We've all been there: you push code thinking it's clean, then a senior dev comments "why?" on line 47 and your soul leaves your body.
I built Code Roast to give you that experience before the PR — for free, with AI, in 15 languages.
The brief
Build an AI code reviewer that's funny, honest, and educational.
Bonus: it should hurt a little (so you remember the lesson).
The result
You paste code → the AI returns:
A roast ("This 47-line function violates SRP harder than my New Year's resolutions")
A severity badge (mild → catastrophic) you can share
Actionable fixes (because being mean isn't useful without solutions)
The prompt that makes it work
After 30+ iterations, this is the structure that consistently produces funny + useful:
const prompt = `You are a senior dev reviewing code for a junior. Be:
- BRUTAL but FAIR (no personal attacks, only the code)
- SPECIFIC (cite line numbers, name the antipattern)
- CONSTRUCTIVE (every roast = one concrete fix)
- FUNNY (one joke max, never at the dev's expense)
Return JSON:
{
"severity": "mild" | "medium" | "spicy" | "catastrophic",
"roast": "<2-3 sentences, the funny part>",
"issues": [{ "line": number, "problem": string, "fix": string }],
"verdict": ""
}
Code to review:
`\
${userCode}
\``;
The key insights:
Constraint produces creativity. "One joke max" forces the model to pick the best one.
Structured output > prose. JSON makes the UI predictable and shareable.
Severity as enum lets us show different badge designs (and a different Kody face per level).
The tech stack (boring on purpose)
Frontend: React + Vite + Tailwind
AI: Gemini 2.5 Flash via Supabase Edge Function
Rate limiting: Postgres rate_limits table, 5 roasts/hour for free, unlimited Pro
Result sharing: dynamic 1200×630 SVG generated in another Edge Function
The whole thing is ~400 lines of code for the feature itself.
What surprised me
Severity badges drive 80% of the shares.
People love showing off a "Catastrophic 🔥" badge to their friends way more than the actual review. Make the outcome shareable, not the process.Multilingual roasts hit different.
A Spanish dev got a roast that included a "madre mía" and tweeted it. Localized humor > translated humor.Free tier converts.
About 4% of users hit the free limit and upgrade. The tool itself is the funnel.
Try it (free, no signup needed)
👉 codemasterip.com/code-roast
Paste your worst code. I dare you.
Have you built AI tools that lean into humor? What worked for you? Comments are open.
This article was originally published by DEV Community and written by Antonio Tirado Montes.
Read original article on DEV Community