Better tools made Copilot code review worse. Here's how we actually improved it.

Improving the effectiveness of GitHub Copilot's code review required more than just swapping tools; it necessitated redesigning the workflow instructions to align with how a reviewer actually examines a pull request. Initially, replacing Copilot's specialized code exploration tools with shared Unix-inspired tools like grep, glob, and view led to inefficiencies and higher review costs due to instructions that encouraged broad exploration typical of a coding assistant rather than targeted review processes. By shifting the workflow to start from the pull request diff and focusing on specific review questions using these tools, the team achieved a 20% reduction in average review costs without compromising quality. This experience underscores the importance of aligning tool instructions with the specific task at hand, highlighting that shared tools can be effective when their usage is tailored to the context, as demonstrated in contrast to broader tasks handled by Copilot CLI where exploration is part of the job.

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