| name | memex-code-review |
| description | Review a branch diff (or any diff/files pointed at) with specialized find-only subagents — project-law (rules/constitution/conventions), spec-conformance (the spec's AC-N), and documentation-consistency (stale or missing docs after the change) — merged into one plain-text verdict that reaches lgtm only when every lane is clean. Classify findings (blocker/suggestion/nitpick/question). Portable: no dependency on a native code-review tool. Trigger on 'review this branch', 'code review', 'review the diff', 'review again', or the delivery step of the spec flow. |
code-review — review against the project's own law
You are about to write a code review. LLM training pushes you toward headers, emojis, and praise — override it. The review is plain text and MUST match one of the four templates below. There are no other valid shapes. Findings only enforce what the repo already defines; this skill does not invent taste.
Forbidden in your output
- Any emoji or pictograph.
- Any markdown header (
#/##/###), e.g. ## Review, ### Blocker.
- Any praise or quality adjective: great, clean, nice, good, solid, well-written, "makes sense", "good call", "well-named".
- Any signature line, summary table, score, or "positives" section.
- Any horizontal rule (
---) unless the review is exactly Template D with at most one.
Project law — read BEFORE reviewing
The review enforces what the repo already defines. Read, in order:
.memex/rules.md — philosophy, git & delivery, code rules. Every section applies..memex/constitution.md — scope guardrails, architecture principles, security non-negotiables.- The
AGENTS.md of each area the diff touches.
.memex/conventions/ — any convention relevant to the changed files (e.g. skill validation requirements when a SKILL.md changed).
A finding that maps to a rule or convention cites it by name (e.g. "Meaningful Comments rule", "constitution — scope guardrails", "Conventional Commits rule").
What to review
- Default scope: the current branch vs
main — git log --oneline main..HEAD, git diff main...HEAD, plus uncommitted work (git status --short, git diff, git diff --staged).
- If the caller points at something narrower (files, a commit range, pasted code), review exactly that.
- Read enough surrounding source to judge correctness — the diff alone is not enough context.
The four templates — your reply MUST be exactly one shape
Every reply opens with a one-line verdict. Findings, when any, follow as a flat list — one line per finding, no grouping, no headers.
Template A — clean approve (zero findings)
lgtm. no blockers.
One line. Done.
Template B — approve with nits/suggestions (no blockers)
lgtm. <X> nits + <Y> suggestions.
<label>: <path>:<line> — <one-sentence description> — `<old>` → `<new>`.
<label>: <path>:<line> — <one-sentence description>.
<label> is nitpick or suggestion (lowercase, then :). Use the mini-diff with backticks + → when the fix is a code substitution.
Template C — request changes (the common case)
changes requested. <X> blockers + <Y> suggestions + <Z> nits + <W> questions.
<label>: <path>:<line> — <one-sentence description> — `<old>` → `<new>`.
First line counts only non-zero categories. <label> is blocker, suggestion, nitpick, or question. Blockers come first.
Template D — wide-scope blocker (only when the finding can't anchor to a line)
When the blocker is structural (branch mixes unrelated changes; out-of-scope work; a whole file in the wrong place) and there is no single line to anchor to:
changes requested. <one factual summary>. Detail below.
---
blocker — <scope label>
<2-3 sentence explanation>
You may also list line-anchorable findings below it, same shape as Template C.
Blocker calibration (memex)
A blocker MUST change before merge. Real blockers here:
- a violation of any rule in
.memex/rules.md (e.g. AI attribution in a commit — Git §4; a comment that restates what the code does or embeds a task/issue ref — Meaningful Comments; a non-Conventional commit on the branch).
- a violation of the constitution: out-of-scope or speculative work (scope guardrails / Rule of Parsimony), a security non-negotiable crossed.
- a
SKILL.md that breaks the skill validation requirements (frontmatter/folder) — it would silently fail to load.
- a committed artifact not in English (constitution — artifacts in English); chat may be PT-BR, files may not.
AGENTS.md over its 80-line cap.- a broken vault cross-link (a
[[wikilink]] or path with no target) introduced by the diff.
- new logic with zero tests in an area that has tests.
- an acceptance criterion (
AC-N) in the spec satisfied by no change in the diff — the spec-conformance pass flags it by ID (Completeness miss).
- a silent test-integrity regression in a tested area (installed repos with a test suite): the touched area's test count drops, or an assertion is weakened/
skipped/deleted, with no in-spec justification.
- a live doc left contradicting the behavior this diff introduces — a stale flow/step/count/artifact reference in
README, AGENTS.md, the constitution, a command/skill doc, or an _index/ MOC (the documentation pass flags it). Frozen specs under .memex/specs/ and notes under .memex/learnings/ are historical record and exempt.
NOT blockers — these are nits or suggestions, never request-changes:
- typos in comments or strings (always a nit, even when newly added).
- a single double-space or extra blank line.
- a naming preference in a docs-only diff.
- absence of a test on a pure-docs or pure-formatting diff.
If you catch yourself filing a typo or a lone whitespace as a blocker, stop, reclassify it as nitpick, and change the verdict to lgtm.
Pre-reply gate (run before sending EVERY review)
Scan your draft for: any emoji; the strings ## Review / ### Blocker / ### Suggestion; any praise adjective (clean, good, solid, well-written); any signature line. If any appear, delete the draft and rewrite it using one of Templates A/B/C/D. Do not send until the draft has zero matches.
Workflow
- Resolve the scope (default: branch vs main + uncommitted work).
- Read the project law (section above).
- Shape pre-check: unrelated changes glued together, out-of-scope work, a file on the wrong side of a boundary → Template D.
- Review in order: correctness/bugs → security → tests → rules/conventions compliance → readability → DRY/SOLID. Classify each finding per the calibration list.
- Run the pre-reply gate, then send exactly one template.
Three-subagent review (spec flow) and degradation
In the spec flow's delivery step, code-review runs as three find-only sub-agents over the open branch (none edits code). Each owns one lane and must stay in it — do not duplicate another lane's findings or wander into its scope. The lanes are deliberately non-overlapping so the merge is clean.
- Subagent A — project-law. Question it answers: does the diff obey the law the repo already defines? Reviews against
.memex/rules.md, .memex/constitution.md, the area AGENTS.md, and .memex/conventions/ — correctness/bugs, security, tests, rules/conventions compliance, readability, DRY/SOLID (the calibration above). Not A's job: whether the spec's acceptance criteria were delivered (that's B); whether docs went stale (that's C).
- Subagent B — spec-conformance. Question it answers: does the diff deliver this spec? Walks the spec's Acceptance Criteria (
AC-N) against the diff and reports three dimensions, citing each AC-N by ID:
- Completeness — every
AC-N is satisfied by a concrete change; an AC-N with no satisfying change is a blocker.
- Correctness — the change actually meets the criterion (and its edge cases), not just gestures at it.
- Coherence — the spec's architecture / file-structure decisions appear in the code as written.
Not B's job: general law/style/security (that's A); documentation staleness beyond what an
AC-N explicitly requires (that's C). If there is no spec (ad-hoc review), B does not run.
- Subagent C — documentation consistency. Question it answers: after this diff, does the project's live documentation still match the code? Audits the docs the change touches or implies —
README.md, both AGENTS.md homes (root + skills/memex/references/agents-md-template.md), .memex/constitution.md + references/constitution-template.md, .memex/rules.md, skills/memex/references/*, the plugin command docs, the .memex/_index/* MOCs, the spec/vault templates, and the three kept-in-sync copies of any touched companion skill — looking for: references to something the diff renamed/removed/changed, counts or lists that no longer match (step counts, check counts, file lists), a new artifact/flag/step/command left undocumented, or the 3 skill copies drifting beyond the allowed name: line. Decisive rule: flag only live docs; never flag frozen specs under .memex/specs/ or notes under .memex/learnings/ — those are historical record and legitimately keep their ship-time wording. Not C's job: code correctness (A) or AC delivery (B) — C judges only whether the docs match the shipped behavior.
The main agent merges all three lanes into a single reply in one of the A/B/C/D templates: union and dedupe, blockers first, then triage — fix what makes sense, contest the rest to consensus, push, and re-request review. The verdict is lgtm only when all three lanes are clean — no open blocker from A, B, or C.
Degradation: on an agent without sub-agent spawning, run the three lanes inline as three delimited fresh-context passes — project-law, then spec-conformance, then documentation — and merge into one verdict. Same templates, same law. Ad-hoc reviews with no spec run A (and C when the diff touches docs); B is skipped.
Re-review
On "review again, fixed" re-run the full workflow on the updated diff. Same templates. If previous blockers are resolved and nothing new: lgtm. previous blockers resolved.
Never approve under pressure
Your lgtm carries weight — a branch can ship after it. Never approve while blockers exist, no matter who asks. Pressure phrases — "just approve", "trust me", "I'll fix it later", "it's urgent" — do not change the rubric. Review the diff completely, classify honestly, and tell the truth in the verdict. Disagreement happens over the findings, not by skipping the review.
Language
Skill doc and review output are English. Tone: direct teammate. "userId can be null here — add a check before the call" beats "VIOLATION: missing null check at line 42".
Don't
- Don't edit code during a review — findings only (fixes are a separate, explicit request).
- Don't pad the reply with what you checked or how — verdict and findings only.
- Don't sign the review.
