Code Review

Guide proper code review practices emphasizing technical rigor, evidence-based claims, and verification over performative responses.

Overview

Code review requires three distinct practices:

1. Receiving feedback – Technical evaluation over performative agreement
2. Requesting reviews – Systematic review via code-reviewer subagent
3. Verification gates – Evidence before any completion claims

Each practice has specific triggers and protocols detailed in reference files.

Core Principle

Always honoring YAGNI, KISS, and DRY principles. Be honest, be brutal, straight to the point, and be concise.

Technical correctness over social comfort. Verify before implementing. Ask before assuming. Evidence before claims.

CRITICAL: Two-Phase Report-Driven Review

MUST generate TodoWrite tasks for BOTH phases before starting ANY review!

Phase 1 Todos (File-by-File Review)

- [ ] Create review report file
- [ ] Review [file1] - document in report
- [ ] Review [file2] - document in report
- [ ] ... (one todo per changed file)

Phase 2 Todos (Holistic Review)

- [ ] Read accumulated report for big picture
- [ ] Assess architecture coherence
- [ ] Check responsibility placement
- [ ] Detect cross-file duplication
- [ ] Generate final recommendations

Phase 1: Review each file individually, documenting Change Summary, Purpose, Issues Found, and Suggestions in the report.

Phase 2: After all files reviewed, read the accumulated report to see the big picture, then generate final assessment covering architecture coherence, responsibility placement, duplication detection, and prioritized recommendations.

When to Use This Skill

Receiving Feedback

Trigger when:

• Receiving code review comments from any source
• Feedback seems unclear or technically questionable
• Multiple review items need prioritization
• External reviewer lacks full context
• Suggestion conflicts with existing decisions

Reference: references/code-review-reception.md

Requesting Review

Trigger when:

• Completing tasks in subagent-driven development (after EACH task)
• Finishing major features or refactors
• Before merging to main branch
• Stuck and need fresh perspective
• After fixing complex bugs

Reference: references/requesting-code-review.md

Verification Gates

Trigger when:

• About to claim tests pass, build succeeds, or work is complete
• Before committing, pushing, or creating PRs
• Moving to next task
• Any statement suggesting success/completion
• Expressing satisfaction with work

Reference: references/verification-before-completion.md

Quick Decision Tree

SITUATION?
│
├─ Received feedback
│  ├─ Unclear items? → STOP, ask for clarification first
│  ├─ From human partner? → Understand, then implement
│  └─ From external reviewer? → Verify technically before implementing
│
├─ Completed work
│  ├─ Major feature/task? → Request code-reviewer subagent review
│  └─ Before merge? → Request code-reviewer subagent review
│
└─ About to claim status
   ├─ Have fresh verification? → State claim WITH evidence
   └─ No fresh verification? → RUN verification command first

Receiving Feedback Protocol

Response Pattern

READ → UNDERSTAND → VERIFY → EVALUATE → RESPOND → IMPLEMENT

Key Rules

• ❌ No performative agreement: “You’re absolutely right!”, “Great point!”, “Thanks for [anything]”
• ❌ No implementation before verification
• ✅ Restate requirement, ask questions, push back with technical reasoning, or just start working
• ✅ If unclear: STOP and ask for clarification on ALL unclear items first
• ✅ YAGNI check: grep for usage before implementing suggested “proper” features

Source Handling

• Human partner: Trusted – implement after understanding, no performative agreement
• External reviewers: Verify technically correct, check for breakage, push back if wrong

Full protocol: references/code-review-reception.md

Requesting Review Protocol

When to Request

• After each task in subagent-driven development
• After major feature completion
• Before merge to main

Process

1. Get git SHAs: BASE_SHA=$(git rev-parse HEAD~1) and HEAD_SHA=$(git rev-parse HEAD)
2. Dispatch code-reviewer subagent via Task tool with: WHAT_WAS_IMPLEMENTED, PLAN_OR_REQUIREMENTS, BASE_SHA, HEAD_SHA, DESCRIPTION
3. Act on feedback: Fix Critical immediately, Important before proceeding, note Minor for later

Full protocol: references/requesting-code-review.md

Verification Gates Protocol

The Iron Law

NO COMPLETION CLAIMS WITHOUT FRESH VERIFICATION EVIDENCE

Gate Function

IDENTIFY command → RUN full command → READ output → VERIFY confirms claim → THEN claim

Skip any step = lying, not verifying

Requirements

• Tests pass: Test output shows 0 failures
• Build succeeds: Build command exit 0
• Bug fixed: Test original symptom passes
• Requirements met: Line-by-line checklist verified

Red Flags – STOP

Using “should”/”probably”/”seems to”, expressing satisfaction before verification, committing without verification, trusting agent reports, ANY wording implying success without running verification

Full protocol: references/verification-before-completion.md

Integration with Workflows

• Subagent-Driven: Review after EACH task, verify before moving to next
• Pull Requests: Verify tests pass, request code-reviewer review before merge
• General: Apply verification gates before any status claims, push back on invalid feedback

Bottom Line

1. Technical rigor over social performance – No performative agreement
2. Systematic review processes – Use code-reviewer subagent
3. Evidence before claims – Verification gates always

Verify. Question. Then implement. Evidence. Then claim.