Code Review

When to Use

Use this skill when reviewing code changes (diffs, PRs, or complete files) for correctness, maintainability, security, and adherence to best practices.

Steps

1. Understand context: Read the full diff or file. Identify the purpose of the change (feature, bugfix, refactor, etc.).
2. Check correctness: Verify logic, edge cases, error handling, and return values. Look for off-by-one errors, null/undefined handling, and race conditions.
3. Assess security: Check for injection vulnerabilities (SQL, XSS, command), improper input validation, hardcoded secrets, and insecure defaults.
4. Evaluate design: Consider naming clarity, function cohesion, abstraction level, and adherence to existing patterns in the codebase.
5. Review tests: Check if changes are covered by tests. Identify missing test cases for edge cases and error paths.
6. Rank findings: Assign severity to each finding and present them in priority order.

Severity Levels

• Critical: Bugs that will cause crashes, data loss, or security vulnerabilities in production.
• Warning: Issues that may cause problems under certain conditions or violate important conventions.
• Suggestion: Improvements to readability, naming, or style that are not strictly required.
• Nitpick: Minor style preferences with no functional impact.

Rules

• Focus on the changed code, not unrelated pre-existing issues (unless they interact with the change).
• Provide concrete fix suggestions, not just problem descriptions.
• Be specific: reference line numbers, function names, and variable names.
• Acknowledge good patterns and well-written code, not just problems.
• If you're uncertain whether something is a bug, say so and explain your reasoning.

Output Format

For each finding:

[SEVERITY] file:line — Short title
Description of the issue and why it matters.
Suggested fix or alternative approach.

End with a summary: total findings by severity, overall assessment, and whether the change is ready to merge.

Source: definableai/definable.ai — distributed by TomeVault.