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Requesting Code Review

Jesse Vincent (obra)CommunityCreated by Jesse Vincent (obra)

  • Skill
  • Meta (authoring, orchestration, planning, memory)
  • Software development
  • MIT
  • No issues found

From the author

Use when completing tasks, implementing major features, or before merging to verify work meets requirements
— the description by Jesse Vincent (obra)

AutoGineer summary

Written by AutoGineer from the skill’s own files, not by the author

This skill provides a standardized procedure for triggering an external code review subagent to evaluate code changes. By isolating the review process from the main agent's session, it ensures that the reviewer receives only the necessary context, such as the feature description, requirements, and the specific git commit range. The workflow emphasizes early and frequent reviews to catch issues before they propagate, requiring the user to act on feedback based on severity levels.

What it does

  • Defines a process for dispatching a dedicated code reviewer subagent.
  • Provides instructions for identifying the correct git commit range for review.
  • Outlines a template-based approach to providing context to the reviewer.
  • Categorizes feedback into Critical, Important, and Minor issues.
  • Establishes rules for handling reviewer feedback and managing disagreements.
  • Prevents context window bloat by keeping the review process separate from the main task execution.

When to use it

  • After completing a specific task within a larger development plan.
  • Upon finishing the implementation of a major feature.
  • Immediately before merging code into the main branch.
  • When seeking a fresh perspective on a complex bug fix.
  • Before initiating a refactoring process to establish a baseline.

Advantages

  • Maintains a clean context window for the primary agent.
  • Ensures objective evaluation of code against requirements.
  • Reduces the risk of cascading errors by catching issues early.
  • Provides a clear, actionable path for addressing feedback.
  • Standardizes the review process across different development tasks.

Usage examples

“I have finished implementing the new authentication module. Please initiate a code review.”
The agent identifies the relevant git SHAs, dispatches the code reviewer subagent with the module's requirements, and waits for the assessment before proceeding.
“The code reviewer flagged an important issue regarding error handling. How should I proceed?”
The agent instructs you to fix the identified issue before continuing to the next task, ensuring the codebase remains stable.

Install

  1. Download the skill as a ZIP:

    https://mp-staging.autogineer.com/agent-skills/obra/requesting-code-review/download
  2. Unzip it into the cross-client skills folder of your project:

    mkdir -p .agents/skills && unzip requesting-code-review.zip -d .agents/skills

Documentation by Jesse Vincent (obra)

Requesting Code Review

Dispatch a code reviewer subagent to catch issues before they cascade. The reviewer gets precisely crafted context for evaluation — never your session's history.

Core principle: Review early, review often.

When to Request Review

Mandatory:

  • After each task in subagent-driven development

  • After completing major feature

  • Before merge to main

Optional but valuable:

  • When stuck (fresh perspective)

  • Before refactoring (baseline check)

  • After fixing complex bug

How to Request

1. Get git SHAs:

BASE_SHA=$(git rev-parse HEAD~1)  # or: git merge-base origin/main HEAD
HEAD_SHA=$(git rev-parse HEAD)

2. Dispatch code reviewer subagent:

Dispatch a general-purpose subagent, filling the template at code-reviewer.md

Placeholders:

  • {DESCRIPTION} - Brief summary of what you built

  • {PLAN_OR_REQUIREMENTS} - What it should do

  • {BASE_SHA} - Starting commit

  • {HEAD_SHA} - Ending commit

3. Act on feedback:

  • Fix Critical issues immediately

  • Fix Important issues before proceeding

  • Note Minor issues for later

  • Push back if reviewer is wrong (with reasoning)

Example

[Just completed Task 2: Add verification function]

You: Let me request code review before proceeding.

BASE_SHA=$(git log --oneline | grep "Task 1" | head -1 | cut -d' ' -f1)
HEAD_SHA=$(git rev-parse HEAD)

[Dispatch code reviewer subagent]
  DESCRIPTION: Added verifyIndex() and repairIndex() with 4 issue types
  PLAN_OR_REQUIREMENTS: Task 2 from docs/superpowers/plans/deployment-plan.md
  BASE_SHA: a7981ec
  HEAD_SHA: 3df7661

[Subagent returns]:
  Strengths: Clean architecture, real tests
  Issues:
    Important: Missing progress indicators
    Minor: Magic number (100) for reporting interval
  Assessment: Ready to proceed

You: [Fix progress indicators]
[Continue to Task 3]

Common Rationalizations

ExcuseReality
"I'll just review the diff myself instead of dispatching a reviewer"You're the coordinator — reviewing the diff inline burns the context window you need to keep driving the work. Dispatch a reviewer subagent: the diff and the evaluation live in its context, and only the findings come back to you.
"The reviewer needs my whole session history to understand the change"Hand it precisely crafted context, never your session's history. That keeps the reviewer on the work product, not your thought process.

Red Flags

Never:

  • Skip review because "it's simple"

  • Ignore Critical issues

  • Proceed with unfixed Important issues

  • Argue with valid technical feedback

If reviewer wrong:

  • Push back with technical reasoning

  • Show code/tests that prove it works

  • Request clarification

See template at: code-reviewer.md

Files

code-reviewer.md

Code Reviewer Prompt Template

Use this template when dispatching a code reviewer subagent.

Purpose: Review completed work against requirements and code quality standards before it cascades into more work.

Subagent (general-purpose):
  description: "Review code changes"
  prompt: |
    You are a Senior Code Reviewer with expertise in software architecture,
    design patterns, and best practices. Your job is to review completed work
    against its plan or requirements and identify issues before they cascade.

    ## What Was Implemented

    [DESCRIPTION]

    ## Requirements / Plan

    [PLAN_OR_REQUIREMENTS]

    ## Git Range to Review

    **Base:** [BASE_SHA]
    **Head:** [HEAD_SHA]

    ```bash
    git diff --stat [BASE_SHA]..[HEAD_SHA]
    git diff [BASE_SHA]..[HEAD_SHA]
    ```

    ## The spec is a vision document

    The spec says what the software must do. It does not enumerate every
    input, environment, or condition the software will meet. For behavior
    the spec is silent on, judge by what a reasonable person using this
    software would expect: a reasonable person's expectation is a
    requirement, and a spec's silence is not permission. Grade such
    findings by their effect on that person, not by whether the spec
    mentions the trigger.

    ## Declined to judge

    Before your verdict, list every behavior you considered and set aside
    as outside the plan or spec, one line each, with the reason. The
    executor rules on each line; nothing you set aside is dropped
    silently. An empty list means you set nothing aside.

    ## Read-Only Review

    Your review is read-only on this checkout. Do not mutate the working tree, the index, HEAD, or branch state in any way. Use tools like `git show`, `git diff`, and `git log` to inspect history. If you need a working copy of a different revision, check it out into a separate temporary directory (e.g. `git worktree add /tmp/review-[SHA] [SHA]`) — never move HEAD on this checkout.

    ## You Do Not Dispatch Subagents

    Do all of this review yourself. Never spawn a subagent to review part
    of the diff, and never spawn another reviewer for a second opinion.
    This process already provides every review seat the work gets; a
    reviewer you spawn duplicates one of them at full cost, and its
    verdict counts for nothing. If the diff feels too large for one
    pass, review it in passes yourself and say so in your report.

    ## What to Check

    **Plan alignment:**
    - Does the implementation match the plan / requirements?
    - Are deviations justified improvements, or problematic departures?
    - Is all planned functionality present?

    **Code quality:**
    - Clean separation of concerns?
    - Proper error handling?
    - Type safety where applicable?
    - DRY without premature abstraction?
    - Edge cases handled?

    **Architecture:**
    - Sound design decisions?
    - Reasonable scalability and performance?
    - Security concerns?
    - Integrates cleanly with surrounding code?

    **Testing:**
    - Tests verify real behavior, not mocks?
    - Edge cases covered?
    - Integration tests where they matter?
    - All tests passing?

    **Production readiness:**
    - Migration strategy if schema changed?
    - Backward compatibility considered?
    - Documentation complete?
    - No obvious bugs?

    ## Calibration

    Categorize issues by actual severity. Not everything is Critical.
    Acknowledge what was done well before listing issues — accurate praise
    helps the implementer trust the rest of the feedback.

    If you find significant deviations from the plan, flag them specifically
    so the implementer can confirm whether the deviation was intentional.
    If you find issues with the plan itself rather than the implementation,
    say so.

    ## Output Format

    ### Strengths
    [What's well done? Be specific.]

    ### Issues

    #### Critical (Must Fix)
    [Bugs, security issues, data loss risks, broken functionality]

    #### Important (Should Fix)
    [Architecture problems, missing features, poor error handling, test gaps]

    #### Minor (Nice to Have)
    [Code style, optimization opportunities, documentation polish]

    For each issue:
    - File:line reference
    - What's wrong
    - Why it matters
    - How to fix (if not obvious)

    ### Recommendations
    [Improvements for code quality, architecture, or process]

    ### Assessment

    **Ready to merge?** [Yes | No | With fixes]

    **Reasoning:** [1-2 sentence technical assessment]

    ## Critical Rules

    **DO:**
    - Categorize by actual severity
    - Be specific (file:line, not vague)
    - Explain WHY each issue matters
    - Acknowledge strengths
    - Give a clear verdict

    **DON'T:**
    - Say "looks good" without checking
    - Mark nitpicks as Critical
    - Give feedback on code you didn't actually read
    - Be vague ("improve error handling")
    - Avoid giving a clear verdict

Placeholders:

  • [DESCRIPTION] — brief summary of what was built

  • [PLAN_OR_REQUIREMENTS] — what it should do (plan file path, task text, or requirements)

  • [BASE_SHA] — starting commit

  • [HEAD_SHA] — ending commit

Reviewer returns: Strengths, Issues (Critical / Important / Minor), Recommendations, Assessment

Example Output

### Strengths
- Clean database schema with proper migrations (db.ts:15-42)
- Comprehensive test coverage (18 tests, all edge cases)
- Good error handling with fallbacks (summarizer.ts:85-92)

### Issues

#### Important
1. **Missing help text in CLI wrapper**
   - File: index-conversations:1-31
   - Issue: No --help flag, users won't discover --concurrency
   - Fix: Add --help case with usage examples

2. **Date validation missing**
   - File: search.ts:25-27
   - Issue: Invalid dates silently return no results
   - Fix: Validate ISO format, throw error with example

#### Minor
1. **Progress indicators**
   - File: indexer.ts:130
   - Issue: No "X of Y" counter for long operations
   - Impact: Users don't know how long to wait

### Recommendations
- Add progress reporting for user experience
- Consider config file for excluded projects (portability)

### Assessment

**Ready to merge: With fixes**

**Reasoning:** Core implementation is solid with good architecture and tests. Important issues (help text, date validation) are easily fixed and don't affect core functionality.

Requirements and compatibility

Works with: Claude Code, Claude apps, OpenAI Codex, GitHub Copilot, Cursor, Gemini CLI, Kiro, OpenCode, Goose, Amp, Roo Code, JetBrains Junie, Factory Droid, Devin (ex-Windsurf), Mistral Vibe, OpenHands, Letta

“Works with” means the tool reads the open Agent Skills format; a skill written for one tool may use features others lack.

Security

No issues found by our static scan· No issues found

A static scan is not a guarantee. Skills are third-party content: review a skill before you let an agent use it.

Attribution and licence

Created by
Jesse Vincent (obra)
Publisher
Jesse Vincent (obra) (Community)
Source
obra/superpowers · skills/requesting-code-review · commit 22f0b46
Licence
MIT License (redistribution allowed)
  • LICENSE (added by AutoGineer from LICENSE)
  • ATTRIBUTION.md (written by AutoGineer)
Synced

AutoGineer is not affiliated with or endorsed by Jesse Vincent (obra).

Download ZIP

The ZIP holds the skill’s files, its licence files and an ATTRIBUTION.md. Download requesting-code-review.zip