requesting-code-review · diff
git:20260901.707146c to git:20260906.0b47b93
3 added, 3 removed. Audit A to A.
---
name: requesting-code-review
description: Use when completing tasks, implementing major features, or before merging to verify work meets requirements
---
> **Related skills:** Before requesting review, verify with `/skill:verification-before-completion` that tests pass.
# Requesting Code Review
Dispatch a subagent with the code-reviewer prompt template to catch issues before they cascade.
**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:**
```bash
BASE_SHA=$(git rev-parse HEAD~1) # or origin/main
HEAD_SHA=$(git rev-parse HEAD)
```
**2. Dispatch code-reviewer subagent:**
Fill the template at `code-reviewer.md` in this skill directory, then dispatch a subagent with it.
**How to dispatch:**
- Use the `subagent` tool with the code-reviewer template filled in:
+ Use the `subagent` tool with the code-reviewer template filled in. This foreground dispatch must return a terminal result before acting on review feedback:
```ts
- subagent({ agent: "code-reviewer", task: "... filled template ..." })
+ subagent({ agent: "code-reviewer", async: false, task: "... filled template ..." })
```
**Placeholders:**
- `{WHAT_WAS_IMPLEMENTED}` - What you just built
- `{PLAN_OR_REQUIREMENTS}` - What it should do
- `{BASE_SHA}` - Starting commit
- `{HEAD_SHA}` - Ending commit
- `{DESCRIPTION}` - Brief summary
- `{SCOPED_TEST_COMMANDS}` - the scoped verification commands the reviewer may run, or `none`
**3. Act on feedback:**
- Fix Critical issues immediately
- Fix Moderate issues before proceeding
- Note Minor issues for later
- Push back if reviewer is wrong (with reasoning)
- **Fix rounds.** Critical and Moderate findings trigger a fix round; when dispatched from an orchestrating skill, fixes go to `implementer` subagents (per the orchestrator's no-self-coding rule), fanned out per `dispatching-parallel-agents` "Fix fan-out" when the review's `Parallel-safe:` line certifies a `disjoint` group of ≥ 2 findings. Before fanning out, validate the review's `Parallel-safe:` line with the structural probe in `dispatching-parallel-agents` § Fix fan-out (exactly-one-line grammar check, one re-ask, then explicit sequential fallback). After integration and the project's test command, re-dispatch the reviewer once on the integrated delta. If Critical or Moderate findings remain, run one more fix round and one more re-review; still failing → escalate to the user. Minor findings never trigger the fan-out.
+ **Fix rounds.** Critical and Moderate findings trigger a fix round; when dispatched from an orchestrating skill, fixes go to `implementer` subagents (per the orchestrator's no-self-coding rule), fanned out per `dispatching-parallel-agents` "Fix fan-out" when the review's `Parallel-safe:` line certifies a `disjoint` group of ≥ 2 findings. Before fanning out, validate the review's `Parallel-safe:` line with the structural probe in `dispatching-parallel-agents` § Fix fan-out (exactly-one-line grammar check, one re-ask, then explicit sequential fallback). After integration and the project's test command, re-dispatch the reviewer once on the integrated delta in the foreground with top-level `async: false`; await its terminal result. If Critical or Moderate findings remain, run one more fix round and one more foreground re-review; still failing → escalate to the user. Minor findings never trigger the fan-out.
## 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 | awk '{print $1}')
HEAD_SHA=$(git rev-parse HEAD)
[Dispatch code-reviewer subagent]
WHAT_WAS_IMPLEMENTED: Verification and repair functions for conversation index
PLAN_OR_REQUIREMENTS: Task 2 from doc/plans/deployment-plan.md
BASE_SHA: a7981ec
HEAD_SHA: 3df7661
SCOPED_TEST_COMMANDS: none (whole-branch review; orchestrator gate owns execution)
DESCRIPTION: Added verifyIndex() and repairIndex() with 4 issue types
[Subagent returns]:
Strengths: Clean architecture, real tests
Issues:
Moderate: Missing progress indicators
Minor: Magic number (100) for reporting interval
Assessment: Ready to proceed
You: [Fix progress indicators]
[Continue to Task 3]
```
## Integration with Workflows
**Subagent-Driven Development:**
- Review after EACH task
- Catch issues before they compound
- Fix before moving to next task
**Ad-Hoc Development:**
- Review before merge
- Review when stuck
## Red Flags
**Never:**
- Skip review because "it's simple"
- Ignore Critical issues
- Proceed with unfixed Moderate 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` in this skill directory
## Project overrides
If a gauntlet overrides file exists - checked in order: `.pi/gauntlet-overrides.md`, `<repo root>/gauntlet-overrides.md`, `<repo root>/doc/gauntlet-overrides.md`; first found wins - read it. Any sections relevant to this skill — by name match, by topic (routing, verification, worktrees, etc.), or by workflow convention — override or extend the instructions above. Project-local `AGENTS.md` is already in context — check it for project-specific routing tables, service paths, and verification commands.