I'm a solo developer. I work on multiple projects, ship code daily, and nobody reviews any of it.
I looked at existing AI code review tools. They all had the same problems:
- Need API keys (pay per token)
- Send your code to external servers
- Require org-level GitHub setup
- Need accounts, onboarding, configuration
Meanwhile, I'm already paying for Claude Pro. I have Ollama running locally. These tools sit there unused while I push unreviewed code.
So I built CodeLens.
What it is
A self-hosted dashboard that watches your local git repos, auto-detects whatever AI CLIs you have installed, and runs automated code reviews. No API keys. Fully local with Ollama, or use your existing cloud AI subscriptions directly without a middleman.
How it works
- Start the app (npm run dev)
- Add a repo by browsing to its folder
- CodeLens auto-detects your installed AI tools (Claude Code, Ollama, Gemini, OpenAI)
- It immediately reviews the last 30 days of commits
- Going forward, it polls every 60 seconds for new commits
The review page
This is the core of the product. Three panels:
Left: list of findings. Severity dots, category, file path. Click one to select it.
Centre: the actual code diff with line numbers. Green additions, red removals. Coloured dots mark lines with issues.
Right: full description, suggested fix, and a ready-to-paste prompt for your AI chat.
The idea is: CodeLens finds the bug, tells you what's wrong, and gives you a prompt to paste into Claude/ChatGPT to fix it. For vibe coders, it's copy-paste-done.
Features I didn't plan but ended up building
- Deep review: scans your entire codebase, not just the latest commit. Good for auditing a project you inherited.
- Fix tracking: when a new commit modifies a file and the AI no longer flags the same issue, the old finding automatically gets marked as "fixed."
- Export as Markdown: download any review as a formatted .md file. Useful for PRs or client documentation.
- 500 fun loading messages: "Judging your variable names," "Wrestling with regex," "Questioning life choices." They rotate with pastel colours while the review runs.
- Notification bell: tracks all review completions across repos with unread counts.
The self-review
The most satisfying moment was pointing CodeLens at its own repo. It found real bugs:
- A full table scan loading every finding into memory
- Timer leaks in the provider adapters (setTimeout never cleared on success)
- A path traversal vulnerability in AI-generated file paths
- A race condition where two concurrent review triggers could create duplicate records
- Silent error swallowing that hid database failures
I fixed every finding it reported. Then it reviewed those fixes and found more issues. We went through 5 rounds before it converged to only info-level style suggestions.
Stack
- Next.js 16 (App Router) with Turbopack
- SQLite via Drizzle ORM (zero setup, file-based)
- Custom component library (no browser defaults)
- Google Sans typography
- Lucide icons
Try it
git clone https://github.com/sebiomoa/codelens.git
cd codelens
npm install
npm run db:migrate
npm run dev
Open localhost:3377. Add a repo. That's it.
It's MIT licensed. If you're a solo dev or freelancer who wants a second pair of eyes on your code without the overhead, give it a try.
GitHub: https://github.com/sebiomoa/codelens
![Defluffer - reduce token usage 📉 by 45% using this one simple trick! [Earthday challenge]](https://media2.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=1000,height=420,fit=cover,gravity=auto,format=auto/https%3A%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Farticles%2Fiekbgepcutl4jse0sfs0.png)
