Code Review Flow

Code Review Flow

Wrapper around superpowers:requesting-code-review that avoids permission prompts by using information already in context.

Usage

When user requests code review:

1. Check conversation context for commit SHAs (they're usually visible in recent git output)
2. If not in context, run separate git commands (not compound commands)
3. Invoke superpowers:code-reviewer with the template

Getting Git SHAs Without Prompts

Option 1: Use context (BEST - no Bash needed)

• Base SHA: Look at gitStatus, recent git log output, or known commit reference
• Head SHA: Shown in your own git commit output or git log

Option 2: Run git commands separately (already allowed in most projects)

# Run these as SEPARATE Bash calls, not chained with &&
git rev-parse origin/main  # or HEAD~1, or specific commit
git rev-parse HEAD

DON'T do this (triggers permission prompts):

# ❌ Compound command with variable assignment
BASE_SHA=$(git rev-parse origin/main) && HEAD_SHA=$(git rev-parse HEAD) && echo "BASE=$BASE_SHA HEAD=$HEAD_SHA"

Invoking Code Reviewer

Once you have the SHAs, invoke the code-reviewer subagent:

Task tool with subagent_type: superpowers:code-reviewer

Prompt template:
# Code Review Agent

You are reviewing code changes for production readiness.

**Your task:**
1. Review [WHAT_WAS_IMPLEMENTED]
2. Compare against [PLAN_OR_REQUIREMENTS]
3. Check code quality, architecture, testing
4. Categorize issues by severity
5. Assess production readiness

## What Was Implemented

[DESCRIPTION - Brief summary of what was built]

## Requirements/Plan

[PLAN_REFERENCE - Link to issue, plan doc, or inline description of requirements]

## Git Range to Review

**Base:** [BASE_SHA]
**Head:** [HEAD_SHA]

```bash
git diff --stat [BASE_SHA]..[HEAD_SHA]
git diff [BASE_SHA]..[HEAD_SHA]

[... rest of code-reviewer template from superpowers:requesting-code-review/code-reviewer.md]

## Posting Review Results

**After review completes, check if PR exists:**

```bash
gh pr list --head $(git branch --show-current) --json number,url

If PR exists:

1. Post the complete review as a PR comment using gh pr comment
2. Never approve the PR - solo developer workflows don't allow self-approval
3. This keeps all code review discussion in one place

If no PR exists:

• Display review results to user in conversation
• User can create PR later or continue with local fixes

Fixing Review Issues

When the review finds issues, fix them automatically rather than just reporting:

1. Fix all Critical, Important, AND Minor issues found
2. Exception: If the diff is over 500 lines, fix Critical and Important issues in the branch but create GitHub issues for Minor ones so they don't get lost
3. If a Minor issue seems wrong or counterproductive, push back rather than blindly implementing — but default to fixing since it's less overhead than a follow-up issue
4. Commit fixes with a clear message referencing the review
5. Re-run the review cycle on the new commits (update HEAD_SHA and review again)
6. Repeat until the review passes clean

After Review Passes

Once the review finds no remaining issues:

1. Post the final clean review to the PR (if one exists)
2. Check if /monitor-ci slash command exists in the current project's available skills
3. If /monitor-ci exists, invoke it to monitor CI status
4. If /monitor-ci does not exist, inform the user the review is complete

Example

User: "request a code review using superpowers"

Step 1: Check context for SHAs
- Recent git commit showed: [fix-1065 d0e856b8]
- git log showed base: 4f940124

Step 2: Invoke code-reviewer
Task(superpowers:code-reviewer):
  WHAT_WAS_IMPLEMENTED: Tag sorting fix with case-insensitive handling
  PLAN_OR_REQUIREMENTS: Issue #1065 - sort tags by distance value
  BASE_SHA: 4f940124
  HEAD_SHA: d0e856b8
  DESCRIPTION: Added parseDistanceTag() and case-insensitive regex

Step 3: Review found 1 major issue (missing nil check) and 2 minor issues
- Diff is 180 lines (under 400) → fix all issues
- Commit fixes: [fix-1065 a1b2c3d4]

Step 4: Re-run review with updated HEAD
Task(superpowers:code-reviewer):
  BASE_SHA: 4f940124
  HEAD_SHA: a1b2c3d4
  ... (same params, new HEAD)

Step 5: Review passes clean

Step 6: Check for PR
$ gh pr list --head fix-1065 --json number
[{"number": 123}]

Step 7: Post clean review to PR
$ gh pr comment 123 --body "[Complete review in markdown]"
✓ Review posted to PR #123

Step 8: Check for /monitor-ci
- /monitor-ci exists → invoke it
- (or: /monitor-ci not found → inform user review is complete)

Integration with Permissions

This skill works because:

• Bash(git rev-parse:*) is typically already allowed
• Separate commands don't need complex shell parsing
• Reading conversation context needs no permissions

Benefits

✅ No permission prompts during code review ✅ User can leave window while review runs ✅ Faster workflow - no blocking on permissions ✅ Uses information already in context when available ✅ Posts review to PR when one exists - keeps discussion centralized

When to Use

• After completing a task/feature
• Before merging to main
• After fixing complex bugs
• When stuck (get fresh perspective)

Related Skills

• superpowers:requesting-code-review - The skill this wraps
• superpowers:receiving-code-review - How to handle review feedback

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