Getting started with the optibot config file

The .optibot configuration file is a JSON file that controls how Optibot behaves in your repository. By customizing this file, you can:

• Enable or disable automatic code reviews for pull/merge requests

• Control which review categories are included or excluded

• Customize summary generation to match your team's needs

• Configure dependency bundling recommendations

• Enable CI/CD pipeline fixes automatically

• Reference custom coding guidelines for context-aware reviews

• Exclude specific users or labels from Optibot's analysis

This guide will walk you through each configuration option with detailed explanations and practical examples.

Optibot Configuration Options

1. Summaries - Settings to control the depth, workflow triggers and exclusions for optibots summaries.

2. Reviews - Settings to control code generation, workflow triggers, focus areas and automations for optibots agentic review capabilities.

3. Dependency Bundler - Settings to control control optibots ability to intelligently manage your incoming dependabot dependencies.

4. Automated CI Fixer [Beta] - Settings to control optibots ability to fix issues in your github action checksuite.

Creating your .optibot file

Create a file named .optibot (note the dot prefix) in the root directory of your repository. Each repo can be configured with their own optibot configuration file.

You can create the file directly using VSCode/Cursor/Jetbrains or Windsurf like so:

Alternatively you can also create the file using this terminal command.

# In your repository root
touch .optibot

You can also view this configuration inside the product at agents.getoptimal.ai
Dashboard → Documentation → Advanced Configuration.

Adding a basic configuration for Optibot

Most optibot users opt in for a basic configuration that lets them generate summaries and reviews automatically. Please note that .optibot configuration files must be committed and maintained on your main branch. Here's the .optibot file for it.

{
  "reviews": {
    "auto": true
  },
  "summary": {
    "auto": true,
    "level": "basic"
  }
}

Once you have the above file created. Simply git push and commit into your main branch.

git add .optibot
git commit -m "Add Optibot configuration"
git push origin main

Once the file is committed to your main branch, the configuration will take effect immediately for new pull/merge requests.

Below is a more extensive example of a .opitbot file.

{
  "reviews": {
    "auto": true,
    "autoApprove": true,
    "codeSuggestions": true,
    "codeSuggestionsSkipFiles": ["*.md", "docs/*", "vendor/*"],
    "excludedLabels": ["wontfix", "low-priority"],
    "excludedUsers": ["bot-account"]
  },
  "summary": {
    "auto": true,
    "level": "detailed",
    "excludedLabels": ["wontfix", "low-priority"],
    "excludedUsers": ["bot-account"]
  },
  "dependencyBundler": {
    "enabled": true
  },
  "enableCIFixer": true,
  "guidelinesUrl": "docs/guidelines/README.md"
}