| name | code-review |
| description | Use this skill after completing multiple, complex software development tasks before informing the user that work is complete. |
Code Review After Completing Complex Software Development Tasks
Run a structured review over the changes in scope. Two modes:
- Reviewing work you just completed, or told to fix - review, then apply and verify the fixes.
- Asked only to review - stop at clear, actionable feedback and let the user decide what to act on. Don't start editing.
Workflow
- Spawn parallel sub-agents to critically review the changes, splitting the work by review axis (below) or by area of the codebase.
- Compile their findings into a concise numbered list, each tagged critical/medium/low.
- Verify every finding against the actual code before reporting or acting on it. Sub-agents report false positives, and acting on a phantom issue makes the code worse.
Applying Fixes
Fix mode only. If you were asked only to review, stop at step 3 and report your findings.
- Fix the confirmed issues.
- Re-run the project's lint/test/build pipeline.
- Read each fix to confirm it resolves its finding and didn't break the original task or introduce a new problem. A green pipeline proves mechanical correctness only.
- Stop after this single verification pass; don't recurse into a fresh full review.
If a finding is especially complex or keeps recurring, use the systematic-debugging skill to get to the root cause.
Review Axes
Direct sub-agents to evaluate the changes across these dimensions. The questions below are illustrative, not a fixed checklist. Apply the ones that fit and raise the concerns that actually matter for this codebase's language, domain, and conventions:
- Correctness - Does it do what the task required? Are edge cases (null, empty, boundary) and error paths handled, not just the happy path? Do the tests actually exercise the new behaviour?
- Readability - Are names and control flow clear to someone who didn't write this? Could it be simpler or shorter? Is each abstraction earning its complexity?
- Architecture - Does it follow existing patterns and module boundaries, or introduce a new one without justification? Is there duplication that should be shared? A new dependency the existing stack already covers?
- Security - Is untrusted input validated at boundaries? Any secrets in code or logs? Any injection (SQL, shell, path), missing authorisation checks, or external data used unsafely in logic or output?
- Performance - What's costly for this kind of code: algorithmic complexity, repeated work or allocations in hot paths, N+1 queries, unbounded fetches, missing pagination, synchronous behaviour or blocking work on the critical path?
Create checklists or TODOs for yourself (or the sub-agents) to ensure your coverage is thorough.
Calibration
- The bar is "does this improve the codebase," not "is this how I would have written it." Don't invent problems just to have something to report, and don't rewrite working code over style preference.
- Don't soften or rubber-stamp real problems either. State them plainly and quantify the impact where you can ("this N+1 adds ~50ms per row" beats "this might be slow").
- Passing tests are necessary, not sufficient. They don't catch architecture, security, or readability problems, so review those regardless.
Dead Code
Refactors leave orphans. After changing code, list anything now unused (replaced functions, components, constants) and ask before removing it, rather than deleting silently or leaving it to rot.
Sub-Agent Guidelines
Where appropriate use sub-agents to parallelise your work and reduce context bloat in the main conversation.
- Tell sub-agents to keep output concise, actionable, and focused on your changes, not minor style nitpicks.
- Give them only the context they can't infer from the code itself.
- Scope each agent to clear boundaries so they don't overlap or review unrelated code.
Reporting
The fixes, or the findings are the deliverable, so open with the (concise) outcome, not preamble or a description of your process.
- Review-only: the findings ordered by severity, each as
file:line, the problem, and a concrete fix. If nothing substantive turned up, say so in a line.
- Fix mode: what you fixed, then what you didn't and why. List deferred or out-of-scope findings one line each so the user can decide, and note the pipeline result.
State real issues plainly and drop the hedging ("might want to consider", "could potentially"); tag anything optional as low and move on. Batch style nitpicks into a single note rather than scattering them. Don't close with a summary that restates the list. A short report flagging the few things that count beats a long one padded with the obvious.
