| name | review-local |
| description | Review the user's own unmerged work for bugs, regressions, risk, and missing tests with severity-first output and concrete file references. Handles two scopes: uncommitted/staged changes (pre-commit) and the full branch diff against its base (pre-PR self-review). Read-only — produces findings, does not edit code. TRIGGER when: user asks to review their local changes, uncommitted changes, staged changes, current diff, current branch, "review my branch", "review my changes", or "review before I open the PR". DO NOT TRIGGER when: user references an existing PR number/URL (use review-pr), wants a security-only audit (use built-in security-review), or wants the patch tidied/edited rather than reviewed (use pre-commit-cleanup).
|
Review Local Changes
Review the user's own unmerged work and produce a structured, actionable findings list. This is a review-only skill — never edit code, never commit.
1. Determine scope
Two scopes are supported:
- Working-tree scope — uncommitted + staged changes (
git diff HEAD). Use this for pre-commit reviews.
- Branch scope — every commit on the current branch vs its base (
git diff <base>...HEAD). Use this for pre-PR self-reviews. Also show the commit list so the user can spot commits to drop/squash/amend.
Choosing the scope
If the user names a scope explicitly (e.g. "review my branch", "review since main", "review my staged changes", "review uncommitted"), honour that.
Otherwise auto-detect:
| Working tree | Branch ahead of base | Action |
|---|
| Has uncommitted/staged changes | — | Working-tree scope |
| Clean | Ahead | Branch scope |
| Has changes AND branch is ahead | — | Ask which scope (or "both"); default to working-tree if not answered |
| Clean | At base | Say "nothing to review" and stop |
Detecting the base branch
In order:
gh repo view --json defaultBranchRef -q .defaultBranchRef.name → e.g. main- If
gh unavailable: try origin/main, then origin/master
- If still ambiguous: ask the user
Use git merge-base <base> HEAD as the diff base so unrelated upstream commits don't pollute the review.
2. Gather the diff
- Working-tree scope:
git diff HEAD (covers staged + unstaged together).
- Branch scope:
git log <base>..HEAD --oneline for context, then git diff $(git merge-base <base> HEAD)...HEAD for the diff.
3. Output order
- Critical
- Warnings
- Suggestions
4. Focus areas
- Correctness and behavioural regressions
- Security and unsafe data handling
- Test gaps
- Maintainability and coupling risks
- Branch scope only: commits that look like good candidates to drop, squash, or amend (e.g. WIP commits, reverted-later changes, fix-up commits that could fold into their predecessor). Flag as Suggestions, not Critical.
5. Output requirements
- State which scope was reviewed at the top.
- For branch scope, include the commit list before findings.
- Include file paths and line numbers when possible (
file:line format).
- Provide concrete remediation guidance.
- If no findings, state that explicitly and list residual risk.
