Code Review Quality

Code Review Quality

When reviewing code or establishing review practices:

1. PRIORITIZE feedback: 🔴 Blocker (must fix) → 🟡 Major → 🟢 Minor → 💡 Suggestion
2. FOCUS on: Bugs, security, testability, maintainability (not style preferences)
3. ASK questions over commands: "Have you considered...?" > "Change this to..."
4. PROVIDE context: Why this matters, not just what to change
5. LIMIT scope: Review nitpicking style

• Fast feedback ( thorough feedback

Quick Reference Card

When to Use

• PR code reviews
• Pair programming feedback
• Establishing team review standards
• Mentoring developers

Feedback Priority Levels

| Level | Icon | Meaning | Action | |-------|------|---------|--------| | Blocker | 🔴 | Bug/security/crash | Must fix before merge | | Major | 🟡 | Logic issue/test gap | Should fix before merge | | Minor | 🟢 | Style/naming | Nice to fix | | Suggestion | 💡 | Alternative approach | Consider for future |

Review Scope Limits

| Lines Changed | Recommendation | |---------------|----------------| | 400 | Request PR split |

What to Focus On

| ✅ Review | ❌ Skip | |-----------|---------| | Logic correctness | Formatting (use linter) | | Security risks | Naming preferences | | Test coverage | Architecture debates | | Performance issues | Style opinions | | Error handling | Trivial changes |

---

Feedback Templates

Blocker (Must Fix)

🔴 **BLOCKER: SQL Injection Risk**

This query is vulnerable to SQL injection:
```javascript
db.query(`SELECT * FROM users WHERE id = ${userId}`)

Fix: Use parameterized queries:

db.query('SELECT * FROM users WHERE id = ?', [userId])

Why: User input directly in SQL allows attackers to execute arbitrary queries.

### Major (Should Fix)
```markdown
🟡 **MAJOR: Missing Error Handling**

What happens if `fetchUser()` throws? The error bubbles up unhandled.

**Suggestion:** Add try/catch with appropriate error response:
```javascript
try {
  const user = await fetchUser(id);
  return user;
} catch (error) {
  logger.error('Failed to fetch user', { id, error });
  throw new NotFoundError('User not found');
}

### Minor (Nice to Fix)
```markdown
🟢 **minor:** Variable name could be clearer

`d` doesn't convey meaning. Consider `daysSinceLastLogin`.

Suggestion (Consider)

💡 **suggestion:** Consider extracting this to a helper

This validation logic appears in 3 places. A `validateEmail()` helper would reduce duplication. Not blocking, but might be worth a follow-up PR.

---

Review Questions to Ask

Logic

• What happens when X is null/empty/negative?
• Is there a race condition here?
• What if the API call fails?

Security

• Is user input validated/sanitized?
• Are auth checks in place?
• Any secrets or PII exposed?

Testability

• How would you test this?
• Are dependencies injectable?
• Is there a test for the happy path? Edge cases?

Maintainability

• Will the next developer understand this?
• Is this doing too many things?
• Is there duplication we could reduce?

Minimum Findings Enforcement

Reviews must meet a minimum weighted finding score of 3.0 (CRITICAL=3, HIGH=2, MEDIUM=1, LOW=0.5, INFORMATIONAL=0.25). If the initial review falls short, run the qe-devils-advocate agent as a meta-reviewer to find additional observations. Every review should have at least 3 actionable observations.

---

Agent-Assisted Reviews

// Comprehensive code review
await Task("Code Review", {
  prNumber: 123,
  checks: ['security', 'performance', 'testability', 'maintainability'],
  feedbackLevels: ['blocker', 'major', 'minor'],
  autoApprove: { maxBlockers: 0, maxMajor: 2 }
}, "qe-quality-analyzer");

// Security-focused review
await Task("Security Review", {
  prFiles: changedFiles,
  scanTypes: ['injection', 'auth', 'secrets', 'dependencies']
}, "qe-security-scanner");

// Test coverage review
await Task("Coverage Review", {
  prNumber: 123,
  requireNewTests: true,
  minCoverageDelta: 0
}, "qe-coverage-analyzer");

---

Agent Coordination Hints

Memory Namespace

aqe/code-review/
├── review-history/*     - Past review decisions
├── patterns/*           - Common issues by team/repo
├── feedback-templates/* - Reusable feedback
└── metrics/*            - Review turnaround time

Fleet Coordination

const reviewFleet = await FleetManager.coordinate({
  strategy: 'code-review',
  agents: [
    'qe-quality-analyzer',    // Logic, maintainability
    'qe-security-scanner',    // Security risks
    'qe-performance-tester',  // Performance issues
    'qe-coverage-analyzer'    // Test coverage
  ],
  topology: 'parallel'
});

---

Review Etiquette

| ✅ Do | ❌ Don't | |-------|---------| | "Have you considered...?" | "This is wrong" | | Explain why it matters | Just say "fix this" | | Acknowledge good code | Only point out negatives | | Suggest, don't demand | Be condescending | | Review 400 lines at once and misses issues — chunk reviews to 200-400 lines maximum

• Nitpicking style while missing logic bugs is the #1 agent review failure — prioritize correctness over formatting
• Agent approves code that compiles but has subtle race conditions — always check shared state and async patterns
• Review comments without suggested fixes are unhelpful — always include a proposed alternative
• Agent doesn't check if the PR actually solves the linked issue — verify the stated problem is actually fixed

Source & license

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

• Author: proffesor-for-testing
• Source: proffesor-for-testing/agentic-qe
• License: MIT
• Homepage: https://agentic-qe.dev/

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