Self Reviewing Code

Self-Reviewing Code

Purpose

Review your own PR with beginner-mind before marking ready. Step back and catch assumptions, missing edge cases, unclear code.

Core insight: You're too close to the code. Review as if seeing it for the first time.

Pre-Review

just check-all    # Automated checks
gh pr checks      # CI status

Self-Review Checklist

Before marking ready:

• Re-read original issue - ALL criteria met?
• Review diff - code clear and maintainable?
• Edge cases covered in tests?
• Documentation updated?
• just check-all passes?
• CI green?

Software Laws

Apply these industry-standard principles:

• Postel's Law - Liberal input acceptance, conservative output
• Hyrum's Law - All observable behavior becomes API contract
• Kernighan's Law - Simple code over clever code
• Leaky Abstractions - Understand when abstractions leak
• DRY - Single source of truth, no duplication
• YAGNI - Add only when actually needed

Review Questions

Clarity:

• Would this make sense to someone unfamiliar?
• Variable/function names descriptive?
• Complex logic commented with "why"?

Correctness:

• Tests cover edge cases?
• Error conditions handled?
• Could this fail in production?

Maintainability:

• Code DRY?
• Functions single-responsibility?
• Future changes easy?

Performance:

• Obvious performance issues?
• Database queries efficient?

Security:

• Inputs validated?
• Sensitive data handled properly?
• No injection vulnerabilities?

Common Issues

• Leftover debugging code (console.log, print)
• Commented-out code
• TODOs that should be issues
• Magic numbers without constants
• Missing null/undefined checks
• Hardcoded values that should be config

Fresh Eyes Technique

1. Walk away 15+ minutes
2. Come back, review as if someone else wrote it
3. Read diff line by line
4. Question every decision

Ask: "Would I approve this reviewing someone else's code?"