Optibot

AI code review for your AI assistant — review local changes, branch diffs, and patch files.

Optibot is an MCP server published by ai.getoptimal under the package @optimalai/optibot-mcp on npm (version 1.4.1). It connects to an AI assistant via stdio transport and provides code review capabilities driven by an external API, authenticated through the OPTIBOT_API_KEY environment variable.

The core purpose is to bring automated code review into the AI assistant workflow itself. Rather than switching to a separate tool, an agent can invoke Optibot to review local working-copy changes, compare a branch against a base to surface a diff-level review, or analyze patch files directly. This covers the three most common review contexts a developer encounters: uncommitted work in progress, a pull-request-style branch comparison, and applied or imported patch files.

Because it runs over stdio, integration follows the standard MCP stdio pattern — no HTTP server setup is required on the client side. The server requires a valid OPTIBOT_API_KEY to reach the upstream review service, so network access to that service is a dependency.

Optibot is the right choice when an AI coding assistant needs to automatically gate, annotate, or summarize code changes as part of an agentic pipeline, without requiring the developer to leave the assistant interface. It is not a general-purpose static analysis or linting tool, and it is not suitable for environments where outbound API calls to external services are blocked.

Use cases

  • Review uncommitted local code changes from within an AI assistant session
  • Get a code review of a branch diff before opening a pull request
  • Analyze a patch file and surface review feedback automatically
  • Integrate automated code review as a step in an agentic coding pipeline

When to use it

  • An AI assistant needs to review local working-copy changes without leaving the assistant interface
  • An agentic pipeline requires automated review of branch diffs as a workflow step
  • A developer wants patch files reviewed programmatically via an MCP-compatible assistant
  • The environment uses stdio-based MCP transport

When not to use it

  • The environment blocks outbound API calls, since the server requires access to the Optibot API service
  • A general-purpose linter or static analysis tool is needed rather than an AI review service
  • No OPTIBOT_API_KEY is available, as authentication is mandatory
  • An HTTP or SSE MCP transport is required instead of stdio