PRetty Smart

Inspiration

PR reviews are where quality, consistency, and team alignment are decided - but the day-to-day workflow is still heavier than it should be. Reviewers constantly bounce between diffs, comment threads, CI signals, and the effort of writing feedback that is clear, actionable, and well-toned. Even when the technical insight is obvious, turning it into a good PR comment or a useful summary takes time and context switching.
We looked at this problem through the lens of MX Creative Console + MX Master 4 + Actions Ring: these devices are built for high-frequency actions, and PR work is full of exactly that kind of repeated interaction. In this way the idea became: reduce friction by moving the right review actions onto tactile controls, and use AI only to improve the communication layer.
We intentionally constrained AI to assistive tasks: refine voice comments, draft a concise "what changed" summary when feasible, and suggest small improvements - without automatically changing code.

What it does

PRetty Smart is a hardware-driven companion for PR review workflows in VS Code using MX Creative Console + MX Master 4 + Actions Ring. It lets you navigate PR changes and common review steps through tactile controls (dial/keys/overlay) by orchestrating existing VS Code and Git/PR tooling, so you can stay in flow instead of constantly switching views and context.
It also adds an assistive AI layer focused on PR communication: you can dictate a review comment and get a clearer, more professional draft, generate a concise “what changed” summary when enough context is available, and receive small improvement suggestions. AI never edits code automatically - developers remain fully in control of all changes.

How we built it

We treated Phase 1 as a focused design sprint and iterated until the scope was both differentiated and realistic:
From "build a new Git interface" to "orchestrate what already exists."
Instead of competing with existing VS Code Git/PR extensions, we shaped PRetty Smart as a lightweight orchestrator: it triggers existing commands, reads minimal context, and lets the Logitech side own navigation and "one-tap" review actions.
From "AI edits code" to "AI improves PR output."
There are plenty of tools that generate patches. We chose the higher-signal area that teams consistently struggle with: turning intent into crisp review comments and summaries without losing meaning.
From "shortcuts" to "stateful interaction."
The goal isn’t a random macro board. It’s a repeatable flow where dial/keys/Actions Ring reflect where you are in review - navigation, drafting feedback, capturing context without breaking concentration.
This is how PRetty Smart became what it is: hardware-first PR workflows + assistive AI for comments and summaries, built on top of existing VS Code capabilities rather than replacing them.

Challenges we ran into

Even before implementation, several practical constraints shaped the design:
Differentiation without duplication.
The VS Code ecosystem is rich. Our main challenge was choosing a direction that adds value without re-implementing Git or PR UX.
Defining minimal, reliable signals.
PR workflows vary widely between teams and setups. We narrowed the concept to the smallest inputs that are broadly available: editor focus, selection, changed files, and best-effort PR context so the workflow remains robust.
Keeping AI output trustworthy.
PR summaries can become misleading if they guess. That pushed us toward outputs that are short, clearly draft-like, easy to edit, and grounded in whatever context is actually available - especially for voice-based review comments.
Scope discipline under hackathon constraints.
It’s easy to imagine a huge feature set. The Phase 1 challenge was reducing it to a small, feasible core: navigation + comment refinement + summary drafting, with the device as the primary controller.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We’re proud that we pinpointed a concrete gap the Actions SDK and Logitech hardware can fill: turning PR review into a tactile, context-aware workflow instead of a scattered mix of mouse/keyboard hops and UI hunting. That “workflow control layer” is the core insight we built everything around.
We’re also proud that we structured the concept to be genuinely useful day-to-day - focused on faster navigation and better PR communication - while staying realistic, low-friction, and compatible with existing VS Code Git/PR tooling.

What we learned

Two things became clear early:
Rebuilding Git inside VS Code would be a trap. The ecosystem already has strong Git/PR tooling, and recreating it would burn time without improving the actual review experience.
The real leverage is a workflow layer: a small, reliable set of context-aware actions mapped to hardware, plus AI that helps reviewers communicate faster and better.
Those decisions made the concept sharper, more feasible, and better aligned with what we can demonstrate in the next stage.

What's next for PRetty Smart

Next, we’ll move from concept to implementation: start building the Actions SDK integration and the VS Code workflow layer, then validate it through hands-on testing in real PR review scenarios. Our focus is to make it genuinely useful in day-to-day work.
As we build, we’ll iterate quickly based on what feels natural and fast on the hardware - refining mappings, workflow states, and reliability. In parallel, we’ll add the assistive AI pieces (voice comment refinement, lightweight summaries, small suggestions) and adjust them based on developer feedback so the output stays accurate, practical, and easy to trust.

Built With

• c#
• logitechactionssdk
• typescript
• vscodeextensionapi
• whisper