code-review-seed-slices

name	code-review-seed-slices
description	Use when a code-review meta-plan is finalized and you need to fan it out into one slice spec per row in the meta-plan's slice table — produces N files in planning/code-reviews/needs-review/ ready for code-intake-review to drain
metadata	{"category":"review-helpers","order":31}

Seed Code-Review Slice Specs from a Meta-Plan

Read a meta-plan (type: code-review-plan) and write one slice spec to planning/code-reviews/needs-review/ for each row in the meta-plan's slice table.

Core principle: This skill is the loop body that turns a meta-plan into a queue. It is normally called by code-review-plan-execute; the user can also call it directly after writing a meta-plan if they want to seed without running the full execute pipeline yet.

Process

Step 1: Load the Meta-Plan

Path is supplied as input (typically by code-review-plan-execute). If not supplied, ask the user.

Validate:

• File exists.
• Frontmatter type: code-review-plan.
• Frontmatter has branch, base_sha, head_sha, slug, slice_count.
• Body contains a slice table (markdown table or YAML list — see Step 2).

Step 2: Parse the Slice Table

Each row in the meta-plan's slice table contributes one slice spec. Required columns/fields per row:

Field	Source
slice number	row position (1-indexed, zero-padded to NN)
name	row's "name" / "slug" cell
base_sha	row's "base" cell
head_sha	row's "head" cell
plan_docs	row's "plan_docs" cell (comma- or list-separated)
focus_areas	row's "focus" cell (free text or bullet list)

If any required field is missing on any row, abort with a clear error citing the row.

Step 3: Pre-flight

For each parsed slice row:

• git rev-parse <base_sha> and git rev-parse <head_sha> succeed.
• git log --oneline <base_sha>..<head_sha> returns ≥1 commit.
• Each plan_docs path exists on disk.
• No file already exists for this slice number across needs-review/, in-progress/, reviewed/, completed/ (collision check).

If any row fails pre-flight, abort with a per-row report. Do not partially seed.

Step 4: Write Slice Specs

For each row, invoke code-send-review's logic to write the slice spec at planning/code-reviews/needs-review/YYYY-MM-DD-code-review-slice-NN-<slug>.md with frontmatter:

---
type: code-review-slice
slice: <NN>
name: <slug>
branch: <from meta-plan>
base_sha: <from row>
head_sha: <from row>
diff_stat: "<computed via git diff --stat>"
plan_docs:
  - <path1>
  - <path2>
parent_plan: <absolute path to the meta-plan>
status: queued
status_updated: <ISO 8601 now>
status_note: ""
created: <YYYY-MM-DD>
---

Body of each slice spec includes the row's focus areas verbatim and the git log --oneline base..head for that range.

Step 5: Confirm

Report to caller (chat output):

• Meta-plan path
• Number of slices seeded
• Per-slice: filename, slice number, commit count, plan_docs count

Failure Mode

If pre-flight passes but a write fails partway through (e.g., disk error after writing 3 of 8 slices):

• Report which slices succeeded.
• Do NOT delete partial writes — let the user inspect and decide.
• Status of failed seeding is reported to caller; code-review-plan-execute should NOT proceed to the review loop until seeding is complete.

Do Not

• Seed slices that don't pass pre-flight — partial state is the enemy.
• Mutate the meta-plan during seeding (read-only).
• Move the meta-plan after seeding — it stays where it lives (planning/needs-review/completed/ or planning/).
• Re-seed slices that already exist anywhere in the queue (collision check catches this).