Review plan.md OR a single phase file against templates AND codebase compliance. Use after creating planning documents or when asked to 'review the plan', 'check the phase', 'verify template compliance'. Each invocation reviews ONE file only. Do NOT use for creating plans (use /create-plan) or implementing phases (use /implement).
Review plan.md OR a single phase file against templates AND codebase compliance. Use after creating planning documents or when asked to 'review the plan', 'check the phase', 'verify template compliance'. Each invocation reviews ONE file only. Do NOT use for creating plans (use /create-plan) or implementing phases (use /implement).
Arguments are provided above via $ARGUMENTS. Asking the user to re-provide them wastes their time since the data is already available. Parse them and proceed with the review.
Parse the arguments to determine what to review:
If arguments contain "phase" followed by a number → Review that phase file
If arguments contain only a folder path → Review plan.md
The first part is always the plan folder path (e.g., plans/voice-assistant)
One file per invocation. Reviewing multiple files causes cognitive overload and superficial results — the user experienced agents ignoring templates when given too many files.
Two-Layer Review
This skill performs two complementary checks:
Layer
What It Catches
Example
Template Compliance
Missing sections, incomplete structure
No "Step 0: TDD" section, missing acceptance criteria
Codebase Compliance
Code blocks that won't compile or violate patterns
Wrong Server Action pattern, missing auth check, bad import paths
Why two layers? Template compliance alone produces "12/12 Ready" verdicts for phases containing compilation-breaking issues. In real reviews, template compliance caught 0 of 26 actual issues. All real problems were codebase compliance — wrong API signatures, missing imports, naming violations, patterns that wouldn't work.
Issue Type
Template Check
Codebase Check
Missing section
Caught
N/A
Wrong Server Action pattern (missing auth/validation)
Missed
Caught
Missing getSession() auth check
Missed
Caught
Bad import path (wrong alias resolution)
Missed
Caught
Schema file in plural schemas/ not singular schema/
Missed
Caught
Server action missing account slug resolution
Missed
Caught
Exported class instead of factory wrapping private class
Missed
Caught
Missing server-only import
Missed
Caught
Plan says "update documentation" (violates CLAUDE.md)
Missed
Caught
Note: Codebase compliance is skipped for plan.md reviews (only phases contain code blocks).
Task Tracking
Tasks survive context compacts — skipping this check causes lost progress and repeated work.
Before starting work, run TaskList to check if tasks already exist from a previous session or before a compact. If tasks exist:
Read existing tasks with TaskGet for each task ID
Find the first task with status pending or in_progress
Resume from that task — do NOT recreate the task list
If no tasks exist, create them after determining the review type (Step 1):
Example task list (phase review):
Task 1: Determine review type and read template
Task 2: Read the target phase file
Task 3: Run automated validators
Task 4: Compare against template (section-by-section)
Task 5: Check specific requirements
Task 6: Find reference implementations
Task 7: Codebase compliance check
Task 8: Write review file using template
Task 9: Validate review format
Task 10: Auto-fix Critical/High/Medium issues
Task 11: Return summary with next steps
Mark each task in_progress when starting and completed when done.
Output Location
Planning reviews go in the reviews/planning/ subfolder:
For plan.md review:
Write to: {plan-folder}/reviews/planning/plan.md
For single phase review:
Write to: {plan-folder}/reviews/planning/phase-{NN}.md
Use Glob to find 2-3 files matching the phase type pattern
Read the most relevant one (prefer files in similar feature areas)
This reference is your ground truth for what correct code looks like
Example: For a phase creating server actions, read an existing *-server-actions.ts file like app/home/[account]/feature/_lib/server/server-actions.ts.
Step 7: Codebase Compliance Check
Skip this step for plan.md reviews.
For each code block in the phase file:
Compare against the reference from Step 6
Check against the codebase compliance checklist in checklist.md
Flag deviations with severity (Critical/High/Medium/Low)
Only flag verifiable deviations. If you can see the correct pattern in the reference file and the phase code differs, that's a valid finding. Flagging ambiguous or intentional design choices produces noisy reviews that waste the user's time.
Severity guide:
Critical: Won't compile or will crash at runtime (wrong function signature, bad imports)
High: Violates security or established patterns (missing auth, wrong RLS, missing permission check)
Medium: Naming/convention violations that cause confusion (wrong file paths, inconsistent naming)
Low: Style issues that don't affect functionality (comment style, ordering)
Step 8: Read Output Template and Write Review File
Reviews written without reading the template first produce inconsistent formats that the user cannot compare across phases. Read PLAN-REVIEW-TEMPLATE.md and follow the exact format specified:
Variant A for plan.md reviews
Variant B for phase reviews
The template defines the exact sections, table columns, and verdict format. Inventing custom formats breaks the user's ability to track review status consistently across phases.
The script auto-detects whether this is a plan.md review (Variant A) or phase review (Variant B). If validation fails, fix the reported issues in the review file before proceeding.
Step 9: Auto-Fix Critical, High, and Medium Issues
Skip this step for plan.md reviews or if no Critical/High/Medium codebase issues were found.
Default: FIX IT. Most review issues are straightforward pattern corrections. A review that identifies problems but fixes nothing is only half the job — the user depends on auto-fix to save implementation time.
Fix Critical, High, and Medium issues directly in the phase file:
For each Critical/High/Medium issue:
a. Read the reference file cited in the issue (if not already read)
b. Locate the problem in the phase file
c. Apply the fix using Edit (for targeted changes) or Write (for larger rewrites)
Examples of fixes to make (never defer these):
Title/phase number mismatches — filename is the source of truth
Missing 'use client' directives in code blocks
Wrong import paths or import ordering
Wrong file locations (e.g., wrong test directory)
Missing code blocks where the review says "should have concrete examples" — write them
Wrong function signatures — fix to match the reference
Auto-fixed (count and brief list of what was fixed — includes Critical, High, and Medium)
Deferred to main agent (issues not auto-fixed and why)
Next Steps for Low — present as improvement opportunities (fix unless hallucinated or purely cosmetic)
Improvement mindset: When listing Medium/Low issues, frame them as concrete improvements worth doing now — not optional niceties. Phases are rarely revisited after completion, so "fix later" effectively means "never." The user prefers investing in quality now over speed. Suggest specific enhancements that would make the phase better, even if they go slightly beyond strict requirements.
Action directive for main agent: If there are deferred items or Medium/Low suggestions, end your summary with:
ACTION REQUIRED: [N] deferred items and [M] improvement suggestions need main agent attention.
Please review the items above and fix or discuss with the user before proceeding to implementation.
This ensures the main agent acts on the findings rather than just echoing the summary.
Resuming After Context Compact
If you notice context was compacted or you're unsure of current progress:
Run TaskList to see all tasks and their status
Find the in_progress task — that's where you were
Run TaskGet {id} on that task to read full details
Continue from that task — don't restart from the beginning
Tasks persist across compacts. The task list is your source of truth for progress, not your memory.
Pattern for every work session:
TaskList → find in_progress or first pending → TaskGet → continue work → TaskUpdate (completed) → next task
Constraints
ONE file per invocation — Either plan.md OR one phase file, never both
NO git commands (you don't have Bash access)
ONLY write files within the plan folder (review files AND phase file fixes)
Read the appropriate template before reviewing
Check EVERY section, not just a sample
Codebase compliance: Read at least one reference file before flagging issues
Codebase compliance: Only flag verifiable deviations (pattern clearly differs from reference)
Codebase compliance: Skipped for plan.md reviews (no code blocks to verify)
Auto-fix: Default is to fix. Only defer for genuine scope changes or ADR contradictions
Auto-fix: Use Glob/Grep to verify before claiming "needs codebase verification" — you have the tools
The user depends on thorough, section-by-section verification AND code block verification. Skimming and saying "looks good" without checking each section causes issues to be discovered during implementation when they're more costly to fix.
Troubleshooting
Review Produces "12/12 Ready" But Phase Has Code Issues
Cause: Template compliance check passed (all sections exist) but codebase compliance was skipped or superficial.
Fix: Ensure Step 6 (Identify Phase Type and Find References) reads an actual codebase file. The reference file is ground truth for what correct code looks like. Without it, code blocks can't be verified.
Phase File Not Found
Cause: Phase number in arguments doesn't match any phase-{NN}-*.md file in the plan folder.
Fix: Use Glob to list all files in the plan folder: plans/{folder}/phase-*.md. Verify the phase number matches the file naming pattern.
Review File Overwrites Previous Review
Cause: Running review twice on the same file without reading the previous review first.
Fix: Check if a review file already exists at the output location before writing. If it does, read it first and note what changed since the last review.
Delegation & Batching
For instructions on spawning multiple review agents in batches, see delegation.md.
