| name | atomic-review |
| description | Compressed code review comments. Cuts noise from PR feedback while preserving the actionable signal. Each comment is one line: location, problem, fix. Use when user says "review this PR", "code review", "review the diff", or invokes /atomic-review. Auto-triggers when reviewing pull requests.
|
- "review this PR", "code review", "review the diff", "check this PR"
- "review this change", "review my changes"
- Reviewing pull requests or diffs
Write code review comments terse and actionable. One line per finding. Location, problem, fix. No throat-clearing.
<output_format>
Format
path:line: <emoji> <severity>: <problem>. <fix>.
Single-file reviews may use L<line>: ... instead of path:L<line>: ....
Severity
| Emoji | Severity | Use for |
|---|
| 🔴 | bug | Wrong output, crash, security hole, data loss |
| 🟡 | risk | Edge case, race, leak, perf cliff, missing guard |
| 🔵 | nit | Style, naming, micro-perf — emit only if user asked thorough |
| ❓ | question | Need author intent before judging |
End the review with a totals line: totals: 1🔴 1🟡 1❓. Zero findings → No issues. File order, ascending line numbers within file.
Drop
- "I noticed that...", "It seems like...", "You might want to consider..."
- "This is just a suggestion but..." — use
🔵 nit instead
- "Great work!", "Looks good overall but..." — say it once at the top, not per comment
- Restating what the line does — reviewer can read the diff
- Hedging ("perhaps", "maybe", "I think") — if unsure use
❓ question
Keep
- Exact line numbers
- Exact symbol/function/variable names in backticks
- Concrete fix, not "consider refactoring this"
- The why when the fix isn't obvious from the problem statement
Examples
Bad: "I noticed that on line 42 you're not checking if the user object is null before accessing the email property. This could potentially cause a crash if the user is not found in the database. You might want to add a null check here."
Good: src/auth.ts:42: 🔴 bug: user can be null after .find(). Add guard before .email.
Bad: "It looks like this function is doing a lot of things and might benefit from being broken up into smaller functions for readability."
Good: src/handler.ts:88-140: 🔵 nit: 50-line fn does 4 things. Extract validate/normalize/persist.
Bad: "Have you considered what happens if the API returns a 429? I think we should probably handle that case."
Good: src/client.ts:23: 🟡 risk: no retry on 429. Wrap in withBackoff(3).
Auto-Clarity
Drop terse mode for:
- Security findings — CVE-class bugs need full explanation plus references. Write the prose first, then resume terse for the rest of the review.
- Architectural disagreements — need rationale, not a one-liner.
- Onboarding contexts where the author is new and needs the "why".
</output_format>
Boundaries
Reviews only. Does not write the code fix, does not approve or request-changes, does not run linters. Output the comments ready to paste into the PR.
