Code Review

Code Review

Structured multi-pass review. Read the full diff before commenting on anything.

Phase 1: Orient

1. Determine the review scope:
   • If reviewing a PR: git diff <base>..HEAD
   • If reviewing staged changes: git diff --cached
   • If reviewing a file: read the file
2. Understand the intent: read the commit messages, PR description, or task description to understand what the change is supposed to do
3. Identify the change type: feature, bugfix, refactor, config, dependency update

Phase 2: Critical Pass

Read the diff line by line. Flag only real issues:

Always check:

• Logic errors (wrong conditions, off-by-one, missing null checks on external data)
• SQL injection, XSS, command injection, path traversal
• Race conditions in concurrent code
• Resource leaks (unclosed handles, missing cleanup)
• Missing error handling at system boundaries (network, file I/O, user input)
• Breaking API contract changes without version bump

Never flag:

• Style preferences (naming, formatting) unless they cause confusion
• Missing comments on self-explanatory code
• Hypothetical edge cases that cannot happen given the invariants
• "I would have done it differently" without a concrete defect

Phase 3: Specialist Focus

Based on the change type, apply the relevant specialist lens:

If the diff touches tests:

• Do tests actually test behavior, or just assert mock return values?
• Are there tautological assertions (expect(true).toBe(true))?
• Is the test coupled to implementation details rather than outcomes?