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This path runs a review of changes in your working tree. The reviewer runs on your machine; the configured model provider receives the review input. Choose a local provider when source must stay on your machine, or review a hosted provider's data policy before sending it source. Providers and the trust model describe those boundaries.

1. Install the CLI

Download a binary for your platform from the releases page, then put nitpick on your PATH.

Or, with Go 1.26 or later:

go install github.com/jdziat/open-nitpick/cmd/nitpick@latest
export PATH="$(go env GOPATH)/bin:$PATH" # add this to your shell profile
nitpick version

If the last command cannot find nitpick, the binary is usually in $(go env GOPATH)/bin; add that directory to PATH and open a new shell.

2. Choose a model and create configuration

For OpenRouter, set the provider, model, and its API key:

export LLM_PROVIDER=openrouter
export LLM_MODEL=z-ai/glm-5.3-flash
export OPENROUTER_API_KEY=sk-or-...

Then, at the root of the repository you want to review:

nitpick init

init writes .nitpick.yaml. Keep it in version control so a team reviews with the same policy. Use nitpick explain-config to see the resolved configuration, and configuration to change models, review policy, or provider settings.

3. Review local changes

Make a small change, then run:

nitpick review -dry-run

The command prints a walkthrough, any findings, the files reviewed, and a coverage result. -dry-run prevents GitHub publishing when credentials and a pull request are present. A clean result is meaningful only when the coverage result says the planned work completed; the walkthrough explains skipped or failed stages.

If this happens Do this
No changes are found Edit a tracked file, or review an explicit range with -base and -head.
The model cannot authenticate Check the provider, model, and provider key; providers lists the supported settings.
Configuration cannot load Run nitpick explain-config in the repository root, then see configuration.
A review is incomplete Read its failed-stage and coverage information before treating zero findings as clean. See how a review runs.

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