werkator/docs/prs/2026-10-09-PR#128-werkrevisor-repo-config.md

PR#128: the rules of the AI review live in .werkrevisor.toml

WARNING: This document describes only the change applied in this PR. It may already be outdated once the next PR is merged. Historic PR-documentation is not maintained along with new PRs — treat it as a snapshot, not as current documentation.

The Problem

werkrevisor reviews every pull request of werkator. Its whole configuration lives in the machine config of the review host, so only the operator sees and changes the rules, e.g. which paths need a human, which documents are PR documents, and which risk categories Jev asks about. Since werkrevisor 0.30.0 a repository may keep these rules itself and choose the risk categories of its ecosystem. werkcrappit does so already.

Non-Goals

• No change of the rules themselves; they move unchanged from the host config into this repository.
• No change of model, budget, gate or engine; they stay in the host config.

The Solution

• .werkrevisor.toml holds the repository part of the werkrevisor config: size limits, file categories, hard and judged paths, PR documents, review instructions, writing rules, mechanical changes, the questions for PR documents, and the risk template jvm-spring-backend.
• werkrevisor reads the file at the head of the default branch, so it applies from the first PR after this merge; a change of it always needs a human review.
• After the merge, the operator removes the repository part from the host config on mih09. The review instructions then appear once in the prompt instead of twice, since werkrevisor appends those of the repository.
• Version 1.37.9.