review

name	review
description	Use when reviewing Go code against Rob Pike's Go Proverbs. Activates on explicit request ("review with Go proverbs", "/go-proverbs-review:review") or whenever the user asks to review `.go` files. Flags violations and groups findings by proverb, each tied to a detailed rule file in `proverbs/`.

Go Proverbs Review

Code review skill based on Rob Pike's 19 Go Proverbs (https://go-proverbs.github.io/), delivered as a short mapping from each proverb to a detailed rule file under proverbs/.

When to use

• User explicitly asks for a "Go proverbs review" or types /go-proverbs-review:review
• User asks to review Go (.go) code — apply all actionable proverbs
• User asks about a specific proverb — load the matching file directly

How to use

Reviews run as a parallel fan-out of subagents, one per actionable proverb. This keeps the main context small and each check focused on a single principle.

[!IMPORTANT] Before any subagent fan-out, ASK the user which model to use for the per-proverb subagents: opus (highest quality, slowest), sonnet (balanced), or haiku (cheapest, fastest). Wait for their answer — do not pick for them. Pass the chosen model name to every dispatched subagent via the Task tool's model parameter.

Skip this step only for the Single-proverb question flow below — it loads one file directly in the main thread, no subagents.

Full review

1. Identify the Go files in scope and hold only their paths in the main thread.
2. For each actionable proverb in the index, dispatch a subagent with:
   • The proverb number, short title, and path to proverbs/NN-*.md
   • The list of .go file paths to review
   • Instruction: load only that one rule file, read the code, return findings in the format <file>:<line> — <one-sentence observation> or the literal string no findings
3. Dispatch all subagents in parallel (single message, multiple tool calls).
4. For tooling proverbs, dispatch a single subagent that verifies the tool is configured (e.g. golangci-lint config present) and returns pass/fail — no code findings.
5. Skip philosophical and postponed proverbs entirely — they inform judgment, not findings.
6. Aggregate all subagent results, group by proverb, and produce the final report (see Output format).

Partial review

If the user asks to check against specific proverbs ("review for #4 and #15 only"), dispatch only those subagents. Same fan-out pattern, smaller set.

Single-proverb question

If the user asks about one proverb specifically ("explain #8" / "does this code violate #13?"), skip the subagent fan-out: load the single rule file directly in the main thread and answer.

Why this pattern

• Main context never holds more than one or two rule files at a time
• Each subagent reasons about exactly one principle — fewer false positives
• Parallel execution keeps wall-clock time low
• The user can always ask for a partial review to narrow scope further

Categories

Category	Meaning
actionable	Generates findings during review
tooling	Verify the tool is wired up, don't flag code
philosophical	Informs judgment, no findings emitted

Proverb index

#	Proverb	Category	Rule file
1	Don't communicate by sharing memory, share memory by communicating	actionable	proverbs/01-share-memory-by-communicating.md
2	Concurrency is not parallelism	philosophical	proverbs/02-concurrency-is-not-parallelism.md
3	Channels orchestrate; mutexes serialize	actionable	proverbs/03-channels-orchestrate-mutexes-serialize.md
4	The bigger the interface, the weaker the abstraction	actionable	proverbs/04-bigger-interface-weaker-abstraction.md
5	Make the zero value useful	actionable	proverbs/05-make-the-zero-value-useful.md
6	interface{} says nothing	actionable	proverbs/06-interface-any-says-nothing.md
7	Gofmt's style is no one's favorite, yet gofmt is everyone's favorite	tooling	proverbs/07-gofmt-is-everyones-favorite.md
8	A little copying is better than a little dependency	actionable	proverbs/08-little-copying-better-than-little-dependency.md
9	Syscall must always be guarded with build tags	actionable	proverbs/09-syscall-must-be-guarded-with-build-tags.md
10	Cgo must always be guarded with build tags	actionable	proverbs/10-cgo-must-be-guarded-with-build-tags.md
11	Cgo is not Go	philosophical	proverbs/11-cgo-is-not-go.md
12	With the unsafe package there are no guarantees	actionable	proverbs/12-unsafe-has-no-guarantees.md
13	Clear is better than clever	actionable	proverbs/13-clear-is-better-than-clever.md
14	Reflection is never clear	actionable	proverbs/14-reflection-is-never-clear.md
15	Errors are values	actionable	proverbs/15-errors-are-values.md
16	Don't just check errors, handle them gracefully	actionable	proverbs/16-handle-errors-gracefully.md
17	Design the architecture, name the components, document the details	actionable	proverbs/17-design-architecture-name-components-document-details.md
18	Documentation is for users	actionable	proverbs/18-documentation-is-for-users.md
19	Don't panic	actionable	proverbs/19-dont-panic.md

Output format

Group findings under each violated proverb:

### Proverb #N — <short title>
- path/to/file.go:42 — <one-sentence finding>
- path/to/file.go:87 — <one-sentence finding>
  See: proverbs/NN-<slug>.md

End the review with a summary line: total findings, number of distinct proverbs violated, files touched.