” in Agent Settings.

Enabling repo-level overrides

Admins can manage this from the Agent Settings panel.

• Setting name: Allow config file settings

• Description: Enabling this allows repositories to override Agent Settings by placing a .bito.yaml file in the repo root.

Note: Only workspace admins can toggle this setting from the Bito dashboard (cannot be changed via .bito.yaml file).

Supported settings in .bito.yaml file

You can override the following Code Review Agent settings:

suggestion_mode	Controls how detailed the review comments are. Choose between Essential and Comprehensive review modes: In Essential mode, only critical issues are posted as inline comments, and other issues appear in the main review summary under "Additional issues". In Comprehensive mode, Bito also includes minor suggestion and potential nitpicks as inline comments. Valid values: essential or comprehensive
request_change_comments	Enable this option to get Bito feedback as "Request changes" review comments. Depending on your organization's Git settings, you may need to resolve all comments before merging.
post_description	Automatically create summary of changes and append to your existing pull request summary. Valid values: true or false
post_changelist	Adds a walkthrough section to pull request comments. Valid values: true or false
include_source_branches	Source branches defined using comma-separated GLOB or regex patterns for which Bito automatically reviews pull requests. Example: "feature/*, release/*, main"
include_target_branches	Target branches defined using comma-separated GLOB or regex patterns for which Bito automatically reviews pull requests. Example: "feature/*, release/*, main"
exclude_files	Comma-separated file path GLOB patterns to exclude from code reviews. Example: "*.md, *.yaml, config/*"
exclude_draft_pr	Excludes draft pull requests from automatic reviews. Valid values: true or false
secret_scanner_feedback	Enables or disables secret scanning feedback. Bito detects and reports secrets left in code changes. Valid values: true or false
linters_feedback	Run Linting tools during code reviews. Valid values: true or false
jira_project_key	Defines a single JIRA project key for functional validation.
custom_guidelines	Adds repo-defined coding guidelines, supporting both general and language-specific configurations. Provide the name and path to review guidelines that you want bito to follow. These files must exist in your source branch at review time. We accept up to 3 general guidelines and 1 language specific guideline per language.
dependency_check.enabled	Run Dependency Check analysis during code reviews. Valid values: true or false
repo_level_guidelines_enabled	When enabled, Bito will automatically detect and use best-practice guidelines from agent configuration files such as CLAUDE.md, AGENTS.md, GEMINI.md, .cursor/rules, or .windsurf/rules during code reviews. Valid values: true or false
sequence_diagram_enabled	When enabled, Bito will generate interaction diagrams during code reviews to visualize the architecture and impacted components in the submitted changes. Currently, it is supported for GitHub and GitLab. Valid values: true or false
static_analysis.fb_infer.enabled	Run Static Analysis tools during code reviews for providing better feedback. Valid values: true or false

Sample .bito.yaml file

suggestion_mode: comprehensive       # 'essential' = only major issues, 'comprehensive' = everything
request_change_comments: true         # Comments will be posted as "Request Change"
post_description: true                # Include summary description in PR comment
post_changelist: true                 # Include walkthrough of changes

include_source_branches: feature/**,bugfix/**
include_target_branches: main,develop
exclude_files:docs/**,README.md

exclude_draft_pr: true            # Don't review draft PRs
secret_scanner_feedback: true      # Enable secret scanning feedback
linters_feedback: true             # Enable linting / static analysis

jira_project_key: "PROJ"          # Associated JIRA project key

custom_guidelines:
  general:
    - name: "Global Checks"
      path: "./guidelines/global_checks.txt"
    - name: "Security Rules"
      path: "./guidelines/security.txt"
    - name: "Legacy Style Guide"
      path: "./guidelines/legacy.txt"
    - name: "Performance Checks"
      path: "./guidelines/perf.txt"
    - name: "Code Style"
      path: "./guidelines/style.txt"
  per_language:
    python:
      name: "Python Best Practices"
      path: "./guidelines/py.txt"
    javascript:
      name: "JS Style Guide"
      path: "./guidelines/js.txt"
    typescript:
      name: "TS Checks"
      path: "./guidelines/ts.txt"
    jeva:
      name: "Java Coding Standards"  
      Path: "./guidelines/java.txt"  

Download .bito.yaml file

From GitHub:

You can download a sample .bito.yaml configuration file directly from Bito’s official GitHub repository.

This file includes all supported configuration fields with example values to help you get started quickly.

1. Go to the Bito GitHub repository.

2. Open the .bito.yaml file.

3. Click the Download raw file button to download it.

From Bito Cloud UI:

You can also download the sample .bito.yaml configuration file from the Bito Cloud UI.

• Go to Repositories dashboard.

• Click the Download settings file button given in the Agent panel.

Note: Web browsers such as Google Chrome do not allow downloading files that begin with a dot .. As a result, when you download the sample settings file, it will be saved with a different name (for example, agent.yaml or bito.yaml). To use it correctly, rename the file to .bito.yaml before adding it to your repository.

Note: By default, files that start with a dot . are hidden in most file explorers.

To view hidden files:

• Windows: In File Explorer, go to the top menu bar, click View, then enable Hidden items.

• macOS: Press Command + Shift + . in Finder.

• Linux: Run ls -a in your terminal.

Note: On macOS, the Finder app may not allow naming a file starting with a dot (e.g., .bito.yaml). In that case, open Terminal and use the following command to rename the file (replace filename.yaml with your actual file name):

mv filename.yaml .bito.yaml

Rules and limits

• The .bito.yaml file is read from the source branch of the pull request.

• If a repo defines custom guidelines, agent-level guidelines are ignored for that repository.

• If any property in the .bito.yaml file contains an invalid value, the entire configuration file will be rejected and default Agent Settings will be used instead.

• If a property is missing in the .bito.yaml file, the corresponding value from the global Agent Settings will be used instead.