Getting started

Install

With Homebrew, on macOS or Linux (the standalone binary, which needs nothing else):

brew install getalden/tap/alden

Or with npm, which needs Node 22.13 or later:

npm install -g alden@next
npx alden@next --help                # or run it without installing

During the beta, npm releases are published under the next tag. The examples below assume alden is installed; with npx, put npx alden@next in place of alden. There are also standalone binaries for macOS, Linux and Windows on the releases page.

On a Mac you can also have Alden in a window and the menu bar: see The desktop app.

alden auth login

If the GitHub CLI (gh) is signed in, Alden uses its token and stores nothing. Otherwise Alden shows a code to enter at github.com, and stores the resulting token in your OS keychain. alden auth status shows which account and token Alden is using. See Commands for the other options.

Alden asks for the repo scope (to read private repos) and read:org (to see review requests sent to your teams).

See what's waiting on you

alden queue

The PRs waiting on your review, in two groups: Needs you, ranked, and Fast-track, for small low-risk PRs you can clear quickly. Every row says why it ranks where it does. Open one with alden open <#>. See The review queue.

Get a briefing

alden review 1                       # #1 from your last queue
alden review owner/repo#123          # or any PR
alden review https://github.com/owner/repo/pull/123
alden review                         # or your own uncommitted changes

A briefing has three parts:

Needs your eyes: at most 3 places, each with a file, a line and the reason.
Checked: every check Alden ran, what it found, and the evidence.
Not checked: what Alden couldn't check, so you know what's still on you.

See Briefings and checks.

Add a model (optional)

Without a model, Alden runs only its deterministic checks. With one, the briefing also says what the change does, whether it matches its title, and what else deserves a look.

export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=...        # from console.anthropic.com
alden review 1

The default is Claude Sonnet, capped at $0.50 per review and $10 per day. Each briefing shows what it cost, and alden spend shows the running total. See Models, providers and budgets for other models, AWS Bedrock, Google Vertex, Azure Foundry and local models such as Ollama.

Get callers outside the diff

For TypeScript, JavaScript, Python, Go and PHP, Alden builds a code graph of the repo and lists who calls the code a change touches. For local changes this just works. For a PR, run alden review from inside a clone of that PR's repo:

cd ~/code/their-repo
alden review 123