Table of contents

• Why compliance matters in regulated-industry code review
• Core code review best practices compliance
• Integrating AI in code review processes
• Spotlight: Graphite's Diamond AI code review (SOC II)
• Checklist: Implementing AI code review compliance
• Conclusion

In regulated industries—such as healthcare, finance, aerospace, and pharmaceuticals—software must comply with standards like HIPAA, PCI‑DSS, GLBA, FDA's 21 CFR Part 11, and ISO 26262. A structured, traceable, and secure code review process is paramount to achieving code review compliance, mitigating risks, and passing audits.

Why compliance matters in regulated-industry code review

1. Audit readiness – Regulations often require documented peer reviews before production deployment.
2. Security and safety – Vulnerabilities could result in data breaches or harm to human life.
3. Legal & financial exposure – Non‑compliance can cause hefty fines, lawsuits, and reputational damage.
4. Process standardization – Consistency in code reviews supports regulatory traceability.

Core code review best practices compliance

1. Enforce mandatory peer review

• Require at least one reviewer approval before merging.
• Implement branch protection rules in GitHub/GitLab.
• Document reviewer identity, timestamp, comments.

2. Maintain audit trail & traceability

• Tag every pull request (PR) with regulatory context: e.g. "HIPAA‑module."
• Archive PRs, reviewer sign‑offs, and change logs.

3. Integrate security & privacy checks

• Embed SAST/DAST scanners within CI pipelines.
• Ensure rule sets cover regulatory controls (e.g. OWASP Top 10, data encryption).

4. Enforce coding standards & secure coding

• Adopt linters, style checkers, and static analyzers for compliance rules.
• Automatically validate against regulatory requirements.

5. Apply role-based access control (RBAC)

• Prevent unauthorized PR merges.
• Separate responsibilities: devs vs. auditors vs. release managers.

6. Schedule compliance reviews & training

• Train devs on compliance criteria, secure code patterns, evolving standards.
• Allocate periodic audits of code review outputs.

Integrating AI in code review processes

AI tooling can significantly enhance secure code review for regulated industries, but must be supplemented with human oversight.

AI-assisted scanning: Context & compliance

• AI can detect vulnerabilities, non-compliant patterns, hard-coded secrets.
• It auto-updates against evolving standards, reducing manual rule updates.

Audit trails & consistency

• AI tools add consistent, reproducible feedback across PRs—vital for audit.
• Elements are timestamped, saved, and searchable.

Maintaining human oversight

• AI feedback should supplement—not replace—human review.
• Humans validate context, ethical considerations, algorithmic bias.

Spotlight: Graphite's Diamond AI code review (SOC II)

Graphite Diamond is an AI-powered code review agent integrated with GitHub and VS Code, purpose-built for enterprise compliance.

• Detects bugs, security and performance issues, docs gaps, stylistic inconsistencies.
• Provides actionable, context-aware recommendations.
• Graphite is SOC 2 Type II certified (since July 17, 2023), demonstrating mature controls in security, confidentiality, availability, processing integrity, and privacy.
• Ensures code isn't stored or used for training: aligns with secure code review for regulated industries.

How Diamond fits compliance workflows:

• Integrates into GitHub code reviews for compliance.
• Augments manual review—identifies risky patterns early.
• Provides standardized, tracked findings helpful in audits.

Checklist: Implementing AI code review compliance

Conclusion

For regulated‑industry code review, combining structured peer review, secure CI/CD pipelines, automated checks, and AI tools like Diamond ensures:

• High‑quality secure code.
• Thorough audit trails and documentation.
• Compliance with industry regulations.
• Measurable developer productivity gains.