Self-hosting

REES analyzer reference

Every analyzer name you can put in REES_ANALYZERS, what it inspects, what it reports, and whether it needs network or GitHub token access.

REES runs analyzers independently. A failed analyzer is marked degraded, completed analyzers still return findings, and an empty result produces no user-facing brief. Use exact analyzer names in REES_ANALYZERS. A typo-only analyzer list fails closed with no analyzers selected. Leave REES_PROFILE unset for the balanced profile, or setfast during incidents to favor local and low-cost registry checks.

.env

# Unset, all, or * runs the full registry.
REES_ANALYZERS=all

# A subset runs only the named analyzers.
REES_ANALYZERS=secret,actionPin,redos

# Invalid names are ignored; if none are valid, REES runs no analyzers.
REES_ANALYZERS=unknownName

Profiles

fast

Cost classes: local, registry
Concurrency caps: local:8, registry:2
Response reserve: 500 ms

balanced

default

Cost classes: local, registry, github-light, github-heavy, tooling
Concurrency caps: local:8, registry:3, github-light:2, github-heavy:1, tooling:1
Response reserve: 750 ms

deep

Cost classes: local, registry, github-light, github-heavy, tooling
Concurrency caps: local:8, registry:4, github-light:2, github-heavy:1, tooling:1
Response reserve: 1000 ms

All analyzer names

REES_ANALYZERS names

dependency
lockfileDrift
secret
license
installScript
heavyDependency
actionPin
eol
redos
provenance
codeowners
secretLog
assetWeight
typosquat
commitSignature
iacMisconfig
nativeBuild
history
docCommentDrift
duplication
churnHotspot
blameLink
approvalIntegrity
ciCheckSignals
undocumentedExport
staleBranch
commitHygiene
pendingReviewRequests
testRatio
migrationSafety
looseRange
terminology
todoMarker
magicNumber
conflictMarker
commitLint
unsafeAny

Network and token model

Pure analyzers: secret, actionPin, redos, secretLog, and iacMisconfig work only from the diff/files sent to REES.
Public registry analyzers: dependency, lockfileDrift, license, installScript, heavyDependency, eol, provenance, typosquat, and nativeBuild call public package or lifecycle APIs.
GitHub API analyzers: codeowners, assetWeight, commitSignature, and history need author/head metadata and GitHub token forwarding when the repo is private.

If the REES endpoint is outside your trust boundary, set REES_FORWARD_GITHUB_TOKEN=false. REES will still receive the PR diff/files when enabled, but token-aware analyzers will skip GitHub API reads they cannot authenticate.

Analyzer details

Dependency vulnerabilities

Checks changed direct dependency versions against OSV.dev.

dependencyregistry

Looks at: Added or upgraded dependencies in package.json, requirements.txt, and go.mod diffs.
Reports: Known CVEs with severity, advisory id, summary, and fixed version when OSV publishes one.
Network: Calls OSV.dev. No GitHub token required.
Operational note: Manifest-only by design; use lockfileDrift for transitive lockfile changes.
Profiles: fast, balanced, deep
Requirements: files, public-network

Lockfile drift

Finds vulnerable transitive dependency versions introduced only through lockfile changes.

lockfileDriftregistry

Looks at: package-lock.json, yarn.lock, and poetry.lock patches, excluding packages already named in a changed manifest.
Reports: Lockfile line, package/version, ecosystem, direction, and OSV vulnerability details.
Network: Calls OSV.dev querybatch. No GitHub token required.
Operational note: Useful when a PR does not touch a top-level manifest but changes resolved dependency pins.
Profiles: fast, balanced, deep
Requirements: files, public-network

Hardcoded secrets

Scans added diff lines for credential-shaped values.

secretlocal

Looks at: Added lines in every changed file patch.
Reports: File, line, secret kind, and confidence. The matched value is never returned.
Network: Pure local analyzer. No external network call.
Operational note: High-confidence patterns are treated as rotate-and-remove candidates; generic assignments stay verify-first.
Profiles: fast, balanced, deep
Requirements: files

Dependency licenses

Checks licenses for newly added or upgraded dependencies.

licenseregistry

Looks at: The same direct dependency changes used by the dependency analyzer.
Reports: Copyleft or unknown license classifications that need maintainer compatibility review.
Network: Calls deps.dev. No GitHub token required.
Operational note: Permissive and otherwise-known licenses are intentionally silent.
Profiles: fast, balanced, deep
Requirements: files, public-network

npm install scripts

Flags npm packages that run lifecycle hooks during install.

installScriptregistry

Looks at: New or upgraded npm dependencies.
Reports: Package, version, hook names, and publish date when available.
Network: Calls the npm registry. No GitHub token required.
Operational note: The script body is not returned, which keeps the brief compact and non-executable.
Profiles: fast, balanced, deep
Requirements: files, public-network

Heavy dependencies used trivially

Flags materially heavy npm dependencies used only a few times in changed lines.

heavyDependencyregistry

Looks at: New or upgraded npm dependencies plus direct uses in added lines.
Reports: Package size, dependency count, usage count, and line-cited usage locations.
Network: Calls Bundlephobia. No GitHub token required.
Operational note: Only reports packages with trivial direct usage so the finding stays actionable.
Profiles: fast, balanced, deep
Requirements: files, public-network

Unpinned GitHub Actions

Detects third-party workflow actions pinned to mutable tags or branches.

actionPinlocal

Looks at: Added uses: lines in .github/workflows YAML patches.
Reports: Workflow file, line, action, and mutable ref.
Network: Pure local analyzer. No external network call.
Operational note: Official actions/* and github/* actions are excluded to keep the signal focused.
Profiles: fast, balanced, deep
Requirements: files

End-of-life runtimes

Checks changed runtime and base-image pins against EOL calendars.

eolregistry

Looks at: Dockerfile FROM lines, version-manager pin files (.nvmrc, .python-version, …), Heroku runtime.txt, Gemfile ruby directives, and go.mod runtime pins.
Reports: File, product, version, EOL date, and whether the release is already EOL or close to EOL.
Network: Calls endoflife.date. No GitHub token required.
Operational note: Only changed pins are checked; existing old runtimes outside the PR are not reported.
Profiles: fast, balanced, deep
Requirements: files, public-network

ReDoS-prone regex

Finds newly introduced regex shapes that can catastrophically backtrack.

redoslocal

Looks at: Regex literals and RegExp constructor string arguments in added lines.
Reports: File, line, and a truncated vulnerable pattern.
Network: Pure local analyzer. No external network call.
Operational note: Structural and precision-first; it flags nested unbounded quantifier shapes such as (a+)+.
Profiles: fast, balanced, deep
Requirements: files

Provenance and committed artifacts

Checks package attestations and reviewability of newly added artifacts.

provenanceregistry

Looks at: New npm/PyPI dependency versions plus added binary, vendored, and minified files.
Reports: Missing attestations, binary files without reviewable source, and vendored or minified code.
Network: Calls npm and PyPI attestation/provenance endpoints for package checks. Path checks are local.
Operational note: Network failures fail safe; it flags only confident no-attestation responses.
Profiles: fast, balanced, deep
Requirements: files, public-network

CODEOWNERS coverage

Checks whether changed files cross ownership domains not owned by the PR author.

codeownersgithub-light

Looks at: .github/CODEOWNERS, CODEOWNERS, or docs/CODEOWNERS plus the changed file list.
Reports: Owned files where the PR author is not listed, plus ownership blast-radius context in the rendered brief.
Network: Calls the GitHub API. Requires author plus GitHub token forwarding for private repos.
Operational note: Leave REES_FORWARD_GITHUB_TOKEN unset/false to disable token forwarding; this analyzer will then skip when it cannot read CODEOWNERS.
Profiles: balanced, deep
Requirements: files, author, github-token

Secrets or PII in logs

Flags added code that writes sensitive values to logs or stdout.

secretLoglocal

Looks at: Added lines that call console, logger, process.stdout, or process.stderr sinks.
Reports: File, line, sink, and category: secret, pii, or request-object.
Network: Pure local analyzer. No external network call.
Operational note: String log messages are stripped before matching, so ordinary prose like password reset is not enough to trigger.
Profiles: fast, balanced, deep
Requirements: files

Heavy binary assets

Finds large binary assets added to a PR, and growth deltas when base size is available.

assetWeightgithub-heavy

Looks at: Changed binary assets such as images, fonts, archives, PDFs, videos, and compiled binaries.
Reports: Path, size, delta, and whether the asset was added or grown.
Network: Calls the GitHub API. Requires headSha and GitHub token forwarding for private repos.
Operational note: Added asset detection works from headSha. Growth comparison needs baseSha in the enrichment request.
Profiles: balanced, deep
Requirements: files, github-token, head-sha

Typosquat and dependency-confusion risk

Checks newly added dependency names for near-miss and publicly claimable package names.

typosquatregistry

Looks at: Newly added npm and PyPI dependency names.
Reports: Typosquat matches against popular packages, or unscoped names missing from the public registry.
Network: Uses bundled popular-package lists plus npm/PyPI registry lookups for dependency-confusion checks.
Operational note: Scoped npm packages are treated as namespace-protected and are not flagged as typosquats.
Profiles: fast, balanced, deep
Requirements: files, public-network

Head commit signature

Checks head commit signature and public author provenance.

commitSignaturegithub-light

Looks at: The head commit plus a bounded slice of recent repository commit history.
Reports: GitHub signature verification reason and public boolean provenance flags.
Network: Calls the GitHub API. Requires headSha and GitHub token forwarding for private repos.
Operational note: Does not expose emails or private identity data; only public GitHub commit facts are surfaced.
Profiles: balanced, deep
Requirements: github-token, head-sha

IaC / config misconfiguration

Flags risky IaC/config changes such as public buckets or insecure CORS.

iacMisconfiglocal

Looks at: Added lines in Docker, Terraform, YAML, JSON, and similar config files.
Reports: File, line, and public-safe rule kind.
Network: Pure local analyzer. No external network call.
Operational note: Reports configuration shapes only; it does not inspect private runtime config.
Profiles: fast, balanced, deep
Requirements: files

Native-build dependencies

Flags newly-added dependencies that compile native code or ship sdist-only builds.

nativeBuildregistry

Looks at: New npm/PyPI dependency versions.
Reports: Package, version, ecosystem, native-build kind, and public-safe reason.
Network: Calls npm and PyPI registries. No GitHub token required.
Operational note: Registry JSON is capped so large package metadata cannot monopolize REES memory.
Profiles: fast, balanced, deep
Requirements: files, public-network

Author and change-area history

Shows public author track record, same-file PR history, and linked-issue alignment.

historygithub-heavy

Looks at: The PR author, changed file paths, linked issue text, added diff lines, and bounded GitHub history lookups.
Reports: Prior PR counts, similar past PRs, linked issue coverage, and partial/degraded status.
Network: Calls GitHub API with bounded fanout. Requires author plus GitHub token forwarding for private repos.
Operational note: Returns partial findings when GitHub lookups are skipped, capped, or budget-exhausted.
Profiles: balanced, deep
Requirements: files, github-token, author

Doc-comment drift

Flags a JSDoc/TSDoc @param that names a parameter the PR removed or renamed but left documented.

docCommentDriftgithub-light

Looks at: Changed TS/JS source files at headSha, comparing each named function's old vs new parameter list.
Reports: File, line, function, and the stale parameter name(s).
Network: Calls the GitHub API for changed file contents. Requires headSha and token forwarding for private repos.
Operational note: Conservative: only named function declarations with confidently-enumerable params; non-parameter signature edits are not reported.
Profiles: balanced, deep
Requirements: files, github-token, head-sha

Near-verbatim duplicated code

Flags added code that is a near-verbatim duplicate of a block already present elsewhere in the repo.

duplicationgithub-light

Looks at: Added diff hunks in changed source files compared against same-extension repo files fetched from the git tree at headSha.
Reports: The head file:line, the existing source file:line it duplicates, and the matched line count.
Network: Calls the GitHub API for the git tree and candidate blobs. Requires headSha and token forwarding for private repos.
Operational note: Conservative: trivial/boilerplate lines are dropped and a long contiguous run is required, so incidental overlap is not flagged. Never returns code content.
Profiles: balanced, deep
Requirements: files, github-token, head-sha

Churn hotspots

Flags changed files that are statistical fragility hotspots — high commit frequency and a high fix/revert fraction.

churnHotspotgithub-heavy

Looks at: Each changed file's recent commit history (a 90-day window), excluding lockfiles, generated output, and binaries.
Reports: File, commit count, fix/revert count, and the window — counts only, never file contents.
Network: Calls the GitHub commits API once per probed file. Requires GitHub token forwarding for private repos.
Operational note: Distinct from the history analyzer's author track record; this scores the change AREA's defect density.
Profiles: balanced, deep
Requirements: files, github-token

Recent file history (last PR to touch)

For files this PR modifies or deletes, surfaces the last PR to touch each file — file-level history context, not per-line blame.

blameLinkgithub-light

Looks at: Each changed file's most recent base-branch commit (bounded to the first few files) and that commit's associated PR.
Reports: File, a pointer to where this PR changes it, the last-touching PR number, and a short commit-SHA prefix — never file contents.
Network: Calls the GitHub commits API and the commit→PR association API, both bounded by a total lookup cap.
Operational note: File-level, not per-line: it reports each file's most recent prior toucher, never claiming a specific line's origin. Fail-safe and partial on cap.
Profiles: balanced, deep
Requirements: files, github-token

Review/approval integrity

Flags review/approval integrity signals: an APPROVED review that predates the current head commit, the author approving their own PR, and a reviewer whose current review is still CHANGES_REQUESTED.

approvalIntegritygithub-light

Looks at: The PR's reviews (walked page by page, bounded), reduced to each reviewer's most recent submitted review — GitHub's own semantics for a reviewer's current vote.
Reports: Reviewer login, the finding kind, and (for a stale approval) a short commit-SHA prefix — never review body text.
Network: Calls the GitHub PR-reviews API, paginated and bounded to a fixed page cap.
Operational note: Structured-fields-only: reads state/commit_id/user.login/submitted_at, never diff or review-body text. Fail-safe on missing token/head SHA/fetch error.
Profiles: balanced, deep
Requirements: github-token, head-sha

CI check-run signals

Flags a named check that only went green after one or more earlier non-success attempts at the current head commit, and any completed check run whose duration crossed a fixed threshold.

ciCheckSignalsgithub-light

Looks at: The head commit's check-runs (one bounded page), grouped by name and ordered by start time.
Reports: Check name and either the count of failed attempts before success, or the run's duration in minutes — never logs or output.
Network: Calls the GitHub check-runs API once, bounded to one page.
Operational note: Structured-fields-only: reads name/status/conclusion/started_at/completed_at, never check output or logs. Fail-safe on missing token/head SHA/fetch error.
Profiles: balanced, deep
Requirements: github-token, head-sha

Undocumented public exports

Flags exports newly added to a package's public entrypoint (an index.* barrel) that ship with no adjacent doc comment.

undocumentedExportgithub-light

Looks at: Direct `export const/let/var/function/class/interface/type/enum` declarations added to changed index.* files, checked against the file fetched at headSha.
Reports: File, line, and symbol name of each undocumented added export — never file contents.
Network: One GitHub contents fetch per changed entrypoint (at headSha). Requires GitHub token forwarding for private repos.
Operational note: Conservative: re-export lists (`export { x }`) and `export *` are ignored; a preceding `//` line (except tool directives like `eslint-disable`) or a real JSDoc `/**` block counts as documented (a plain `/* … */` block does not).
Profiles: balanced, deep
Requirements: files, github-token, head-sha

Stale branch signal

Flags a PR whose head is significantly behind the repo's current default branch — a staleness risk a clean `mergeable` check alone would not surface.

staleBranchgithub-light

Looks at: The repo's current default branch and how many commits behind it the PR's head is (the GitHub compare API).
Reports: The default branch name and the commit count behind it — never commit content.
Network: Calls the GitHub repo API once and the compare API once.
Operational note: Structured-fields-only: reads default_branch and behind_by, never diff or commit text. Fail-safe on missing token/head SHA/either fetch failing.
Profiles: balanced, deep
Requirements: github-token, head-sha

Commit-history hygiene

Flags commit-history hygiene issues: a merge commit pulled into the PR's own history, a commit left with git's fixup!/squash! autosquash marker, and a commit carrying a Co-authored-by trailer.

commitHygienegithub-light

Looks at: The PR's commits (one bounded page) — each commit's message subject/trailers and parent count.
Reports: A short commit-SHA prefix, the finding kind, and (for fixup/co-author) the subject line or co-author — never full diff/file content.
Network: Calls the GitHub PR-commits API once, bounded to one page.
Operational note: Structured-fields-only: reads commit.message and parents, matched one line at a time, never cross-line state. Fail-safe on missing token/fetch error.
Profiles: balanced, deep
Requirements: github-token

Pending review-request staleness

Flags a reviewer or team whose review request has been outstanding 48+ hours with no response yet.

pendingReviewRequestsgithub-light

Looks at: The PR's currently pending requested reviewers/teams, matched against the issue timeline's review_requested events (bounded, page-confirmed complete).
Reports: The reviewer login (or team:slug) and hours pending — never review content.
Network: Calls the GitHub requested-reviewers API once and the issue-timeline API, paginated and bounded to a fixed page cap.
Operational note: Structured-fields-only: reads user.login/team.slug/event/created_at, never diff or comment text. Fail-safe on missing token/fetch error/an unconfirmed-complete timeline.
Profiles: balanced, deep
Requirements: github-token

Test-to-code ratio

Flags a PR whose source change is material but ships with disproportionately little (or zero) accompanying test change.

testRatiolocal

Looks at: Each changed file's path (classified source vs test by naming convention) and added-line count.
Reports: Source/test added-line and file counts and the resulting ratio — never file content.
Network: Pure local analyzer. No external network call.
Operational note: A cheap, always-available complement to the coverage-delta analyzer: works even when no CI coverage artifact exists.
Profiles: fast, balanced, deep
Requirements: files

SQL migration safety

Flags risky schema operations in added migration SQL: drops, renames, non-nullable columns without a default, and blocking table rewrites.

migrationSafetylocal

Looks at: Added lines in migration paths (migrations/, db/migrate/, *.sql).
Reports: File, line, and public-safe rule kind — never SQL content.
Network: Pure local analyzer. No external network call.
Operational note: Detection is line-anchored single-statement shapes only; statements split across lines are skipped rather than tracked with cross-line state.
Profiles: fast, balanced, deep
Requirements: files

Loose dependency version range

Flags newly-added npm dependency specifiers that use dangerously loose ranges instead of a pinned/caret/tilde range.

looseRangelocal

Looks at: Added specifier lines in package.json patches.
Reports: Manifest file, line, package, raw specifier, and loose-range kind.
Network: Pure local analyzer. No external network call.
Operational note: Judges only the version specifier, never the package; wildcard, latest, unbounded >=, and bare-major ranges let any future publish flow into the next install.
Profiles: fast, balanced, deep
Requirements: files

Non-inclusive terminology

Flags non-inclusive terms newly added in identifiers or comments (whitelist/blacklist, master/slave) and suggests the neutral replacement.

terminologylocal

Looks at: Added lines in any changed file, tokenized on camelCase/snake_case/word boundaries.
Reports: File, line, the matched term, and the suggested replacement.
Network: Pure local analyzer. No external network call.
Operational note: Token-based matching avoids substring false positives (masterclass/postmaster are never flagged), and URLs are skipped. The term→suggestion table is a bounded in-file policy.
Profiles: fast, balanced, deep
Requirements: files

Incomplete-work markers

Surfaces TODO/FIXME/HACK/XXX markers a PR adds in comments, so a reviewer sees the change is shipping known-incomplete work.

todoMarkerlocal

Looks at: Added lines with an uppercase, comment-anchored marker across any changed file.
Reports: File, line, tag, and a truncated note.
Network: Pure local analyzer. No external network call.
Operational note: Precision-first: only UPPERCASE, comment-anchored markers are reported (a lowercase `todo` identifier or a marker inside a string literal is never flagged); a bare marker inside a multi-line block comment is intentionally not matched.
Profiles: fast, balanced, deep
Requirements: files

Magic numbers

Flags newly-added non-trivial numeric literals in non-test source where a named constant would clarify intent.

magicNumberlocal

Looks at: Added lines in source files, excluding tests, strings, comments, trivial sentinels/scales, named constants, array indexes, and enum-like initializers.
Reports: File, line, and numeric literal text only.
Network: Pure local analyzer. No external network call.
Operational note: Precision-first: common values such as 0, 1, -1, 2, 100, 1000, and powers of ten are silent.
Profiles: fast, balanced, deep
Requirements: files

Leftover conflict markers

Flags leftover VCS conflict markers (`<<<<<<<`, `|||||||`, `=======`, `>>>>>>>`) accidentally committed in added lines.

conflictMarkerlocal

Looks at: Added lines in every changed file.
Reports: File, line, and the marker shape — never line content.
Network: Pure local analyzer. No external network call.
Operational note: Structural: an exactly-seven-character marker run at column 0. The ambiguous `=======` separator is not flagged in Markdown/AsciiDoc files, where it is a legitimate section rule.
Profiles: fast, balanced, deep
Requirements: files

Conventional-commit subjects

Lints the PR's commit subjects against the Conventional Commits spec and flags non-conforming subjects (bad/absent type, over-long, or empty).

commitLintgithub-light

Looks at: The PR's commits (one bounded page) — each commit's message subject line.
Reports: A short commit-SHA prefix, the subject line, and the failing reason — never full diff/file content.
Network: Calls the GitHub PR-commits API once, bounded to one page.
Operational note: Structured-fields-only: reads commit.message subjects, linted independently, never cross-line state. Fail-safe on missing token/fetch error.
Profiles: balanced, deep
Requirements: github-token

Unsafe `any` usage

Counts and locates explicit `any` usages (`: any`, `as any`, `<any>`) newly added in TypeScript diffs.

unsafeAnylocal

Looks at: Added lines of changed .ts/.tsx files (ambient .d.ts skipped); string- and comment-only occurrences are stripped.
Reports: File, line, and the `any` kind (annotation / cast / assertion) — never surrounding contents.
Network: Pure local analyzer. No external network call.
Operational note: Structural regex only — no type-checker — so it is a type-safety-erosion hint, not a definitive count.
Profiles: fast, balanced, deep
Requirements: files

Back to REES setup

Use REES enrichment for enablement, auth, troubleshooting, and where the brief appears in the review result.

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