# Review

> Reviews a changeset against both the minerva spec/knowledge lenses and code quality. With a work unit in context it runs a spec/knowledge audit alongside the code quality review, presenting both result sets before unified triage; if a GitHub PR exists for the branch it delegates code quality to `code-review:code-review`, otherwise it performs a check via a fresh-context subagent in the same finding format. Triage state persists to the scratchpad so re-runs pre-fill prior dispositions. Use when implementation on a work unit has just finished and the diff is unreviewed, when the user asks to review or audit a changeset or to verify shipped code matches what was designed, or when they invoke `minerva:review`.

- Skill: `honerlaw/review` (Agent Skill, multi-file: 2 files)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add honerlaw/review`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/honerlaw/review/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: Security
- Author: honerlaw (https://skillmd.com/u/honerlaw)
- Updated: 2026-09-17
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/honerlaw/review

---


Review the active changeset for both design compliance and code quality. Works against the local diff — no PR required. When a minerva work unit is found, runs a spec/knowledge audit alongside the code quality review and presents both result sets in parallel before triage. When no minerva context exists, runs the code quality review alone.

## Usage

- `minerva:review` — audits the work unit inferred from current-session context, or the most-recently-modified if context is ambiguous; falls back to a plain code review if no work unit is found
- `minerva:review 005-add-payments` — audit the named unit explicitly
- `minerva:review <date-slug> --auto=<orchestrator>` — orchestrated mode; see **Orchestrated mode** below

## Orchestrated mode (`--auto`)

**Mode argument**: `--auto`

`--auto=<orchestrator>` is an **observable** signal that an autonomous orchestrator has
substituted its own adjudication for this skill's user gates. Act on the argument — never on a
judgment about who is calling (`2026-06-07-decision-phase-handoff-rides-observable-intake`).
Absent it, every gate behaves exactly as written.

It satisfies the triage hard gate in `references/protocol.md`.

## Protocol

The full step protocols live verbatim in `references/protocol.md` — **read it now, before executing**: **Target resolution** → **Worktree entry** → **Diff resolution** → **Minerva audit** (spec fidelity + knowledge compliance; only when minerva context exists) → **Code review invocation** (delegates to `code-review:code-review` when a PR exists, fresh-context subagent check otherwise) → **Parallel presentation** → **Interactive triage** (FIX / SUGGEST / IGNORE) → **Triage persistence** (scratchpad pre-fill for re-runs) → **On approval — file writes** → **Report**.

## Lifecycle ordering

Canonical order: `minerva:work → minerva:review → minerva:promote → minerva:ship`. Review runs **before** promote so review-derived scratchpad notes flow through the promote partition. If review surfaces durable knowledge that promote already ran on, run promote again. The skills are idempotent — cycle as needed.

## Idempotency

Review is stateless across runs except for the `## Review triage YYYY-MM-DD` blocks it writes to scratchpad for resume. Re-running on the same diff produces the same findings; dispositions are pre-filled from the most recent triage block.

```
minerva:review  →  fixes applied  →  minerva:promote  →  minerva:review  →  zero findings  →  minerva:ship
```

## Out of scope

- **Writing to `.minerva/knowledge/` directly.** All durable knowledge goes through `minerva:promote` — one writer, one set of conventions.
- **A `review.md` log file.** FIX outcomes are visible in git; SUGGEST and IGNORE outcomes flow through scratchpad → promote. Triage state lives in scratchpad. A standalone log duplicates what those already capture.
- **Scoped review** (e.g. `minerva:review src/api/`). Deferred until the no-scope default proves noisy.