Revolutionizing Code Review with Planar: A Superhuman Tool for Developers
As software development continues to boom, engineers spend a significant amount of time reviewing code. According to a survey, engineers spend 33% of their work time reviewing code. However, existing code review tools are not optimized for senior developers who spend hours every day reading code. This is where Planar comes in, a New York-based start-up founded in 2022, aiming to revolutionize code review with its chrome extension, offering 10x features to GitHub code review.
In this article, we’ll dive into the details of Planar, its features, benefits, and the value it brings to software development.
What is Planar, and How Does it Work?
Planar is a chrome extension that adds features used internally by big tech companies to GitHub. It is designed for the senior developer who spends most of their time reading and reviewing code. The tool helps to simplify and supercharge GitHub code review by using AI-powered file organization, review inbox, stacked reviews, and gifs.
Planar works by analyzing code changes and automatically breaks them into smaller sections that should be reviewed together, such as changes that touch the same React component, API change, etc. This feature helps to make code review more efficient and effective, as developers can focus on specific areas of code changes that need attention.
The tool also offers a review inbox that organizes pull requests from different repositories into a single view, making it easier to see which PRs are waiting for review. This feature helps to save time and reduce noise from notifications and slack messages.
Planar also offers stacked reviews, which are an essential workflow that teams use to break large feature work into smaller reviews. This feature helps to improve collaboration and communication among team members.
Lastly, Planar has a collection of gifs that can be accessed directly from the comment window, helping to make code review fun and timeless.
What are the Benefits of Using Planar?
Planar offers several benefits to software engineers, including:
Improved Efficiency: Planar’s AI-powered file organization feature helps to make code review more efficient by breaking large PRs into smaller sections, making it easier to focus on specific areas of code changes that need attention.
Time-Saving: Planar’s review inbox feature organizes pull requests from different repositories into a single view, reducing the time spent managing notifications and slack messages.
Better Collaboration: Planar’s stacked reviews feature helps to improve collaboration and communication among team members, making it easier to break large feature work into smaller reviews.
Fun and Timeless: Planar’s gif collection helps to make code review fun and timeless, helping to improve the overall engineering culture.
What Makes Planar Stand Out?
Planar stands out from other code review tools in several ways, including:
Superhuman Features: Planar offers features that are used internally by big tech companies, giving developers access to tools that help to supercharge GitHub code review.
AI-Powered File Organization: Planar’s AI-powered file organization feature is unique and offers a significant advantage over other code review tools.
Simple Integration: Integrating with Planar is simple, requiring only the download of the extension and sign-in with GitHub credentials.
Privacy and Security: Planar has a strong privacy and security policy, ensuring that no raw source code is stored on Planar databases.
Who are the Founders of Planar?
Planar was founded in 2022 by two active founders, Eshan Agarwal and Viraj Rai. Both founders have extensive experience in software engineering and have worked in several tech companies, including Facebook, Google, and LinkedIn.
What is Planar’s Future Roadmap?
Planar has ambitious plans for the future. They aim to become the go-to tool for engineers who want to streamline their code review process. Some of the features they plan to add include:
More language support - Planar currently supports Javascript, typescript, and Python, but they plan to add more languages in the future.
Code analysis - They plan to use machine learning to analyze code and suggest improvements. This will help engineers catch errors and improve code quality.
Improved collaboration - Planar plans to add features that will make it easier for teams to collaborate on code reviews. This includes better comment threading, mentions, and notifications.
Mobile support - Planar is currently only available as a Chrome extension, but they plan to release mobile versions of the app for iOS and Android.
Integration with other tools - Planar plans to integrate with other popular development tools, such as JIRA and Trello.
Planar has a strong vision for the future, and they are committed to continuously improving their product. They are always looking for feedback from their users to help guide their development roadmap.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Planar is a promising startup that is revolutionizing the way engineers conduct code review. With their innovative product and ambitious future roadmap, they have the potential to become a leading tool for developers seeking to improve their code review process. Their focus on senior developers and their 10x features set them apart from existing tools, and their commitment to privacy and security makes them a trustworthy choice for organizations of all sizes.
Whether you're a solo developer or a member of a large development team, Planar can help you work more efficiently and effectively. With features like AI-powered file organization and stacked reviews, you can spend less time on administrative tasks and more time writing high-quality code. And with their planned updates, including more language support and improved collaboration features, Planar is poised to become an even more valuable tool in the future.
Overall, if you're looking to streamline your code review process and improve your productivity as a developer, then Planar is definitely worth considering. Their product is easy to use, their security measures are top-notch, and their vision for the future is ambitious and exciting. Give it a try and see how it can help you supercharge your GitHub code review!