SmartPatchLinker: An Open-Source Tool to Linked Changes Detection for Code Review

2026-04-05

AI Summary

This work addresses the challenge of delayed discovery of semantically related code changes in large-scale software ecosystems, which often leads to redundant effort and sluggish code review. To mitigate this, we propose SmartPatchLinker—a lightweight Chrome extension that, for the first time, integrates a local inference backend with a browser extension to enable real-time retrieval and ranking of semantically relevant patches directly within the Gerrit code review interface. The system operates without server-side deployment, dynamically recommending related changes by leveraging the Gerrit API, semantic similarity computation, and Docker containerization. It further supports customizable search scopes and visualizes recommendation confidence. Usability evaluations demonstrate that SmartPatchLinker significantly enhances review efficiency. All source code, reproduction packages, and demonstration videos are publicly released.

Abstract

In large software ecosystems, semantically related code changes, such as alternative solutions or overlapping modifications are often discovered only days after submission, leading to duplicated effort and delayed reviews. We present SmartPatchLinker, a browser based tool that supports the discovery of related patches directly within the code review interface. SmartPatchLinker is implemented as a lightweight Chrome extension with a local inference backend and integrates with Gerrit to retrieve and rank semantically linked changes when a reviewer opens a patch. The tool allows reviewers to configure the search scope, view ranked candidates with confidence indicators, and examine related work without leaving their workflow or relying on server-side installations. We perform both usefulness and usability evaluations to study how SmartPatchLinker can support reviewers during code review. SmartPatchLinker is open source, and its source code, Docker containers, and the replication package used in our evaluation are publicly available on GitHub at https://github.com/islem-kms/gerrit-chrome-extension . A video demonstrating the tool is also available online at https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1MCcTj5OSlT7lHVBFMq5m9iatas2joaGb

Problem

• code review
• related changes
• semantic linking
• software ecosystems
• patch detection

Innovation

• SmartPatchLinker
• semantic change linking
• code review
• browser extension
• Gerrit integration