Nts Review Project

Review project against architecture invariants

For projects scaffolded with nextjs-trpc-prisma-starter. Detects drift from the patterns established by the scaffolder and the nts-architecture-patterns skill.

Use this skill when

• User asks "does this project follow our conventions?"
• Before a PR review or merge.
• After a substantial feature lands, to catch newly-introduced drift.
• During onboarding — quick health check for an unfamiliar codebase.
• User invokes /nts-review-project.
• User suspects something feels off architecturally.

Do NOT use this skill on:

• Projects NOT scaffolded with this plugin (the rules are tuned for the tRPC + SPA stack). If structure detection fails, refuse and explain.
• Projects in the middle of a partial migration — the noise drowns the signal.

The flow

1. Verify project structure. Confirm we're in a project this skill knows how to review.
2. Run scripts/check-conventions.sh. Mechanical, deterministic checks that take ~1s.
3. Parse the script's findings. Group by check type.
4. Sample-read flagged files. For checks that need judgment (e.g. "is this src/app/ page genuinely thin?"), read 5-10 of the flagged files and verify.
5. Sample-read passing files too. Spot-check 3-5 files that the script didn't flag, to catch issues the script can't see (silent permission bypasses, drift in module organization, smuggled state-management libs).
6. Produce the report. Markdown, grouped by severity.

Step 1 — Verify project structure

Refuse if any of these are missing:

src/server/api/trpc.ts          # tRPC plumbing — proves this is the plugin's stack
src/server/modules/              # service layer
src/app/api/trpc/[trpc]/route.ts # tRPC HTTP entry
CLAUDE.md                        # the project's contract

If missing, output:

This project doesn't match the layout nextjs-trpc-prisma-starter expects (src/server/api/trpc.ts and src/app/api/trpc/[trpc]/route.ts are required to confirm SPA + tRPC mode). I won't review it with these rules — they'd produce noise. If this project is on a different stack (Server Actions, NestJS, etc.), it needs a different review skill.

Step 2 — Run the script

bash scripts/check-conventions.sh

The script outputs tagged lines like:

MISSING_SERVER_ONLY: src/server/modules/order/order.service.ts
DB_IN_APP: src/app/(dashboard)/orders/page.tsx:8
SERVER_ACTION: src/server/actions/legacy.ts:3
WRONG_CACHE_PRIMITIVE: src/server/modules/customer/customer.service.ts:42:revalidateTag
ROUTER_BLOAT: src/server/api/routers/order.ts:25 (procedure body has 12 lines)
ROUTER_HAS_DB: src/server/api/routers/order.ts:30
STATE_LIB: zustand
SERVICE_NO_PERMISSION: src/server/modules/order/order.service.ts:markPaid
MUTATION_NO_AUDIT: src/server/modules/order/order.service.ts:markPaid
NO_TRANSACTION: src/server/modules/order/order.service.ts:bulkCreate

Plus a === Summary === block with counts.

Parse the output by tag. Don't trust the tags blindly — verify each finding by reading the actual file (especially for the heuristic ones like MUTATION_NO_AUDIT, which is a regex-based guess).

Step 3 — Sample-read flagged files

For each unique file the script flagged, read it and confirm the finding is real. Some checks (especially MUTATION_NO_AUDIT and SERVICE_NO_PERMISSION) use simple regex that can have false positives — e.g. a service method that's a pure read but follows a write-shaped name.

Use the architecture-patterns skill's references/ to remind yourself of the canonical shape before judging.

Step 4 — Sample-read passing files

The script can't catch:

• Silent permission bypasses (// @ts-ignore near a requirePermission call, or commented-out checks).
• Drift in module organization (a new "utils" folder at the top level instead of inside a module).
• Subtle Server Action smuggling ("use server" directive in a TSX file the script missed — rare but check).
• Domain errors being thrown as raw Error everywhere instead of NotFoundError etc.
• Tests that test mocks instead of real behavior.
• A new dependency in package.json that doesn't fit the stack.

Spot-read:

• 2–3 service files that the script said are clean.
• The most-recently-modified file (whatever it is — ls -t src/ to find).
• package.json for added deps that hint at architectural drift.

Step 5 — Produce the report

Use this exact format:

# Project review: <project-name>

**Mode detected:** Next.js + tRPC + Prisma (SPA mode) ✓
**Files scanned:** N TS/TSX files across src/
**Date:** <YYYY-MM-DD>

## 🔴 Must fix (N)

Severity rule: missing security/correctness primitive that the rest of the codebase depends on.

### <Finding category>

- `<path>:<line>` — <one-line explanation>
- `<path>:<line>` — <one-line explanation>

## 🟡 Should fix (N)

Severity rule: pattern violation that doesn't break correctness today but will erode invariants if not addressed.

### <Finding category>

- `<path>:<line>` — <one-line explanation>

## 🟢 Notes (N)

Severity rule: a rule-break with a comment explaining intent. Documenting that it was caught and judged OK.

### <Finding category>

- `<path>:<line>` — <one-line explanation, including the user's justification>

## ✅ Passing

- N/N `src/server/` files have `import "server-only";`
- 0 Server Actions found
- 0 `revalidateTag` / `revalidatePath` calls (SPA mode preserved)
- All M tRPC procedures are ≤3 lines per body
- React Query is the only state-management library

## Recommendations

<If "must fix" > 0:> Tackle 🔴 first — those are real holes.
<If patterns are repeated:> Pattern X appears in N files; consider a codemod or a project-wide refactor PR.
<If everything passes:> Healthy. Re-run after the next major feature.

Severity guide

See references/severity-guide.md for the full rubric. Quick reference:

• 🔴 Must fix — missing import "server-only";, missing requirePermission on mutation, missing auditLog on mutation, DB call in src/app/, Server Action present.
• 🟡 Should fix — tRPC router bloat, mutation outside transaction, raw Error instead of domain error, smuggled state-management lib, manual cache primitive (revalidateTag etc.) in SPA-mode project.
• 🟢 Notes — rule break with adjacent justification comment, intentional exception documented in CLAUDE.md.

What this skill explicitly does NOT do

• Lint / format / typecheck. That's pnpm verify (or whatever the project's gate is). This skill is about architecture, not syntax.
• Test coverage. Different concern — covered by testing-patterns.
• Performance review. N+1 queries, missing indexes — out of scope.
• Security audit beyond the boundaries. Doesn't check for SQL injection, XSS, CSRF. Trusts that the framework's defaults plus the boundary rules cover the basics.
• Code review of business logic. Doesn't comment on whether award should fire before markSent or whatever. Architecture only.

If the user wants any of those, point them at the right tool.