Cross Review

Cross Review

Reconstruct what you changed during this conversation, then delegate the actual review to a single subagent running the code-review skill with a user-specified model.

IMPORTANT: Steps 1–2 run in the current agent (the master). Only Step 3 spawns a subagent. Do NOT spawn a subagent to execute this skill's workflow — that creates unnecessary nesting.

Expected Prompt Format

Use review skill with <model-id> model to review the changes. Review instructions: <instructions>

Workflow

Step 1: Parse the user request

Extract from the user's prompt:

• Model: The model ID to use for the subagent. Validate against the available models.
• Review instructions: Any text after "Review instructions:" — pass these verbatim to the subagent.
• Change scope: Any indication of what should be reviewed. If not provided, default to reviewing all changes made by you during this conversation.

Step 2: Gather context from your own changes

Collect all information the review subagent will need. Do this in the current agent — do NOT delegate this step.

You already know what you changed — reconstruct the diff from your own conversation history:

1. Reconstruct the changes: Compose a unified diff-style summary of all changes you made by Edit, Write, Bash, and other tools you called during this conversation. Group changes by file.

   If no changes were made: Inform the user that no changes were found in this conversation and stop.

2. Read the final state of changed files to provide full surrounding context. Use the Read tool on each changed file.

3. Check for related context:

   • Read test files related to the changed files, prioritizing nearby paths and excluding dependency/vendor directories (e.g., node_modules, .git, dist, build, coverage)
   • Check for configuration changes that may affect behavior
   • Note any related type definitions or interfaces

Do NOT show gathered context or its process to the user. Use it only for the subagent.

Step 3: Spawn the review subagent

Use spawn_subagent with:

• skill: "code-review"
• model: The model extracted from the user's request.
• prompt: use following template

Review the changes below using "code-review" skill.

IMPORTANT CONSTRAINTS:
- Do NOT edit, write, or execute any commands that modify files. This is a read-only review.
- All necessary context is provided below. Read files only if provided context is clearly incomplete.
- Review the changes independently and objectively. Do not assume the changes are correct.

## Review Instructions

{user's review instructions, verbatim}

## Changes

{reconstructed diff or before/after summary of all changes, grouped by file}

## Full File Contents

{Do NOT include full file contents as subagent can read them if needed}

## Additional Context

{links to any related files, test files, type definitions, or user-provided requirements}

Step 4: Relay the result — MANDATORY VERBATIM OUTPUT, READ-ONLY, NO ACTIONS

CRITICAL: Your ONLY job in this step is to relay the subagent's review output to the user exactly as received. This step is NOT optional and MUST NOT be skipped under any circumstances.

MANDATORY BEHAVIOR — you MUST do this:

• ALWAYS output the review AS-IS, IN FULL, as the FIRST thing in your response: Copy the entire subagent response verbatim before writing anything else. Do NOT summarize, rephrase, shorten, reorder, filter, paraphrase, condense, or editorialize the review in any way. Do NOT replace the review with a summary like "The review found a few issues — want me to fix them?". The user MUST see the complete, unmodified review text.
• NEVER hide or omit the review: The user cannot see the subagent's output directly — only what you relay. If you do not output the review verbatim, the user sees nothing. Skipping or abbreviating the review is a critical failure of this skill.
• NEVER jump straight to asking the user what to do: Do NOT respond with only a question like "Want me to act on any of these findings?" without first printing the full review. Any follow-up question must come AFTER the verbatim review output.

FORBIDDEN behavior — you MUST NOT do this:

• Do NOT act on the review: Do NOT fix, improve, refactor, or otherwise modify any code based on the review findings. Do NOT open files to make corrections. Do NOT run any commands to address issues raised.
• Do NOT add your own commentary on the findings: Do not agree/disagree with findings, add caveats, or append your own analysis. A one-line model attribution (e.g., "Review produced by opus-4-6-think") is acceptable, but nothing more.
• Do NOT replace the review with a short acknowledgement or a question.

Required response shape:

1. (Optional) One-line model attribution, e.g. Review produced by <model-id>:
2. The subagent's review output, verbatim and complete.
3. (Optional) A brief closing offer to implement any of the review's recommendations, leaving the decision to the user.

You can ONLY suggest or offer to implement any of the review's recommendations — and only after the full review has been relayed. Let the user decide what to do next.

Error Handling

• spawn_subagent fails or times out: Inform the user of the failure. Suggest retrying or using a different model.
• No changes in conversation: Inform the user no changes were found and stop.
• Subagent returns an error or incomplete review: Relay whatever was returned and note that the review may be incomplete.