CodeRabbit Documentation - AI code reviews on pull requests, IDE, and CLI

Maintain CodeRabbit configuration for your entire organization in one dedicated repository. Create a coderabbit repository in your organization and add your .coderabbit.yaml file - CodeRabbit automatically applies these settings to any repository that doesn’t have its own configuration.

This page covers sharing .coderabbit.yaml setting values across repositories only. Sourcing guideline file content from another repository through knowledge_base.code_guidelines.filePatterns is a separate mechanism documented on the Code Guidelines page.

Organization-wide consistency

Single source of truth for code review standards across all repositories

Simplified management

Update settings once instead of modifying each repository individually

Configuration hierarchy

Global overrides take precedence over everything, followed by repository configs, central configs, and organization defaults - giving admins enforcement power while keeping teams flexible

How configuration resolution works

CodeRabbit checks for configuration in this priority order:

Priority	Source	Location
0 (Highest)	Workspace global overrides	CodeRabbit UI - Workspace Settings - Global Overrides (Enterprise workspace customers)
1	Organization global overrides	CodeRabbit UI - Organization Settings - Global Overrides
2	Repository file	`.coderabbit.yaml` in the repository
3	Central repository	`.coderabbit.yaml` in `coderabbit` repository
4	Repository settings	CodeRabbit UI - Repository Settings
5	Organization settings	CodeRabbit UI - Organization Settings
6	Workspace settings	CodeRabbit UI - Workspace Settings (Enterprise workspace customers)
7 (Lowest)	Default settings	CodeRabbit schema defaults

Global overrides are applied as the final layer, after all other sources (including the inheritance chain) have been resolved. This makes them the authoritative source of truth - any value set in global overrides wins over every other configuration layer. For Enterprise workspace customers, workspace global overrides apply after organization global overrides and win on conflicts. The configuration source appears in the CodeRabbit comment on the pull request:

Repository file: Path: .coderabbit.yaml
Central repository: Repository: coderabbit/.coderabbit.yaml
UI settings: CodeRabbit UI

For enforcing organization-wide policies that repositories cannot override, see Global overrides.

Setup

Critical requirement: You must install CodeRabbit on the central coderabbit repository. CodeRabbit needs access to read the configuration file.

Create the central repository

Create a repository named coderabbit in your organization. The location depends on your platform:

GitHub: organization/coderabbit
GitLab: group/coderabbit (or group/subgroup/coderabbit for nested groups)
Azure DevOps: project/coderabbit
Bitbucket Cloud: workspace/coderabbit

Add your configuration

Create a .coderabbit.yaml file in the repository root with your organization’s settings:

.coderabbit.yaml

reviews:
  in_progress_fortune: false
  profile: chill
  request_changes_workflow: true
  high_level_summary: true
  poem: false
  review_status: true
  auto_review:
    enabled: true
    drafts: true
chat:
  art: false

Install CodeRabbit

Install CodeRabbit on the central coderabbit repository through your platform’s installation process.

Verify configuration

Check a repository that doesn’t have its own .coderabbit.yaml file. The configuration source should show Repository: coderabbit/.coderabbit.yaml in the CodeRabbit UI.

GitLab hierarchical configuration

GitLab supports team-specific configurations through its nested group structure. CodeRabbit automatically finds the closest coderabbit repository in your group hierarchy, allowing different teams to have their own settings while maintaining organization-wide defaults. Configuration inheritance example:

Project path	Configuration used
`company/team-a/subteam/project1`	`company/team-a/subteam/coderabbit`
`company/team-a/project2`	`company/team-a/coderabbit`
`company/team-b/project3`	`company/coderabbit`

This enables team-specific configurations with automatic fallback to parent group settings.

For configuration inheritance to work across the group hierarchy, CodeRabbit must be installed on the top-level group (for example, company in the table above). This grants CodeRabbit the access it needs to discover and read coderabbit repositories at every level of the hierarchy.

Platform limitations

Azure DevOps: Each project requires its own coderabbit repository - no cross-project configuration sharing
Bitbucket Server: Central configuration not yet implemented - use individual repository settings

Repository overrides

Individual repositories can override central configuration by adding their own .coderabbit.yaml file.

Repository-specific config

reviews:
  profile: assertive
  high_level_summary: true
  poem: true
  review_status: true
  auto_review:
    enabled: true
    drafts: false
chat:
  art: true

When a repository has its own configuration file, CodeRabbit uses that instead of the central configuration. Repository settings take precedence over central settings.

What’s next

Configuration overview

Understand how CodeRabbit resolves settings across UI, repository, and global override layers

Repository settings

Configure CodeRabbit settings for an individual repository

Configuration reference

Browse the complete list of available .coderabbit.yaml settings

Platform

Getting Started

Triage

Pull Request Reviews

Available actions

Pre-Merge Checks

Post-Merge Actions

Finishing touches

Knowledge Base

Security Agent

Configuration

Tools

CodeRabbit Plan

Issue Management

Resources

Central configuration

Organization-wide consistency

Simplified management

Configuration hierarchy

How configuration resolution works

Setup

GitLab hierarchical configuration

Platform limitations

Repository overrides

What’s next

Configuration overview

Repository settings

Configuration reference

Organization-wide consistency

Simplified management

Configuration hierarchy

​How configuration resolution works

​Setup

​GitLab hierarchical configuration

​Platform limitations

​Repository overrides

​What’s next

Configuration overview

Repository settings

Configuration reference

How configuration resolution works

Setup

GitLab hierarchical configuration

Platform limitations

Repository overrides

What’s next