The Story Behind Octopus
An open source code review tool, built by an independent developer.
Why Octopus?
Every developer knows the pain: you open a pull request, and it sits there for hours, sometimes days, waiting for someone to review it. When the review finally comes, it's often a quick "LGTM" or a surface-level check that misses the real issues.
Octopus was born from this frustration. The idea was simple: what if every PR could get an instant, thorough review that understands your codebase, catches real bugs, and never gets tired?
As an independent developer, I built Octopus to solve a problem I faced every day. Not as a side project or a weekend experiment, but as a serious tool that teams can rely on. It indexes your entire codebase, learns your patterns and architecture, and reviews every pull request with deep context awareness.
Open Source, Always
Octopus is fully open source under the MIT license. This isn't an afterthought. It's a core principle.
Transparency
Every line of code is public. You can see exactly how your code is processed, what data is stored, and how reviews are generated.
No Vendor Lock-in
Self-host on your own infrastructure. Your code never has to leave your servers. Switch providers or fork the project at any time.
Community Driven
Bug reports, feature requests, and pull requests are all welcome. The best ideas come from the people who use the tool every day.
Free Forever
The core product is free and always will be. No artificial limitations, no feature gates for essential functionality.
Built With
Octopus is built on modern, battle-tested technologies:
The codebase is a TypeScript monorepo managed with Turborepo. The web app, CLI, database layer, and shared configs all live in one repository, making it easy to contribute and self-host.
Where We're Going
Octopus is actively developed and evolving. Here's what's on the horizon:
- Deeper integration with more Git providers beyond GitHub and Bitbucket
- Smarter review engine that learns from your team's feedback over time
- Expanded CLI capabilities for CI/CD pipeline integration
- Plugin system for custom review rules and checks
Have an idea? Open an issue on GitHub. The roadmap is shaped by the community.
The Developer
S. Ferit Arslan
Independent Developer
Building Octopus as an independent developer. Designing, coding, and shipping every feature from scratch. Passionate about developer tools and making code review less painful for everyone.
Get in Touch
Have a question, partnership inquiry, or just want to say hi?