Experience review vs code review.
Experience review checks the running user experience of a change — on its preview deploy, before it merges. Code review checks the diff. This page explains the difference, and why you want both on the same pull request.
Is the diff correct?
Reads the source changes and flags bugs, regressions, style, and security in the code. AI code reviewers (CodeRabbit, Greptile, Graphite) live here. It never opens the app.
Can a real user use it?
Walks the running app on its preview URL as a specific kind of user and reports the friction they'd hit — confusing first run, a broken mobile layout, an inaccessible control, a missing trust signal. It never reads your code.
They don't overlap. A diff can be flawless and still ship a UX disaster; a beautiful experience can hide a real bug. Run both on every pull request.
What is experience review?
Experience review is the practice of evaluating the running user experience of a change — how the app actually looks and behaves for a real user — on its pull-request preview deployment, before the change merges. It looks at usability, first-run confusion, accessibility, mobile layout, and trust signals, rather than the correctness of the code.
How is experience review different from code review?
Code review (including AI code reviewers like CodeRabbit or Greptile) reads the diff and checks correctness, style, and bugs in the source. Experience review walks the running app on its preview URL and reports the friction a real user would hit. They are complementary and don't overlap — teams run both on the same pull request.
When should you use experience review?
Use it on any pull request that changes a user-facing web UI — onboarding, pricing, a redesign, a new flow — especially if you don't have a dedicated researcher testing every change. It catches activation-killing UX friction before it ships to production.
Can experience review be automated?
Yes. Litmusly automates it: on every pull request it runs AI personas that walk the preview deploy as specific kinds of user (first-time user, buyer, mobile-first, accessibility, and more) and post one review comment with prioritized friction findings.
Put an experience review on every PR.
Litmusly automates it — AI personas walk your preview deploy and post one honest comment. Free to start, no card.
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