Override Rule

AutoReview Override-Rule Wizard

Cross-platform. Snippets below use bash-style env-var syntax (${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}). Claude Code's Bash tool runs Git Bash on Windows so these work as-is; on native PowerShell substitute $env:CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT, on cmd use %CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT%. Plugin requires Node ≥22 — only assumed binary.

Seven steps. Overlays let a repo tune remote (corp-shipped) rules without forking. Changes live in remote_rules[<name>].overrides[<rule-id>] in .autoreview/config.yaml (or config.personal.yaml for personal-scope changes).

Only frontmatter is overridable (name, triggers, tier, severity, type, description). If the user wants to change the rule body, that requires forking the rule into a local copy — explain this and stop.

The 7 steps

1. Pick remote rule. List rules grouped by source. Show rule ids, names, and current effective tier/severity. Ask user to pick one by id.

   Example listing:

   corp-standards:
     corp/audit-log-on-handlers   tier: critical   severity: error
     corp/no-todo-without-ticket  tier: standard   severity: error   [manual]
   vendor-pack:
     vendor/naming-conventions    tier: trivial    severity: warning
   

2. Show effective frontmatter. Read the upstream frontmatter from .autoreview/remote_rules/<name>/<ref>/<path>/<rule>.md and merge any existing override from config. Display both the raw upstream values and the currently applied overrides side by side:

   Field         Upstream        Current override   Effective
   ---           ---             ---                ---
   tier          critical        trivial            trivial  ←override
   severity      error           (none)             error
   type          auto            manual             manual   ←override
   triggers      dir:"src"       (none)             dir:"src"
   

3. Decide what to change. Ask which field(s) to adjust. Overridable: tier, triggers, severity, type, description, name. Not overridable: body (explain why and stop if that's what they want).

4. If triggers changed — breadth check. Run node ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/scripts/bin/check-breadth.mjs --expr '<new-expr>' against the new trigger expression. Zero LLM cost. Iterate until the match set looks right. A trigger that matches 0 files is dead code; a trigger that matches too many files will inflate review cost.

5. If tier changed — test-drive. Read .autoreview/config.yaml and explain the cost/time tradeoff at the new tier:

   Tier	Typical use	Relative cost
   trivial	Style, naming, simple patterns	Cheapest / fastest
   default	General conventions	Baseline
   standard	Cross-cutting concerns, API contracts	Moderate
   heavy	Architectural rules, security invariants	Slow / expensive
   critical	Compliance, audit, zero-tolerance violations	Most thorough

   If the target tier is not defined in the repo's tiers: config, walk the user through adding it (same as step 5 of autoreview:create-rule). Then run node ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/scripts/bin/reviewer-test.mjs --rule <id> --file <path> against 2–3 sample files at the new tier so the user can see how the new model behaves before committing.

6. Write overlay. Run the save command, choosing scope:

   • --scope repo → writes to .autoreview/config.yaml (committed, shared with team).
   • --scope personal → writes to .autoreview/config.personal.yaml (gitignored, local only).

   Ask the user which scope to use if not obvious from context. Get explicit user consent before writing.

   node ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/scripts/bin/override-rule.mjs save \
     --remote <source-name> \
     --rule <rule-id> \
     --field tier=trivial \
     --field severity=warning \
     [--scope personal]
   

   Multiple --field flags are accepted. Field format is <name>=<value>. To explicitly unset an override field (revert to upstream value), pass <name>=null.

7. Confirm + advise. Print the saved overlay block. Suggest next steps:

   • Run autoreview:review to verify the overlay applied as expected.
   • If triggers changed, run autoreview:context <some-path> to confirm which files now match.
   • Commit config.yaml if scope was repo.

What an overlay looks like in config.yaml

remote_rules:
  - name: corp-standards
    url: https://github.com/acme/autoreview-rules
    ref: v1.2.0
    path: rules
    overrides:
      audit-log-on-handlers:
        tier: trivial          # downgraded from corp's critical
        severity: warning      # non-blocking in this repo
      no-todo-without-ticket:
        type: manual           # opt-in only; don't run on every commit

Red flags — STOP