Quick PR Review – Universal Pre-PR Checklist

🎯 When to Use This Skill

Use BEFORE creating a pull request in ANY project when:

• Preparing code for review
• Self-reviewing your changes
• Ensuring quality standards
• Reducing review iterations

⚡ Quick Start (30 seconds)

With MCP Tools:

"Run quick PR review on my staged changes"

Without MCP Tools:

# Quick self-review checklist
git diff --staged            # Review changes
npm test                      # Run tests
npm run lint                  # Check linting
git grep "TODO\|FIXME\|XXX"  # Find unfinished work

📋 Universal PR Checklist

1. Code Changes Review

WITH MCP (Smart Reviewer):

"Review my staged files for quality issues"

WITHOUT MCP:

# Self-review questions:
# □ Do variable names clearly express intent?
# □ Are functions focused on a single responsibility?
# □ Is error handling comprehensive?
# □ Are there magic numbers that should be constants?
# □ Is the code DRY (Don't Repeat Yourself)?

# Find code smells:
git diff --staged | grep -E "console\.|debugger|TODO|FIXME"

2. Test Coverage Check

WITH MCP (Test Generator):

"Check test coverage and generate missing tests"

WITHOUT MCP:

# Check coverage (adjust for your test runner)
npm test -- --coverage        # Jest/Vitest
pytest --cov                  # Python
go test -cover                 # Go
mvn test jacoco:report         # Java

# Quick test checklist:
# □ All new functions have tests?
# □ Edge cases covered?
# □ Error scenarios tested?
# □ Integration points verified?

3. Security Scan

WITH MCP (Security Scanner):

"Scan my changes for security vulnerabilities"

WITHOUT MCP:

# Security checklist:
# □ No hardcoded secrets/keys?
# □ Input validation present?
# □ SQL queries parameterized?
# □ File paths sanitized?
# □ Dependencies up to date?

# Quick scans:
git diff --staged | grep -iE "password|secret|token|api[_-]key"
grep -r "eval\|exec\|innerHTML" --include="*.js" --include="*.ts"
npm audit  # or: pip check, go mod tidy, etc.

4. Documentation Check

WITH MCP (Doc Generator):

"Check if my changes need documentation updates"

WITHOUT MCP:

# Documentation checklist:
# □ README updated if needed?
# □ API changes documented?
# □ Breaking changes noted?
# □ Examples still accurate?
# □ Changelog entry added?

# Find undocumented functions:
grep -B2 "function\|class\|def" --include="*.js" | grep -v "//"

5. Performance Check

WITH MCP (Architecture Analyzer):

"Check for performance issues in my changes"

WITHOUT MCP:

# Performance checklist:
# □ No N+1 queries?
# □ Appropriate caching used?
# □ Large loops optimized?
# □ Unnecessary re-renders avoided?
# □ Database queries indexed?

# Find potential issues:
git diff --staged | grep -E "forEach.*forEach|for.*for"  # Nested loops
git diff --staged | grep -E "await.*map|Promise\.all"    # Async patterns

🚀 Complete Workflow

Optimal Flow (2-3 minutes):

1. Stage your changes:

   git add -p  # Stage selectively
   

2. Run the appropriate checklist:

   • WITH MCP: "Run complete PR review checklist"
   • WITHOUT: Use the manual checklist above

3. Fix issues found:

   # Fix issues
   git add -p  # Stage fixes
   

4. Final verification:

   git diff --staged --stat  # Review scope
   git log --oneline -5      # Check commit context
   

5. Create PR with confidence!

💡 Pro Tips

Universal Commit Message Check:

# Ensure good commit messages
git log --oneline -10  # Are they clear and consistent?

# Conventional commits pattern:
# type(scope): description
# Example: feat(auth): add password reset

Quick Scope Check:

# Is this PR doing too much?
git diff --staged --stat
# If > 500 lines or > 20 files, consider splitting

Dependency Impact:

# Check what you're affecting
git diff --staged package.json Gemfile go.mod requirements.txt pom.xml

🎯 Success Metrics

Your PR is ready when:

• ✅ All tests pass
• ✅ No linting errors
• ✅ Security checklist complete
• ✅ Documentation updated
• ✅ Changes focused and clear
• ✅ Commit messages descriptive

🔄 Quick Recovery

If you find issues:

# Unstage everything
git reset HEAD

# Fix issues
# ...

# Restage carefully
git add -p

📝 Notes

• This workflow is language-agnostic
• Adapt commands to your tech stack
• MCP tools speed up the process 10x
• Manual approach ensures you can work anywhere

Remember: A good PR review saves everyone time!