code-review

name	code-review
description	Review changed code against project standards. Checks for missing tests, dead code, type safety, lint issues, and coding conventions. Run after completing any implementation work. Use when this capability is needed.
metadata	{"author":"danielabelski"}

Code Review

Review all changed code against the project's quality standards and coding conventions.

Code Standards

Read and internalize these standards before writing code. The review steps below verify compliance.

Python Style

• Python 3.11+, type hints required
• Async throughout (asyncpg, async FastAPI)
• Pydantic models for request/response
• Ruff for linting (line-length 120)
• No Python files at project root - maintain clean directory structure
• Never use multi-item tuple return values — not even for internal/private functions. Always use a dataclass or Pydantic model. No exceptions, no "it's just two values" shortcuts. If a function returns more than one value, define a named type for it.

Type Safety with Pydantic Models

NEVER use raw dict types for structured data — this applies to all code, including internal helpers and private functions. If the dict has known keys, it must be a dataclass or Pydantic model:

• Use Pydantic BaseModel for all data structures passed between functions
• Use @dataclass for lightweight internal data containers when Pydantic validation isn't needed
• Add @field_validator for type coercion (e.g., ensuring datetimes are timezone-aware)
• Avoid dict.get() patterns - use typed model attributes instead
• Parse external data (JSON, API responses) into Pydantic models at the boundary
• This catches type errors at parse time, not deep in business logic
• The only acceptable dict usage is for truly dynamic/unknown keys (e.g., arbitrary metadata, JSON blobs with no fixed schema)

# BAD - error-prone dict access
def process(data: dict) -> str:
    return data.get("name", "")  # No validation, silent failures

# GOOD - typed and validated
class UserData(BaseModel):
    name: str
    created_at: datetime

    @field_validator("created_at", mode="before")
    @classmethod
    def ensure_tz_aware(cls, v):
        if isinstance(v, str):
            v = datetime.fromisoformat(v.replace("Z", "+00:00"))
        if v.tzinfo is None:
            return v.replace(tzinfo=timezone.utc)
        return v

def process(data: UserData) -> str:
    return data.name  # Type-safe, validated at construction

TypeScript Style

• Next.js App Router for control plane
• Tailwind CSS with shadcn/ui components

Code Comments

• Always comment non-trivial technical decisions with the reasoning behind the choice. If someone would ask "why is it done this way?", there should be a comment.
• Keep comments up to date with history — when changing an approach, update the comment to explain what was tried before and why it was changed. Comments serve as a tracker of previous implementations that likely had problems.
• Don't comment obvious code — only where the "why" isn't self-evident from the code itself.

# BAD - no context for future readers
results = await asyncio.gather(*tasks, return_exceptions=True)

# GOOD - explains the non-obvious choice
# Use return_exceptions=True to avoid cancelling sibling tasks on failure.
# Previously we used TaskGroup but it cancelled all tasks when one failed,
# causing partial writes that left orphaned entity links (see #412).
results = await asyncio.gather(*tasks, return_exceptions=True)

API Layer & Data Access

• No direct database access in api/http.py (or any API router). HTTP handlers must not build SQL, call acquire_with_retry / conn.fetch / conn.fetchrow / conn.execute, or reference fq_table(...). All persistence and queries live in MemoryEngine (the engine layer). A handler parses/validates the request, calls an engine method, shapes the HTTP response, and maps domain results to status codes (e.g. a None return → 404).
• Authentication/tenancy is enforced inside each engine method, not assumed by the handler. Every engine method that touches bank-scoped data must authenticate via request_context — typically await self._authenticate_tenant(request_context) (often indirectly through get_bank_profile(...)) — so the correct tenant schema is resolved before any query runs. Handlers must thread request_context through to the engine method; never query a tenant-scoped table assuming the schema is already set.
• Engine methods return typed models (Pydantic/dataclass), not raw dicts (see Type Safety).

Branch Hygiene

• Always start new feature branches from origin/main — rebase to ensure a clean base.
• Only include commits relevant to the PR/branch/feature — no unrelated changes. If the branch contains commits that don't belong, they must be removed before merging.

General Principles

• Don't add features, refactor code, or make "improvements" beyond what was asked
• Don't add unnecessary error handling for impossible scenarios
• Don't create helpers or abstractions for one-time operations
• No backwards-compatibility hacks (unused vars, re-exports, "removed" comments)
• Three similar lines of code is better than a premature abstraction

Review Steps

1. Check branch hygiene

• Run git log --oneline main..HEAD to list all commits on the branch.
• Verify every commit is relevant to the feature/PR. Flag any unrelated commits.
• Check the branch is based on a recent origin/main (no stale base).

2. Identify changed files

Run git diff --name-only HEAD (unstaged) and git diff --cached --name-only (staged) to get all changed files. If there are no local changes, diff against the base branch using git diff main...HEAD --name-only and git diff main...HEAD to review all commits on the current branch.

3. Run linters

./scripts/hooks/lint.sh

Report any failures. Do NOT fix them yourself — just report.

4. Check for dead code

For each changed Python file, check for:

• Unused imports (Ruff should catch these, but verify)
• Functions/methods/classes that were added but are never called from anywhere
• Variables assigned but never read
• Commented-out code blocks that should be removed

For each changed TypeScript file, check for:

• Unused imports
• Unused variables or functions
• Commented-out code

5. Check type safety (Python)

For each changed Python file, check for violations:

• No raw dict for structured data — must use Pydantic model or dataclass, even for internal/private functions (only exception: truly dynamic/unknown keys)
• No multi-item tuple returns — must use dataclass or Pydantic model, even for internal/private functions (no exceptions)
• Missing type hints on function parameters and return types
• Missing @field_validator for datetime fields that should be timezone-aware

6. Check for missing tests

For each new or significantly changed function/endpoint/class:

• Check if there is a corresponding test addition or update
• New API endpoints MUST have integration tests
• New utility functions MUST have unit tests
• Bug fixes SHOULD have a regression test

Flag any new logic that lacks test coverage.

LLM-behaviour changes need a real-LLM judge test, not MockLLM. If the change alters how the model interprets a prompt — fact/observation extraction, fact_type (world/experience) classification, speaker attribution, instruction-following, prompt wording — there MUST be a test marked pytest.mark.hs_llm_core that runs the real pipeline and asserts via tests.llm_judge.assert_meets_criteria (not string/enum matching). Flag these as findings:

• A prompt/classification change verified only by MockLLM or string assertions (MockLLM echoes input — such tests pass spuriously). Should fix.
• A test that hard-asserts fact_type == "world"/"experience" (or other model-decided output) instead of judging it — non-deterministic, will flake across providers/runs. Should fix (move the classification check into the judge criteria; keep only genuinely deterministic structural asserts direct).
• Deterministic mechanics (prompt assembly, suppression/branching logic) that are covered only by a slow LLM test — these should also have fast non-LLM unit tests. Note.

See CLAUDE.md → Key Conventions → Testing for the full pattern.

7. Check API consistency

If any files in hindsight-api-slim/hindsight_api/api/ were changed:

• Were the OpenAPI specs regenerated? (./scripts/generate-openapi.sh)
• Were the client SDKs regenerated? (./scripts/generate-clients.sh)
• Were the control plane proxy routes updated? (hindsight-control-plane/src/app/api/)

7b. Check API-layer data-access boundary

For each changed handler in hindsight-api-slim/hindsight_api/api/ (e.g. http.py, mcp.py):

• Flag any direct DB access in the handler — acquire_with_retry, conn.fetch / fetchrow / execute, raw SQL strings, or fq_table(...). These are a must fix: the query must be moved into a MemoryEngine method that returns a typed model, and the handler must call that method.
• Verify authentication is enforced in the engine — the handler must delegate to an engine method that authenticates via request_context (_authenticate_tenant, typically through get_bank_profile). A handler that reads/writes tenant-scoped data without an engine method enforcing auth is a must fix (tenant data could leak across schemas).

8. Check code comments

For each non-trivial change:

• New non-obvious logic — is there a comment explaining the reasoning?
• Changed approach — does the comment include what was done before and why it changed?
• Stale comments — do existing comments near the changed code still accurately describe the behavior?

9. Check integration completeness

If any files in hindsight-integrations/ were added or changed, verify:

• Tests exist — the integration must have tests that simulate/exercise the external framework (not just pure unit tests of helpers). Check for a tests/ directory with meaningful test files.
• CI job exists — check .github/workflows/test.yml for a corresponding test-<name>-integration job. If missing, flag it.
• Release process — check that the integration name is in the VALID_INTEGRATIONS array in scripts/release-integration.sh AND in the INTEGRATIONS dict in hindsight-dev/hindsight_dev/generate_changelog.py (the changelog generator keeps its own list; a release fails at the changelog step if the name is missing there). If either is missing, flag it.
• Docs gallery + sidebar entry — the integration must have an entry in hindsight-docs/src/data/integrations.json. This file is the single source of truth that drives both the integrations gallery and the docs sidebar (the sidebar category is injected from it at render time across all docs versions). The entry needs an internal /sdks/integrations/<slug> link and a matching page at hindsight-docs/docs-integrations/<slug>.md(x). The hindsight-docs/scripts/check-integrations.mjs build step enforces both directions — forward: every internal JSON entry has a doc page; reverse: every released tag (integrations/<name>/vX.Y.Z) appears in the JSON (private infra like cloudflare-oauth-proxy is in the script's EXCLUDED set). Flag any integration that is released (or being released) but missing from integrations.json, and any JSON entry without a doc page. Do not hand-edit versioned_sidebars/*.json to add integration links — they are positional placeholders filled from the JSON.
• Code standards — the integration code must follow all Python style rules (type hints, no raw dicts, no tuple returns, etc.).

10. Check MCP tool registration completeness

If any new MCP tools were added or existing tools renamed in hindsight-api-slim/hindsight_api/mcp_tools.py:

• _ALL_TOOLS set in mcp_tools.py — must include the new tool name
• tools_to_register default set in register_mcp_tools() in mcp_tools.py — must include the new tool name
• _SINGLE_BANK_TOOLS set in hindsight-api-slim/hindsight_api/api/mcp.py — must include the new tool if it is bank-scoped (not a bank-management tool like list_banks/create_bank)
• MCP_TOOL_GROUPS in hindsight-control-plane/src/components/bank-config-view.tsx — must include the new tool in the appropriate group for the UI tool selector
• Tool count assertions in tests (e.g., test_mcp_tools.py) — must be updated to reflect the new count

11. Check backup/restore table coverage

If a migration adds a new PostgreSQL table (look for CREATE TABLE / op.create_table in hindsight-api-slim/hindsight_api/alembic/versions/):

• BACKUP_TABLES in hindsight-api-slim/hindsight_api/admin/cli.py — must include the new table, placed after any table it references via foreign key (parents before children). A missing entry is silent data loss: the table is never backed up, and restore's TRUNCATE banks CASCADE wipes any FK-to-banks child (e.g. mental_models, directives) on restore even though it was never saved.
• The guard test test_backup_tables_covers_entire_schema in tests/test_admin_backup_restore.py enforces this — flag it as a must fix if a new table is absent from BACKUP_TABLES.
• Oracle-only tables (e.g. observation_sources) are intentionally excluded — admin backup/restore is PostgreSQL-only.

11b. Check new config flags update the env template

If the diff adds a new configuration field (a new ENV_* / HINDSIGHT_* env var in hindsight-api-slim/hindsight_api/config.py):

• .env.example (repo root) — must add the variable (commented if optional) alongside the docs entry in hindsight-docs/docs/developer/configuration.md. A flag added to config.py but absent from .env.example is a should fix.
• hindsight-embed/hindsight_embed/env.example — the bundled copy must stay byte-identical to the repo-root .env.example (it seeds embed/profile configs). The test_bundled_template_matches_repo_root sync test fails on drift; if the root file changed without re-copying, flag it as a must fix.

12. Review against other coding standards

Check the diff for violations of the standards listed above:

• Python files at project root (not allowed)
• Missing async patterns (should be async throughout)
• Pydantic models for request/response
• Line length > 120 chars
• New features/code beyond what was asked (over-engineering)
• Unnecessary error handling for impossible scenarios
• Premature abstractions or speculative helpers
• Backwards-compatibility hacks (unused vars, re-exports, "removed" comments)

13. Report findings

Present a clear summary organized by severity:

Must fix — issues that will break CI or violate hard project rules:

• Unrelated commits on the branch
• Lint failures
• Missing type hints on public functions
• Raw dict usage for structured data (including internal code)
• Multi-item tuple returns (including internal code)
• Missing tests for new endpoints
• Direct DB access (raw SQL / acquire_with_retry / fq_table) in an api/ handler instead of a MemoryEngine method
• Tenant-scoped data accessed without authentication enforced in the engine (_authenticate_tenant / get_bank_profile)
• New integration missing tests, CI job, or release-integration.sh entry
• Released/added integration missing from hindsight-docs/src/data/integrations.json, or a JSON entry with no docs-integrations/<slug> page (fails the docs build via check-integrations.mjs)
• New PostgreSQL table missing from BACKUP_TABLES in admin/cli.py (silent data loss on restore)

Should fix — issues that hurt code quality:

• Dead code / unused imports missed by linter
• Missing tests for non-trivial utility functions
• Over-engineering beyond the task scope

Note — observations that may or may not need action:

• API changes that might need client regeneration
• Patterns that deviate from nearby code style

For each finding, include the file path, line number, and a brief explanation.

Do NOT auto-fix any issues. Report all findings and let the user decide what to address. If there are no findings, confirm the code looks good.

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Source: danielabelski/hindsight — distributed by TomeVault.