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Cistern Diff Reader

Diff reading methodology for Cistern review cataractae. Covers empty-diff early exit and the principle of tracing changes to their callers. Use when a cataractae needs to understand what changed in the current droplet. For the diff command itself, see the cistern-git skill.

michieldean 0e0b23b 1.5 KB Updated
Coding & Dev Tools

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Cistern Diff Reader

Get the Diff

Use the merge-base diff command from the cistern-git skill. Always use merge-base (not two-dot) — it shows only this branch's own changes.

Empty Diff

If the diff is empty (0 bytes or whitespace only), signal pass immediately. There is nothing to review.

Read Beyond the Diff

The diff shows what changed. The codebase shows what depended on it staying the same.

For every function or variable the diff modifies:

  1. Find all callers outside the diff: grep -rn 'funcName' --include='*.go'
  2. For each caller: does it still work correctly?
  3. For deletions: what references are now broken?

For deletions of files, imports, or type values, look for:

  • Files that import deleted symbols
  • Test files whose subject no longer exists
  • Code paths that produced a value no longer consumed anywhere

User-Visible vs Internal Changes

Classify changes to determine what needs documentation or broader review:

  • User-visible: CLI flags, config options, API contracts, public types, README-level features
  • Internal: refactors, test-only changes, internal error handling

Only user-visible changes require documentation updates.

michieldean/cistern/tree/main/internal/skills/cistern-diff-reader commit 0e0b23bb71

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npx skillmds@latest add michieldean/cistern-diff-reader