Author Filtering

Exclude specific authors from extraction to reduce noise in your code review output.

Author filtering lets you exclude comments from specific users. This is useful for filtering out automated comments, bot feedback, or reviewers whose comments you want to handle separately.

Common Use Cases

Filtering Bots

Many projects have automated tools that comment on PRs:

  • @dependabot - Dependency updates
  • @github-actions - CI/CD status
  • @sonarcloud - Code quality reports
  • @codecov - Coverage reports

These comments are often informational rather than actionable feedback. Filtering them keeps your extraction focused on human review comments.

Filtering Your Own Comments

If you're the PR author, you might want to exclude your own replies to keep just the reviewer feedback.

Filtering Specific Reviewers

Sometimes you want to address feedback from specific reviewers separately. Extract once with filtering, then again without, to handle different reviewers' comments in focused sessions.

Setting Up Exclusions

  1. Open the GitSniper popup
  2. Scroll to Exclude Authors
  3. Enter the username (with or without @)
  4. Click Add

The author appears as a tag below the input. Click the x on any tag to remove the exclusion.

Exclusion Scope

GitSniper supports two exclusion scopes:

Global (All MRs)

Applies to every PR/MR you extract from. Use this for:

  • Bots you never want to include
  • CI/CD accounts
  • Automated tools

Local (This MR Only)

Applies only to the current PR/MR. Use this for:

  • Temporary exclusions
  • Reviewer-specific filtering for one review
  • Testing the feature

Toggle between scopes using the buttons above the excluded authors list.

How Filtering Works

When you click the GitSniper button:

  1. GitSniper scans all comments on the page
  2. Comments from excluded authors are skipped
  3. The debug section shows how many were excluded

Example output:

==================================================
DEBUG INFORMATION:
==================================================
Total comments found: 15
Comments excluded: 4

Authors detected:
  - @dependabot (excluded)
  - @github-actions (excluded)
  - @senior-dev (Reviewer)
  - @tech-lead (Reviewer)

Excluded authors: @dependabot, @github-actions

Author Detection

GitSniper detects authors from:

  • The username displayed next to each comment
  • Profile links in the comment header
  • Thread attribution for replies

Autocomplete

When you type in the exclusion input, GitSniper suggests authors found on the current page. This helps ensure you're using the correct username format.

Limitations

Username Matching

Exclusions are exact matches. @dependabot won't match @dependabot[bot] if that's how the username appears.

To find the exact username:

  1. Look at the comment header on the PR page
  2. Hover over the author name to see the full username
  3. Use that exact string in the exclusion

Renamed Accounts

If an author has renamed their account, you may need to update your exclusion list.

Per-Session Autocomplete

The autocomplete suggestions come from the current page. If you navigate to a new PR, you'll see different suggestions based on that PR's participants.

Managing Exclusions

Viewing Active Exclusions

All excluded authors appear as tags in the GitSniper popup, organised by scope (Global vs Local).

Removing Exclusions

Click the x on any author tag to remove the exclusion.

Bulk Management

Currently, exclusions are managed one at a time through the popup interface. For bulk updates, you can access the extension's storage directly through browser developer tools (advanced users only).