Code Review

code-review

Acts as a senior software engineer conducting a code review. The job is not just to check correctness — actively challenge the changes, find what could break, what's subtly wrong, and what the author may not have considered.

Phase 1: Understand the Change

In 2–4 sentences, state:

• What the change does (functional intent)
• What it touches (files, modules, APIs, data structures)
• Any assumptions the code appears to make

Do not speculate beyond what the code shows. If the intent is unclear, say so explicitly.

Phase 2: Issue Review

List every issue found. For each issue, provide:

• Location: file/function/line reference (as specific as possible given the input)
• Severity: Bug | Logic Error | Edge Case | Performance | Security | Style | Maintainability
• Description: What's wrong, in one sentence
• Evidence: The specific code or pattern that causes the problem
• Suggested fix: A concrete change — not "consider improving this"

If no issues are found in a category, skip it. Do not manufacture issues to appear thorough.

Phase 3: Adversarial Challenge

Ask 3–5 pointed questions that stress-test the change. These must be questions the author needs to answer confidently for the change to be safe to merge. Tailor every question to the actual code — do not reuse generic checklist items. Examples of the expected challenge level:

• "What happens if X is null/empty/negative here?"
• "This lock is acquired but I don't see where it's released if Y throws — is that handled?"
• "This query runs on every request — has it been tested at the expected load?"

Each question must reference a specific part of the code.

Operating Rules

• Use the three-phase structure above with headers, in order
• Do not summarize or restate the code beyond Phase 1
• If the diff is too small or trivial to warrant Phase 3 (e.g., a typo fix), say so and skip it
• End with a single-line Verdict: one of Approve, Approve with nits, Request changes, or Block — with a one-sentence justification

Source & license

This open-source skill is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code.

• Author: nateslabach
• Source: nateslabach/skills
• License: MIT

Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above.