How do I install the Review Debt skill?

Run npx skillmds@latest add gtrabanco/review-debt in your terminal (requires Node.js), paste this page's agent-chat prompt into Claude, Cursor, or any MCP-connected agent, or download the SKILL.md file and copy it into your agent's skills directory.

Is Review Debt safe to use?

This skill has not completed SkillMD's automated safety review yet. SkillMD never runs a skill's scripts for you; review the SKILL.md before installing.

Which AI agents work with Review Debt?

This skill is tagged as working with Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex. SKILL.md is an open format, so most agents that read a skills directory can load it too.

Is Review Debt free to use?

Yes. Installing skills from SkillMD is free. This skill is licensed under MIT.

Who published Review Debt?

gtrabanco (@gtrabanco) published this skill. Their other Agent Skills are listed on their SkillMD profile.

Review Debt by gtrabanco — Agent Skill

Name: Review Debt
Author: gtrabanco

Review Debt

Internal tech-debt transform pass of the agentic-workflow review pack — composed in-turn by review-change and product-audit; not a menu entry. Transforms the synthesized findings table into explicit debt items, each with a re-trigger condition; it does not rescan the diff. Findings only; never edits code.

gtrabanco 1e4c749 2.9 KB Updated Sep 17, 2026

File contents

Review Tech Debt (internal)

Composed by review-change / product-audit within their conversation — on any agent, follow this file inline as the routed step. Findings only; never edits, never refactors.

Scope

The caller's synthesized findings table (the fused, classified decision table). This pass does not rescan the diff: debt-shaped findings are already in the table, and every ownership decision already happened in the finder axes (review-code, review-verify, …). State the scope — the change the table was synthesized over — at the top of the returned table.

Transform (evaluate EVERY row — none is optional; n/a must be stated)

Turn the table's tech-debt-shaped rows (TODO/FIXME/HACK, duplication, stale or orphaned abstractions, dead code, complexity hotspots, missing tests, workarounds pinned to upstream fixes) into explicit, payable debt items:

✓ Restate each debt-shaped finding at file:line with what it defers ✓ Attribute it to the axis already recorded in the table — never re-litigate ownership ✓ Confirm every debt item carries a TRIGGER: the condition under which it must be paid (e.g. "3rd consumer appears", ">100k rows") — a debt item without a trigger is itself a finding ✓ Verify no current-unit debt was mislabeled non-blocking: current-unit work cannot be postpone/tradeoff/wontfix — a table showing one is flagged back to the classifier, never reclassified here ✓ Honor the dead-code exception: staged/planned code cross-checked against the roadmap/SPEC/TASKS is not dead code — mark verify when unsure, never assert

Return exactly

REVIEW TECH DEBT — scope: <scope>

| # | Finding | Sev | Evidence | Suggested fix |
|---|---------|-----|----------|---------------|
| 1 | <what>  | critical|major|minor | <file:line> | <trigger + smallest action> |

Rows: <n> transformed, <n> with trigger, <n> findings, <n> n/a (<which + why>)
Summary: <1-2 sentences>
Decision: PASS | FAIL

For this pass, the Suggested fix column carries the TRIGGER — the condition under which the debt must be paid — alongside the smallest action.

FAIL if any critical or major finding is open; PASS otherwise. Minor findings never block — they surface in the caller's report as debt notes.

Done when

Every debt-shaped row of the synthesized table was transformed with evidence (file:line) or explicitly marked n/a with the reason.
Every debt item carries a trigger; no current-unit debt was mislabeled.
The fixed-format block above is returned — nothing more, nothing less — and no code was changed.

---name: review-debtdescription: Internal tech-debt transform pass of the agentic-workflow review pack — composed in-turn by review-change and product-audit; not a menu entry. Transforms the synthesized findings table into explicit debt items, each with a re-trigger condition; it does not rescan the diff. Findings only; never edits code.license: MIT---# Review Tech Debt (internal)Composed by `review-change` / `product-audit` within their conversation — on anyagent, follow this file inline as the routed step. **Findings only; never edits,never refactors.**## ScopeThe caller's **synthesized findings table** (the fused, classified decisiontable). This pass does **not** rescan the diff: debt-shaped findings are alreadyin the table, and every ownership decision already happened in the finder axes(`review-code`, `review-verify`, …). State the scope — the change the table wassynthesized over — at the top of the returned table.## Transform (evaluate EVERY row — none is optional; n/a must be stated)Turn the table's tech-debt-shaped rows (TODO/FIXME/HACK, duplication, stale ororphaned abstractions, dead code, complexity hotspots, missing tests,workarounds pinned to upstream fixes) into explicit, payable debt items:✓ Restate each debt-shaped finding at `file:line` with what it defers✓ Attribute it to the axis already recorded in the table — never re-litigate ownership✓ Confirm every debt item carries a TRIGGER: the condition under which it must be paid (e.g. "3rd consumer appears", ">100k rows") — a debt item without a trigger is itself a finding✓ Verify no current-unit debt was mislabeled non-blocking: current-unit work cannot be `postpone`/`tradeoff`/`wontfix` — a table showing one is flagged back to the classifier, never reclassified here✓ Honor the dead-code exception: staged/planned code cross-checked against the roadmap/SPEC/TASKS is not dead code — mark *verify* when unsure, never assert## Return exactly```REVIEW TECH DEBT — scope: <scope>| # | Finding | Sev | Evidence | Suggested fix ||---|---------|-----|----------|---------------|| 1 | <what> | critical|major|minor | <file:line> | <trigger + smallest action> |Rows: <n> transformed, <n> with trigger, <n> findings, <n> n/a (<which + why>)Summary: <1-2 sentences>Decision: PASS | FAIL```For this pass, the Suggested fix column carries the TRIGGER — the conditionunder which the debt must be paid — alongside the smallest action.FAIL if any critical or major finding is open; PASS otherwise. Minor findingsnever block — they surface in the caller's report as debt notes.## Done when- Every debt-shaped row of the synthesized table was transformed with evidence (`file:line`) or explicitly marked n/a with the reason.- Every debt item carries a trigger; no current-unit debt was mislabeled.- The fixed-format block above is returned — nothing more, nothing less — and no code was changed.

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