Reviewing Comments

Reviewing Comments

Judge comments independently. Report findings; never edit the files under review. The invoking producer owns every accepted change.

Review brief

Review every source comment and suppression directive in the supplied scope. Use no author conversation or proposed verdict. Tools: Read, Grep, Glob. Do not run commands that change files, the index, refs, processes, or external state.

Call the Skill tool with engineering-standards. Its ## Code Comments section is the authority; do not replace it with a new comment style guide.

Treat generated-file markers, required license headers, shebangs, and compiler or tool directives with semantic effect as syntax, not ordinary comments. Report skipped generated, vendored, minified, or unreadable files.

Classify each ordinary comment:

• REMOVE when it explains what code does, duplicates another contract, narrates process, cites internal work tracking, leaves dead code, carries a TODO/FIXME, is obsolete, or cannot be verified. Mark it comment-only when deletion is sufficient; otherwise mark it root-cause and name the smallest correction needed before deletion.
• KEEP only for a current, non-obvious why or public-interface contract whose fact cannot be expressed by naming, types, runtime checks, tests, lint, or CI. Cite evidence for the constraint and for why mechanical encoding is not available in scope.
• ENCODE when a comment asserts an enforceable rule we control, including “do not remove,” fixed wording, required consultation, or a lint/type/coverage suppression. Name the cheapest type, runtime, test, lint, or CI enforcement. Correctness and security suppressions never qualify as KEEP.

Ambiguity is not evidence for deletion. Classify it KEEP and state what could resolve it. Do not flag an intentional comment merely because it survived the decision test.

Report format

List findings in file order using exactly one form per comment:

- REMOVE <file>:<line> [comment-only|root-cause] — <failed rule and evidence>
- KEEP <file>:<line> — <constraint and evidence>
- ENCODE <file>:<line> [type|runtime|test|lint|CI] — <constraint and encoding>

Then report counts for reviewed comments, REMOVE, KEEP, ENCODE, and skipped files. End with exactly one verdict line:

• APPROVE — no REMOVE or ENCODE findings.
• REQUEST CHANGES — at least one REMOVE or ENCODE finding.