pr-review

name

pr-review

description

Review an already-open pull request's changes by id, on whichever platform hosts the repository (GitHub, Bitbucket, Azure DevOps, or TFS) and whatever language(s)/framework(s) are in play — both detected via the `explore` skill and used throughout instead of assuming GitHub/`gh` or generic checklist advice. Optionally takes the linked GitHub issue id or Jira key as a second argument (skipping auto-detection); otherwise looks for a reference in the PR title/body (e.g. "Closes

PR Review

Review a specific, already-open pull request and leave the findings as review comments on it — this skill never edits code itself. It is grounded in this repository's actual architecture and conventions, learned fresh via the explore skill, plus the originating ticket's intent when the PR links one (a GitHub issue or a Jira ticket). Where the generic code-review skill is available, this skill prefers delegating to it for correctness/reuse/simplification/efficiency findings (it already knows how to post inline PR comments) rather than reimplementing that analysis, and focuses its own review on what code-review has no way to know: whether the change matches the linked ticket's intent and whether it follows this codebase's own conventions. It works the same way regardless of which platform hosts the repository, using that platform's own tooling instead of assuming GitHub/gh.

Step 1 — Resolve the PR id (required) and ticket id (optional)

A ticket id is optional but a PR id is not — there is nothing to review without it. When a ticket id is given (or later detected in Step 4), it may refer to either a GitHub issue or a Jira ticket — a bare number/#N is a GitHub issue, a key like PROJ-123 is Jira — and Step 4 fetches it accordingly: gh/GitHub MCP tools for a GitHub issue, or connected Jira MCP tools (ToolSearch "jira") for a Jira ticket.

• PR id argument provided (e.g. /pr-review 17, or /pr-review 17 42 / /pr-review 17 PROJ-123 to also pass the ticket id explicitly): use it, go to Step 2. If a second argument is present, treat it as the linked ticket id and use it directly in Step 4 — skip that step's own detection since the caller (e.g. the issue skill, which knows exactly which ticket a PR it just opened closes) already knows the relationship with certainty.
• No PR id provided: ask the user via AskUserQuestion for the pull request number. If they decline or give none, stop here entirely and tell them this skill requires a PR id (e.g. /pr-review 17).

Step 2 — Detect the repository host and available tooling

Determine which platform hosts this repository, so the right tool is used throughout instead of assuming GitHub/gh:

• If explore already ran earlier in this conversation, reuse the Repository host: ... line from its Tech stack report rather than re-detecting.
• Otherwise, detect it directly — the same way explore's own Step 2 does: get the remote URL (git remote get-url origin, falling back to git remote -v or whichever remote the current branch tracks) and match it against known patterns:
  • github.com (or a GitHub Enterprise Server domain) → GitHub. Tooling: the gh CLI, or GitHub MCP tools (ToolSearch "github").
  • bitbucket.org (cloud), or a self-hosted domain with a /scm/<project>/<repo>.git path (Bitbucket Server/Data Center) → Bitbucket. Tooling: search for Bitbucket MCP tools first (ToolSearch "bitbucket"), otherwise the Bitbucket REST API.
  • dev.azure.com or <org>.visualstudio.com → Azure DevOps (cloud). Tooling: az repos (the Azure CLI with the azure-devops extension) if installed, or Azure DevOps MCP tools (ToolSearch "azure devops").
  • A self-hosted domain with a /tfs/ path segment, or bare _git in the path without a dev.azure.com/ visualstudio.com domain → Azure DevOps Server / TFS. Same tooling family as Azure DevOps, but confirm the collection URL and API version before assuming parity.
  • If the URL doesn't clearly match any of these, ask the user (AskUserQuestion) which platform it is rather than guessing.
• If there's no remote configured at all, tell the user a PR can't be reviewed without a hosted remote, and stop.

Record the detected host — every later step's "use the host's tool" instruction refers back to this.

Step 3 — Fetch the pull request

Use the tool matching the host detected in Step 2 to get the PR's metadata, diff, and any comments/reviews already left on it:

• GitHub:

  gh repo view --json owner,name -q '.owner.login + "/" + .name'
  gh pr view <pr-id> --json number,title,body,url,state,baseRefName,headRefName,headRefOid,additions,deletions,files,commits
  gh pr diff <pr-id>
  gh api repos/<owner>/<repo>/pulls/<pr-id>/comments
  

  If gh is not installed/authenticated, search for GitHub MCP tools instead (ToolSearch "github pull request") and use those to fetch the same information.
• Bitbucket: Bitbucket MCP tools if connected, otherwise the REST API — GET /2.0/repositories/<workspace>/<repo>/pullrequests/<pr-id> for metadata, GET .../diff for the diff, and GET .../comments for existing comments (Cloud paths shown; substitute the Server/Data Center equivalents on a self-hosted instance).
• Azure DevOps / TFS: az repos pr show --id <pr-id> for metadata, the pull request iterations/changes REST endpoint (or az repos pr show's linked commits) for the diff, and the pull request threads REST endpoint for existing comments — or Azure DevOps MCP tools if connected.

If the PR can't be fetched by any means, tell the user and stop.

If the PR is already merged or closed, tell the user and ask (AskUserQuestion) whether to continue anyway (e.g. a post-hoc review) or stop — don't assume either way.

Read the full diff, not just the file list or a stat summary — the review must be grounded in the actual changes. Note the existing comments/reviews so Step 7 doesn't re-raise points already made.

Step 4 — Find a linked ticket, if any

If Step 1 already received an explicit ticket id, skip detection and use it directly — it may be either a GitHub issue ID or a Jira key; if its type isn't already obvious from context, detect it the same way explore's Step 1 does (a Jira key pattern like PROJ-123 vs. a bare number/#N).

Otherwise, look for a reference in the PR title or body:

• GitHub issue patterns: Closes #N, Fixes #N, Resolves #N, or a bare #N mention.
• Jira patterns: a bare Jira key mention (e.g. PROJ-123) anywhere in the title/body — teams commonly include these via commit-message/PR conventions or smart-commit links.

Either way, once a ticket id is known, fetch it the same way the explore/issue skills do:

• GitHub issue: gh issue view <ticket-id> --json number,title,body,labels,comments,state,url (or GitHub MCP tools if gh is unavailable).
• Jira ticket: search for connected Jira MCP tools (ToolSearch "jira issue" or "jira ticket") and fetch it by key.

If no reference is found/provided, or the ticket can't be fetched, continue without one — this skill works fine on a PR with no linked ticket, it just loses that piece of intent context.

Step 5 — Explore the codebase

The review must be grounded in how this codebase is actually structured, not just the diff in isolation.

• Check first: if this conversation already explored the codebase (or this same ticket) recently, reuse that instead of repeating it.
• Otherwise, invoke the explore skill: Skill({skill: "explore", args: "<ticket-id>"}) if Step 4 found a ticket, or Skill({skill: "explore"}) with no argument otherwise. Wait for it to finish before continuing.

explore detects and reports (in its "Tech stack" summary) the repository host (used in Step 2 above), plus the programming language(s) and framework(s) actually in play — per module, if the repo has more than one stack. Use that detected language/framework list to ground Step 7's convention check in the right architectural best practices for the stack at hand, rather than a generic checklist — e.g. hexagonal architecture/ports-and-adapters or DDD layering conventions for a Java/Spring or .NET/ASP.NET Core backend, MVC or MVVM for a web/desktop UI layer, MVVM/unidirectional data flow for SwiftUI or Jetpack Compose, or whatever architectural style this specific codebase already follows for its detected stack.

From the exploration, note in particular: the architectural patterns and abstractions the changed files should be consistent with, any contributor conventions documented in CLAUDE.md/README/AGENTS.md (naming, error handling, validation, documentation requirements, etc.), and the language/tooling in play (so Step 7 can apply the right idioms and check for the right lint/static-analysis config — e.g. Checkstyle/PMD/SpotBugs rules for Java, an ESLint/Prettier config for JS/TS, and so on — read any such config found rather than assuming defaults).

Step 6 — Delegate to the code-review skill when available

Check the currently available skills (listed in this session) for code-review. It already knows how to find correctness bugs and reuse/simplification/efficiency cleanups and how to post them as inline PR comments — don't reimplement that analysis if it's available.

• If code-review is not available: skip this step entirely and cover correctness, security, test coverage, and simplification/reuse/efficiency yourself in Step 7 alongside the ticket-intent and convention checks.
• If code-review is available: it reviews "the current diff", so it needs the PR's changes checked out locally first:
  1. Capture the current branch (git branch --show-current) so it can be restored afterward, and run git status first per this repository's safety conventions — if there are uncommitted changes, stash them (git stash push -u) rather than checking out over them.
  2. Check out the PR's source branch, using the tool matching the host detected in Step 2:
     • GitHub: gh pr checkout <pr-id>.
     • Bitbucket / Azure DevOps / TFS: no equivalent single-command checkout — use the source branch name already captured in Step 3's metadata directly: git fetch origin <source-branch-name> && git checkout <source-branch-name>.
  3. Tell the user this skill is about to invoke code-review with --comment, which posts its findings to the PR directly and immediately (it does not stop for a separate confirmation) — get explicit confirmation before proceeding, since Step 8's confirmation gate only covers this skill's own findings, not code-review's.
  4. Invoke it: Skill({skill: "code-review", args: "high --comment"}) (use high effort for a thorough pass; drop to medium if the user wants a lighter review). Wait for it to finish.
  5. Restore the original branch (git checkout <original-branch>, and git stash pop if a stash was created in step 1).
• Note what code-review found (or that it wasn't available) for Step 9's report.

Step 7 — Review for ticket intent and convention drift

This step always runs, regardless of whether Step 6 delegated — code-review has no visibility into the linked ticket or this repository's specific conventions, so this is this skill's own irreplaceable contribution. If Step 6 was skipped (no code-review available), also cover correctness, security, and test coverage here, per the full list below.

For every changed hunk in the Step 3 diff, evaluate it against the linked ticket's intent (if any, from Step 4) and the codebase's own architecture and conventions (from Step 5). Look for:

1. Ticket-intent mismatch — the change doesn't actually satisfy what the linked ticket asked for, addresses only part of it, or introduces behavior the ticket didn't request.
2. Convention/architecture drift — code that doesn't follow the patterns Step 5 identified (e.g. bypassing an existing abstraction, inconsistent validation/error-handling style, missing required documentation like Javadoc where this repo's conventions mandate it), and code that violates the established architectural style for the language/framework Step 5 detected — e.g. business logic leaking into a controller/adapter in a hexagonal-architecture backend, a domain entity reaching into infrastructure in a DDD codebase, a view/ViewModel violating MVC/MVVM separation (state mutation in the view, business logic in the view layer), or a Compose/SwiftUI screen breaking unidirectional data flow. Judge this against how the codebase actually applies that pattern (from Step 5), not an idealized textbook version of it.

If Step 6 didn't run, also look for, using general best practices for the language in use:

3. Correctness bugs — logic errors, edge cases the code doesn't handle, incorrect assumptions, concurrency issues, resource leaks.
4. Security issues — anything resembling the OWASP top 10 (injection, unsafe deserialization, missing input validation at boundaries, secrets in code, etc.) relevant to the language/framework in play.
5. Test coverage — new/changed behavior without a corresponding test, or tests that don't actually exercise the edge cases the change introduces.
6. Simplification/reuse/efficiency — real, non-cosmetic opportunities: duplicated logic that already exists elsewhere in the codebase, unnecessary complexity, obvious inefficiencies. Skip nitpicks and pure style preferences that aren't backed by a documented convention.

For each finding, record: the file path, the line number as it appears in the new version of the file in this diff (needed for inline comments in Step 9 — pick a line that is actually part of a diff hunk), a one-sentence summary of the problem, and a concrete suggested fix. Skip anything that duplicates a point already made in the existing comments/reviews gathered in Step 3, or that code-review already posted in Step 6.

If the diff is large, it's fine to work through it file by file rather than holding the whole thing in view at once — but every changed file must be considered, not just a sample.

Step 8 — Draft the review and confirm before posting

Posting comments on a pull request is a visible, shared-state action — never do it without explicit confirmation.

1. Present the drafted findings to the user: grouped by file, each with its line, summary, and suggested fix, plus a short overall summary sentence or two for the review body.
2. Ask the user (AskUserQuestion) whether to post these as review comments on the PR, and if so, confirm the scope (e.g. they may want to drop some findings first).
3. If they decline: stop here — the drafted findings are the deliverable, available for them to act on manually.

Step 9 — Post the review

Only reached after explicit confirmation. Use plain comments only — never use any host's "approve" or "request changes"/vote capability here; these are suggestions for the user to judge, not a verdict. The exact mechanism depends on the host detected in Step 2:

• GitHub: bundle every confirmed finding into a single pull request review (one review event, multiple inline comments) rather than posting each as a separate top-level comment — this mirrors how a human reviewer leaves a batch of inline notes plus a summary, and avoids spamming notifications. Write the payload to a file in the scratchpad directory, e.g.:

  {
    "commit_id": "<headRefOid from Step 3>",
    "event": "COMMENT",
    "body": "<one- or two-sentence overall summary>",
    "comments": [
      { "path": "<file>", "line": <line>, "side": "RIGHT", "body": "<summary + suggested fix>" }
    ]
  }
  

  Then submit it:

  gh api repos/<owner>/<repo>/pulls/<pr-id>/reviews --method POST --input <path-to-json-file>
  

  Always use event: "COMMENT" — never REQUEST_CHANGES or APPROVE.
• Bitbucket: there is no single batched "review" object like GitHub's — post one inline comment per finding (via Bitbucket MCP tools if connected, otherwise POST /2.0/repositories/<workspace>/<repo>/pullrequests/<pr-id>/comments per comment, each with an inline: {path, to: <line>} block and the summary + fix as content.raw), plus one additional top-level comment (no field) carrying the overall summary.

If posting on a specific line fails because the host requires it to be part of the diff (GitHub, Bitbucket, and Azure DevOps all enforce this for inline comments), retry that specific comment on the nearest valid line within the same hunk, or fall back to including it in the overall summary text with an explicit file:line reference rather than dropping it silently.

Step 10 — Report

Summarize for the user: the PR reviewed and its linked ticket (if any); whether code-review was available and delegated to (and what it found), or that this skill covered the full scope itself; how many of its own findings were raised and in which files; and the outcome — a link to the posted review, or, if they declined to post, a reminder that the draft from Step 8 is the deliverable. Obtain the link via whichever host tooling was used in Step 9: gh pr view <pr-id> --json url -q .url for GitHub; the PR's web link already captured in Step 3's metadata for Bitbucket; or az repos pr show --id <pr-id> --query "_links.web.href" -o tsv (or the URL already captured in Step 3) for Azure DevOps/TFS.