Review depth

Every review runs at one depth:

Depth	Use it for
`standard`	Focused reviews for everyday changes.
`deep`	Thorough reviews that trace changes across the codebase.
`max`	The most thorough review, for critical code paths.

Deeper reviews take longer and cost more. otto.yml lets you spend depth where it matters: max on payments and auth, standard on docs, and your workspace default everywhere else.

Set a depth

For the whole repository:

otto.yml

version: 1
reviews:
  depth: standard

For specific paths:

otto.yml

version: 1
reviews:
  depth: deep
  paths:
    - match: ['src/payments/**', 'src/auth/**']
      depth: max
    - match: ['docs/**', '**/*.md']
      depth: standard

How Otto picks the depth

A pull request is reviewed at one depth, chosen from the files it changes:

Each changed file gets a depth

The highest depth among the paths rules that match the file.
If no rule with a depth matches, reviews.depth.
If reviews.depth isn’t set, your workspace’s depth.

The review runs at the highest of those

standard < deep < max. Ignored files don’t count.

So a path rule can raise or lower the depth, but the deepest file in a PR always wins.

Examples

With the config above (reviews.depth: deep, payments and auth at max, docs at standard):

The PR changes	Depth	Why
`docs/setup.md`	`standard`	Only file matches the docs rule.
`docs/setup.md`, `src/api/users.ts`	`deep`	`users.ts` matches no rule, so it gets `reviews.depth`.
`docs/setup.md`, `src/payments/refund.ts`	`max`	`refund.ts` matches the payments rule.
`src/payments/README.md`	`max`	It matches both rules; a file takes the highest matching depth.
`pnpm-lock.yaml`	`deep`	The lockfile is ignored by default, so only `reviews.depth` applies.

When every changed file is ignored, only reviews.depth can apply. If it isn’t set, the review runs at your workspace depth.

Lowering the depth for low-risk paths

A standard rule only lowers the depth when every reviewable file in the PR is covered by rules at standard. Any other file raises the review back to reviews.depth or your workspace depth. To review a repository at standard by default and go deeper only where it matters, set reviews.depth: standard and raise specific paths:

otto.yml

version: 1
reviews:
  depth: standard
  paths:
    - match: ['src/core/**']
      depth: deep
    - match: ['src/billing/**', 'migrations/**']
      depth: max

Rules combine

Every matching rule contributes, so overlapping rules are fine:

A file’s depth is the highest depth among all rules that match it, not the first match.
A rule without a depth (for example, one that only adds instructions) doesn’t affect the depth.
Rule order doesn’t matter for depth.

Precedence

Source	Priority
A model pinned for your workspace by Otto support	Wins over everything
`otto.yml` path rules and `reviews.depth`	Wins over the workspace depth
Workspace depth in Settings → Reviews	Applies when `otto.yml` doesn’t decide

The depth applies to /otto review and /otto re-review as well as automatic reviews.

​Set a depth

​How Otto picks the depth

​Examples

​Lowering the depth for low-risk paths

​Rules combine

​Precedence

Set a depth

How Otto picks the depth

Examples

Lowering the depth for low-risk paths

Rules combine

Precedence