A fully local code review platform with a built-in feedback loop, to make iterating on agentic code output efficient and fun.
Coding assistants do great on many tasks, but they are still lacking when working on big, established code bases. In particular, getting code from a working prototype to review-grade version that meets all coding standards often requires a significant amount of manual polishing, that can easily eat up the initial efficiency gains.
Backloop provides a streamlined workflow for reviewing code changes with AI assistance, providing live feedback and an instant feedback loop.
It works by spinning up an ad-hoc web server that hosts a GitHub-like code review UI that's linked to the current coding session.
For the assistant, the workflow looks like this:
- Start a review by calling
startreview()
and give the returned URL to the user - Call
await_comments()
, and ... - ... if receiving a comment, work on it and call
receive_comment()
- ... if receiving REVIEW APPROVED, done.
For the user, the workflow looks like this:
- Open the link to the review
- Leave comments with feedback, or edit small touch-ups directly
- When satisfied with the code, approve the review.
A review will have a url like http://127.0.0.1:52267/review/c0837b48/view?since=HEAD~1&live=true
,
you can adjust the query parameters to get a different view on the repository.
See the reference section below to learn which parameters exist.
When in "live" mode, that is when the live
parameter is set to true, the
review willl also show untracked files and non-staged changes in the current
working directory, and include an "edit directly" button to make small changes
directly, without waiting for a round of thinking.
To add the MCP server to Claude Code use
claude mcp add local-review -- uvx --from backloop backloop-mcp
or run the equivalent command for the agent of your choice.
Then, use a prompt like this to start the review:
> Open a local review for the changes you made and wait for approval, then commit and push the changes.
You can also use Backloop without an agent, as a standalone local diff viewer:
uvx --from backloop server
This starts the web server which you can use to view diffs and add comments. (though no one will see the comments in that case)
Once configured, Claude has access to these MCP tools:
Starts a new review session. Exactly one parameter must be specified:
since='HEAD'
- Review changes since a given commit, including uncommited changescommit='abc123'
- Review a specific commitrange='main..feature'
- Review a range of commitstitle='foo'
- Optional review title
Examples:
- Review changes before committing:
startreview(since='HEAD')
- Review changes after committing:
startreview(since='HEAD~1')
- Review changes to a PR branch:
startreview(range='origin/main..HEAD')
Blocks until either a comment is posted or the review is approved.
Returns comment details (including the originating review_id
) or "REVIEW APPROVED".
Marks a specific comment as resolved by its ID.