Scope and inheritance
AI Code Review settings are hierarchical. A setting belongs to exactly one space or one repository, and a repository resolves its effective configuration by walking up the space chain.
This is what lets a platform team define a review standard once and have it apply everywhere, and it is also the most common source of surprise, because the three field groups merge differently.
What you will learn from this topic
- The order Harness walks when resolving a repository configuration.
- Which level wins, per field group.
- How to tell where an effective value came from.
The inheritance chain
A space path has at most three segments, so the chain has at most three levels plus the repository itself:
account
account/org
account/org/project
account/org/project/repo
For a repository, Harness collects the repository's own setting, then every ancestor space that has one, ordered shallowest first. A space that defines no setting is skipped rather than treated as empty.
Resolution only happens on a recursive read. A plain read returns exactly what the scope you named defines, and fails if that scope defines nothing. This is worth knowing before you conclude a repository has no criteria.
Merge rules by field
The merge is per field, and the three groups do not behave the same way.
Connector path and system prompt
The nearest non-empty value wins, and each field resolves independently.
| Level | connector_path | system_prompt |
|---|---|---|
| Account | account.shared_llm | Be concise. |
| Organization | empty | Flag missing tests. |
| Repository | empty | empty |
The repository resolves connector_path from the account and system_prompt from the organization. The two fields can come from different levels, and normally do.
Criteria
Criteria are combined, not replaced. Every level contributes.
| Level | Criteria defined | Criteria that run |
|---|---|---|
| Organization | 2 | |
| Project | 3 | |
| Repository | 1 | 6 |
The order is the repository's own criteria first, then each ancestor shallowest first.
Two criteria with the same title at project and repository level both run, and both produce a status check. Nothing compares titles or descriptions.
If a team wants to override an inherited criterion, they cannot. They can only add another one. Plan criteria at the level where they belong rather than restating them lower down.
MCP servers
Entries are merged by server name, and the nearest scope wins on a collision. The whole named entry is taken as a unit, so a repository redefining a server replaces the ancestor's tools list rather than adding to it.
Where a value came from
Every resolved value carries a scope marker naming the level that supplied it. On a setting the markers are connector_path_scope and system_prompt_scope, and each criterion and MCP server entry carries its own scope.
Use these to answer "why is this criterion running on my repository". A criterion whose scope is an organization path was not defined on the repository and cannot be removed there.
Override protection
You cannot. An account or organization administrator can set a connector, a system prompt, or a criterion, but nothing stops a lower scope setting its own value and winning.
If you need a standard to hold today, the practical control is who has repo_edit at each scope. Go to Permissions and RBAC to review who can change what.
Choose a scope
Place a setting at the highest scope where the statement it makes is true for everything beneath it.
- Account or organization: standards that apply to everything, such as security or compliance criteria. Changing one here changes every pull request in the account, so treat it as a production change.
- Project: conventions a single team owns.
- Repository: criteria that only make sense for one codebase, and the connector when a repository must use a different model.
Because inheritance fills any empty field, clearing a connector at repository level causes the ancestor value to be inherited instead. To use a different connector, set it. There is no way to inherit nothing.
Related concepts
- Settings reference: Every field and its validation.
- Review criteria best practices: Where to define criteria and why.
- Permissions and RBAC: Who can edit a setting at each scope.