Pre Pr Check

Pre-PR Check: LMCache Coding Standard Compliance

Check the developer's local changes against the coding standards defined in docs/coding_standards.md and modify the code to fix compliance issues, so the PR is clean before it is opened.

This skill is meant to be run before /create-pr.

Arguments

• --scope (default: branch)
  • uncommitted -- check only unstaged + staged changes vs HEAD
  • staged -- check only staged changes
  • branch -- check all commits on the current branch not yet in dev (the full PR diff). This is the default since that matches what a reviewer sees.
• --fix (default) -- automatically fix issues that can be fixed mechanically
• --check-only -- only report issues, do not modify files

Workflow

Step 0 -- Load the standard

Read docs/coding_standards.md at the repo root. This is the authoritative reference.

Step 1 -- Detect the scope of changes

Run git status --short and git branch --show-current to orient yourself.

Then, based on --scope, compute the diff:

Also list changed files:

If there are no changes in the selected scope, report that and stop.

Step 2 -- Read the changed files

For each changed file, read the current content (not just the diff) so you can make accurate edits. Focus on:

• .py files -- full coding-standard review
• .md, .rst -- documentation review (brief)
• .cpp, .cu, .rs -- light review (style only; clang-format / cargo fmt handle most of it)

For each changed file, also identify the changed public symbols (functions, methods, classes, fields whose signature, return type, raised exceptions, or behavior contract changed). You will use these in Step 4 to find and inspect callers.

For large changes, delegate to the Explore agent to summarize per-file responsibilities before reviewing.

Step 3 -- Run the checks

For each changed Python file, check the following (from docs/coding_standards.md):

A. Mechanical issues (fix automatically unless --check-only)

These are straightforward to fix:

1. License header (Section 1.3): Missing # SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0 on line 1 of new Python files.
2. assert used for runtime validation (Section 2.2): Replace with if <not cond>: raise ValueError(<clear msg>).
3. Optional usage (Section 2.1): Where a value is always initialized, remove the Optional wrapper and initialize directly. Where None is genuinely possible, rewrite as X | None.
4. Bare generics (Section 2.1): Replace bare list, dict, tuple, set in annotations with parameterized forms (list[T], dict[K, V]).
5. Lazy imports (Section 7.2): Move imports to the top of the file, under the correct section heading. Preserve torch-before-native-C-extension ordering.
6. Bare logging.getLogger(__name__) (Section 7.4): Replace with init_logger(__name__) from lmcache.logging.
7. Operational logs at INFO level (Section 7.4): If a log is about store/retrieve/task progress, change logger.info(...) to logger.debug(...).
8. Inappropriate WARNING (Section 7.4): For log messages about benign concurrent conditions (e.g., "key not found, this should not happen" in a code path documented as not holding the global lock), downgrade to debug and fix the misleading message.

B. Docstring issues (fix when content is clear; ask when content is unclear)

9. Missing docstrings on public/modified functions (Section 3.1-3.2):
   • If the function is simple and its purpose is obvious from the code, draft a full docstring (summary, args, returns, raises).
   • If behavior is non-obvious, draft a docstring with clear sections but add a TODO: confirm note where you are uncertain, and flag it in the report.
10. Docstring accuracy (Section 3.3): If you added a parameter but the docstring still describes the old signature, update it. If a parameter is currently a no-op (accepted but ignored), the docstring must say so explicitly.
11. Missing type hints on function args or return values (Section 2.1): Add them based on the function's body.

C. Design issues (flag; do NOT silently refactor)

These are judgment calls and should be reported, not auto-fixed:

12. Cross-class private member access (Section 4.4): Accessing other._private outside the defining class.
13. Ambiguous return values (Section 4.3): Function returns None for multiple distinct meanings.
14. Boolean parameters on public APIs (Section 4.3).
15. New features without tests (Section 5.2).
16. Bug fixes without regression tests (Section 5.2).
17. Unbounded collection growth (Section 7.6): A set/dict that is appended to without cleanup.
18. Error paths that leave state inconsistent (Section 7.5): Exceptions that skip lock release, FD close, or pool free.
19. Missing design doc for non-trivial new features (Section 5.1).
20. PR scope too large (Section 1.1): If the diff touches many unrelated modules, suggest how to split.
21. Lock protocol violations (Section 8): Debug methods not holding self._lock; shared state accessed without synchronization.

Step 4 -- Apply fixes

For category A and B issues (unless --check-only):

• Use Edit to make precise, minimal changes.
• Preserve existing comments and code style.
• After fixes, re-read the file to confirm the edit applied cleanly.

For category C issues: do NOT auto-fix. Report them for the developer to address.

Step 5 -- Caller Impact Analysis (Section 6.2 of the standard)

Even when the diff itself looks clean, a change can silently break unchanged callers. Before declaring the changes ready for PR, verify the global view for each changed public symbol identified in Step 2.

Triggers -- run this step if the diff does any of:

• Adds, removes, renames, or reorders parameters of a public function/method
• Changes parameter types, defaults, or accepted domains (e.g., adds None to accepted values, narrows a type)
• Changes the return type or the meaning of sentinel returns (e.g., what None means)
• Adds, removes, or changes raised exceptions
• Changes side effects, ordering, blocking behavior, or thread-safety guarantees
• Modifies a method on a base class or protocol (subclasses are callers)
• Changes an invariant of a class field accessed by public API

If none of the above applies, skip this step.

How to run it:

1. For each changed public symbol, Grep its name across the whole repo (production code, tests/, benchmarks/, lmcache/integration/, docs/). Do not limit to files in the diff.
2. For commonly-named symbols with many false matches, use Grep -A 2 -B 2 for context, or delegate to the Agent (Explore) tool with a focused prompt (e.g., "find all callers of LMCacheMPWorkerAdapter.submit_store_request and summarize the arguments each caller passes").
3. For base-class / protocol changes, also grep for subclasses (class \w+\(<BaseName>).

For each caller, decide:

• Broken and must be fixed in this PR (category A-like, fix it):

  • Removed / renamed parameter that the caller passes by keyword
  • Reordered positional parameters the caller relies on
  • Return type change that the caller destructures (e.g., tuple shape change)
  • Newly raised exception the caller doesn't handle, when the caller is on the normal success path

  For these, update the caller in the same pass as the main change. Apply the edit using Edit, then re-read to confirm. If the caller is in an unrelated module and the fix is non-trivial, flag it for manual review instead.

• Behaviorally risky (category C-like, flag for the developer):

  • Signature is still compatible but semantics changed (e.g., a return value that used to always be non-empty can now be empty)
  • Caller passes through to another function whose contract may now be violated
  • Base-class change where a subclass may need updating even though the signature is backwards-compatible

  Do NOT silently edit these -- the developer needs to confirm the intent. Flag them in the output with path:line of the caller and a one-line explanation.

• Safe (no action):

  • Backwards-compatible signature extension the caller does not use
  • Change in an internal detail not observable at the call site

Track the caller-impact findings under the existing output sections:

• Auto-fixed callers go under "Auto-fixed issues" with a new category "Caller updates"
• Flagged risky callers go under "Manual review required" with severity error if the caller is clearly broken and warning otherwise

Step 6 -- Final verification

Run these checks and report the outcome. Do NOT auto-run them; print the command the developer should run (respecting the user's preference to run these themselves):

pre-commit run --all-files
pytest -xvs tests/v1/distributed/        # if distributed/ changed
pytest -xvs tests/v1/mp_observability/   # if mp_observability/ changed

Output Format

Summary

• Scope: <uncommitted|staged|branch>
• Files changed: <N>
• Issues found: <total> (auto-fixed: <N>, manual: <N>)

Auto-fixed issues

Grouped by category, with file:line references. E.g.:

Typing (3 fixes)

• lmcache/v1/foo.py:42 -- replaced Optional[int] with int | None
• lmcache/v1/foo.py:87 -- added type hint for limit: int and return type -> list[str]
• lmcache/v1/bar.py:120 -- replaced dict with dict[str, int]

Runtime validation (1 fix)

• lmcache/v1/config.py:548 -- replaced assert config.url is not None with if config.url is None: raise ValueError("url is required")

Docstrings (2 fixes)

• lmcache/v1/baz.py:15 -- added full docstring for public method submit_request
• lmcache/v1/baz.py:60 -- updated docstring for lookup to reflect new cache_salt parameter

Manual review required (needs developer judgment)

Grouped by severity:

error (must fix before PR):

• lmcache/v1/foo.py:230 -- new feature BatchProcessor.process_async has no tests in tests/v1/. Add unit tests that exercise the public process_async API.
• lmcache/v1/bar.py:15 -- BarAdapter.do_thing accesses self._cache._internal_map directly; use a public accessor or expose a method on Cache.

warning (should fix):

• lmcache/v1/baz.py:42 -- register(name: str, force: bool) uses a boolean parameter. Consider splitting into register(name) and register_overwrite(name), or using an enum RegisterMode.

info (suggestion):

• lmcache/v1/baz.py:78 -- filter parameter is named filter; consider key_eligible_filter for clarity.

Commands to run next

pre-commit run --all-files
# then run relevant test suites

Summary table

Rules

• Only touch files in the selected scope, except when Step 5 identifies an unchanged caller that is clearly broken by a signature change in this PR. In that case, update the caller in the same pass. Do not otherwise "improve" unchanged files.
• Never add error handling, fallbacks, or validation that the task does not require.
• Never introduce new abstractions, helpers, or dependencies in fixes.
• When a fix requires judgment (e.g., "what should this docstring say?" or "is this caller's assumption still valid?"), prefer to flag it for manual review rather than guess.
• Never run git add, git commit, or git push. The developer handles git operations themselves.
• Never run pre-commit or the test suite automatically; print the command for the developer to run.
• If the scope is branch and the branch has no upstream or is far behind dev, warn the developer but proceed.
• If docs/coding_standards.md is missing, stop and ask the developer to check it out or pull the latest dev.

Source: LMCache/LMCache — distributed by TomeVault.