flow-next-impl-review

name	flow-next-impl-review
description	Carmack-level implementation review of changes via the configured backend. Use when asked to review code or a diff in a flow-next repo.
user-invocable	false

Implementation Review Mode

Workflow is backend-split. Read workflow-common.md for Phase 0 (backend detection + philosophy + trivial-diff triage + phase-ordering matrix), then read ONLY the file matching your active backend. The opt-in --deep/--validate/--interactive phase detail lives in optional-phases.md, loaded only when a flag fires:

• BACKEND=codex → workflow-codex.md
• BACKEND=copilot → workflow-copilot.md
• BACKEND=cursor → workflow-cursor.md
• BACKEND=rp → workflow-rp.md

Do not load the others — only the active backend's file is needed.

Conduct a John Carmack-level review of implementation changes on the current branch.

Role: Code Review Coordinator (NOT the reviewer) Backends (branch on the Phase 0 RP_ELIGIBLE probe):

• When RP_ELIGIBLE=1: RepoPrompt (rp), Codex CLI (codex), GitHub Copilot CLI (copilot), or Cursor CLI (cursor)
• When RP_ELIGIBLE=0: Codex CLI (codex), GitHub Copilot CLI (copilot), or Cursor CLI (cursor) — rp is macOS-only; never list it in guidance you surface (--review=rp stays accepted)

Preamble — execute Phase 0 exactly once

The executable Phase 0 lives in workflow-common.md §"Phase 0: Backend Detection" — Read it and execute it ONCE, before any other bash in this skill. It defines $FLOWCTL (bundled — NOT installed globally; which flowctl fails, expected), probes RP_ELIGIBLE, resolves $BACKEND via the single flowctl review-backend call, and handles the ASK / none cases. Every later bash block here (triage, deep-pass selection) uses the $FLOWCTL it defines. Never invoke flowctl review-backend a second time in the same run.

Exception: a --review=<backend> argument (see Backend Selection below) wins — when present, set BACKEND from the flag and skip Phase 0's review-backend call + ASK handling (still run its $FLOWCTL / RP_ELIGIBLE setup lines).

When RP_ELIGIBLE=0 (not macOS, no supported RepoPrompt CLI), never steer the user toward rp: every backend summary, recommendation, or override hint you surface presents only the runnable configured backends codex, copilot, cursor (plus none). export is an explicit one-off review MODE (--review=export), not a configured backend — never present it as one. Suppression is not a ban: an explicit --review=rp, FLOW_REVIEW_BACKEND=rp, or review.backend=rp still resolves to rp and errors at runtime via require_rp_cli().

Backend Selection

Priority (first match wins):

1. --review=rp|codex|copilot|cursor|export|none argument
2. FLOW_REVIEW_BACKEND env var — bare backend (rp, codex, copilot, cursor, none) OR spec form (codex:gpt-5.4:xhigh, copilot:claude-opus-4.5, cursor:gpt-5.5-high)
3. .flow/config.json → review.backend (same bare / spec forms)
4. Error - no auto-detection

Parse from arguments first

Check $ARGUMENTS for:

• --review=rp or --review rp → use rp
• --review=codex or --review codex → use codex
• --review=copilot or --review copilot → use copilot
• --review=cursor or --review cursor → use cursor
• --review=export or --review export → use export
• --review=none or --review none → skip review

If found, use that backend and skip all other detection.

Otherwise: Phase 0 resolves it

No --review flag → $BACKEND comes from workflow-common.md Phase 0 (executed once per the Preamble): the single flowctl review-backend "$REVIEW_ID" call with ASK handling included. Do not re-resolve here.

Backend at a glance

When RP_ELIGIBLE=0, omit the rp line below from any guidance you surface (explicit --review=rp still honored):

• rp — RepoPrompt (macOS GUI); builder auto-selects context. Primary backend.
• codex — Codex CLI (cross-platform); uses OpenAI models (default gpt-5.5). FLOW_CODEX_MODEL / FLOW_CODEX_EFFORT env vars, or --spec codex:gpt-5.4:xhigh.
• copilot — GitHub Copilot CLI (cross-platform); supports Claude Opus/Sonnet/Haiku 4.5 and GPT-5.2 families via a Copilot subscription. FLOW_COPILOT_MODEL / FLOW_COPILOT_EFFORT env vars, or --spec copilot:claude-opus-4.5:xhigh.
• cursor — Cursor CLI (cursor-agent, cross-platform); reaches gpt-5.5-high (1M-ctx default), the gpt-5.3-codex family, composer-2.5, and claude-opus-4-8-thinking-high via a Cursor subscription. FLOW_CURSOR_MODEL env var, or --spec cursor:gpt-5.5-high. Cursor folds reasoning effort into the model name — no effort field.

Spec grammar: backend[:model[:effort]] — FLOW_REVIEW_BACKEND and .flow/config.json review.backend both accept this. Examples: codex, codex:gpt-5.2, copilot:claude-opus-4.5:xhigh, cursor:gpt-5.5-high (cursor takes model only — no :effort). Per-task review (set via flowctl task set-backend) overrides env.

Critical Rules

For rp backend:

1. DO NOT REVIEW CODE YOURSELF - you coordinate, RepoPrompt reviews
2. MUST WAIT for actual RP response - never simulate/skip the review
3. MUST use setup-review (5-15 min, DO NOT RETRY) - handles window selection + builder atomically
4. DO NOT add --json flag to chat-send (2-10 min, DO NOT RETRY) - it suppresses the review response
5. Re-reviews MUST stay in SAME chat - omit --new-chat after first review

For codex backend:

1. Use $FLOWCTL codex impl-review exclusively
2. Pass --receipt for session continuity on re-reviews
3. Parse verdict from command output

For copilot backend:

1. Use $FLOWCTL copilot impl-review exclusively
2. Pass --receipt for session continuity on re-reviews (session only resumes when prior receipt has mode == "copilot")
3. Model + effort resolved via (first match wins): --spec backend:model:effort flag, per-task review, FLOW_REVIEW_BACKEND spec, FLOW_COPILOT_MODEL / FLOW_COPILOT_EFFORT env vars, registry defaults
4. Parse verdict from command output

For cursor backend:

1. Use $FLOWCTL cursor impl-review exclusively
2. Pass --receipt for session continuity on re-reviews (session only resumes when prior receipt has mode == "cursor")
3. Model resolved via (first match wins): --spec cursor:<model> flag, per-task review, FLOW_REVIEW_BACKEND spec, FLOW_CURSOR_MODEL env var, registry default (gpt-5.5-high). No effort — Cursor bakes effort into the model name; cursor:<model>:<effort> is rejected
4. Parse verdict from command output

For all backends:

• If REVIEW_RECEIPT_PATH set: write receipt after review (any verdict)
• Any failure → output <promise>RETRY</promise> and stop

FORBIDDEN:

• Self-declaring SHIP without actual backend verdict
• Mixing backends mid-review (stick to one)
• Skipping review when backend is "none" without user consent

Input

Arguments: $ARGUMENTS Format: [task ID] [--base <commit>] [--validate] [--deep[=passes]] [--interactive] [focus areas]

• --base <commit> - Compare against this commit instead of main/master (for task-scoped reviews)
• --validate - After NEEDS_WORK verdict, run a validator pass that drops false-positive findings (fn-32.1, opt-in)
• --deep / --deep=<passes> - Run additional specialized passes (adversarial / security / performance) after primary review (fn-32.2, opt-in)
• --interactive - On NEEDS_WORK, walk through each finding with the user (Apply/Defer/Skip/Acknowledge) (fn-32.3, opt-in, Ralph-incompatible)
• Task ID - Optional, for context and receipt tracking
• Focus areas - Optional, specific areas to examine

Scope behavior:

• With --base: Reviews only changes since that commit (task-scoped)
• Without --base: Reviews entire branch vs main/master (full branch review)

Opt-in flags (fn-32):

• --validate — adds a validator pass on NEEDS_WORK that re-checks each finding for false positives. All findings dropping upgrades verdict to SHIP.
• FLOW_VALIDATE_REVIEW=1 env var — enables --validate session-wide (works in Ralph).
• --deep — adds adversarial pass always + security/performance auto-enabled per diff paths. --deep=adversarial,security restricts to listed passes.
• FLOW_REVIEW_DEEP=1 env var — enables --deep session-wide (works in Ralph).
• --interactive — per-finding walkthrough on NEEDS_WORK. No env var form — per-invocation only, always hard-errors in Ralph mode (REVIEW_RECEIPT_PATH or FLOW_RALPH=1) to prevent accidental autonomous engagement.
• Default review behavior (no flags) is unchanged.

Workflow

REPO_ROOT="$(git rev-parse --show-toplevel 2>/dev/null || pwd)"

Step 0: Parse Arguments

Parse $ARGUMENTS for:

• --base <commit> → BASE_COMMIT (if provided, use for scoped diff)
• --no-triage → set TRIAGE_DISABLED=1 (skip trivial-diff pre-check)
• --validate → set VALIDATE=true (fn-32.1 validator pass on NEEDS_WORK)
• --deep / --deep=<passes> → set DEEP=true + optional DEEP_PASSES CSV (fn-32.2)
• --interactive → set INTERACTIVE=true (fn-32.3 per-finding walkthrough on NEEDS_WORK; Ralph-blocked)
• First positional arg matching fn-* → TASK_ID
• Remaining args → focus areas

If --base not provided, BASE_COMMIT stays empty (will fall back to main/master).

Opt-in flags + env vars — ONE parse fence (fn-110) for --validate / --deep / --interactive:

VALIDATE=false
DEEP=false
DEEP_PASSES="" # optional CSV: "adversarial,security"
INTERACTIVE=false
for arg in $ARGUMENTS; do
 case "$arg" in
 --validate) VALIDATE=true ;;
 --deep) DEEP=true ;;
 --deep=*) DEEP=true; DEEP_PASSES="${arg#--deep=}" ;;
 --interactive) INTERACTIVE=true ;;
 esac
done

# Env opt-ins (Ralph-friendly). --interactive has NO env var form — per-invocation only.
if [[ "${FLOW_VALIDATE_REVIEW:-}" == "1" ]]; then
 VALIDATE=true
fi
if [[ "${FLOW_REVIEW_DEEP:-}" == "1" ]]; then
 DEEP=true
fi

# Ralph-block (fn-32.3): Ralph must never engage interactive.
if [[ "$INTERACTIVE" == "true" ]]; then
 if [[ -n "${REVIEW_RECEIPT_PATH:-}" || "${FLOW_RALPH:-}" == "1" ]]; then
 echo "Error: --interactive requires a user at the terminal; not compatible with Ralph mode (REVIEW_RECEIPT_PATH or FLOW_RALPH detected)." >&2
 exit 2
 fi
fi

VALIDATE gates the validator pass in workflow-common.md. When false (default), behavior is unchanged.

DEEP gates the deep-pass phase in workflow-common.md. When false (default), behavior is unchanged.

Pass selection (when DEEP=true):

# If explicit CSV provided, use those passes verbatim.
# Otherwise: adversarial always + security/performance auto-enabled by
# changed-file globs via `flowctl review-deep-auto`.
if [[ -n "$DEEP_PASSES" ]]; then
 SELECTED_PASSES="${DEEP_PASSES//,/ }"
else
 # Determine changed files for auto-enable heuristic
 if [[ -n "$BASE_COMMIT" ]]; then
 CHANGED="$(git diff --name-only "$BASE_COMMIT"..HEAD)"
 else
 DIFF_BASE=main; git rev-parse main >/dev/null 2>&1 || DIFF_BASE=master
 CHANGED="$(git diff --name-only "$DIFF_BASE"..HEAD)"
 fi
 SELECTED_PASSES="$(printf '%s\n' "$CHANGED" | $FLOWCTL review-deep-auto)"
fi
echo "Deep passes selected: $SELECTED_PASSES"

See deep-passes.md for the pass prompt templates, the auto-enable globs, and merge/promotion rules.

Interactive flag + Ralph-block (fn-32.3): parsed and Ralph-blocked in the single fence above (no env var form — per-invocation only).

INTERACTIVE gates the walkthrough phase in walkthrough.md. When false (default), behavior is unchanged. When true + verdict is NEEDS_WORK, the skill walks each finding with the user via the platform's plain-text numbered prompt (Apply / Defer / Skip / Acknowledge / LFG-rest).

See walkthrough.md for the full per-finding flow and deferred-findings sink contract.

Step 0.5: Trivial-diff triage (fn-29.6)

Before invoking the configured backend, run a fast pre-check that short-circuits lockfile-only, docs-only, release-chore, and generated-file diffs. On SKIP, the receipt is written with mode: "triage_skip" / verdict: "SHIP" and the expensive backend call is skipped entirely.

Opt-out: --no-triage argument or FLOW_RALPH_NO_TRIAGE=1 env var.

if [[ -z "${TRIAGE_DISABLED:-}" && -z "${FLOW_RALPH_NO_TRIAGE:-}" ]]; then
 RECEIPT_PATH="${REVIEW_RECEIPT_PATH:-/tmp/impl-review-receipt${TASK_ID:+-${TASK_ID}}.json}" # fn-90 R5: task-scoped default (concurrent tasks no longer collide); explicit REVIEW_RECEIPT_PATH still wins
 TRIAGE_ARGS=(triage-skip --receipt "$RECEIPT_PATH" --json)
 [[ -n "$BASE_COMMIT" ]] && TRIAGE_ARGS+=(--base "$BASE_COMMIT")
 [[ -n "$TASK_ID" ]] && TRIAGE_ARGS+=(--task "$TASK_ID")
 # Deterministic-only by default; set FLOW_TRIAGE_LLM=1 to enable LLM judge
 # for ambiguous diffs. Deterministic is conservative — ambiguous → REVIEW.
 [[ -z "${FLOW_TRIAGE_LLM:-}" ]] && TRIAGE_ARGS+=(--no-llm)

 if TRIAGE_OUT=$($FLOWCTL "${TRIAGE_ARGS[@]}" 2>/dev/null); then
 # Exit 0 = SKIP. Receipt already written by flowctl.
 SKIP_REASON=$(echo "$TRIAGE_OUT" | jq -r '.reason // "trivial diff"' 2>/dev/null || echo "trivial diff")
 echo "Triage-skip: $SKIP_REASON"
 echo "VERDICT=SHIP"
 exit 0
 fi
 # Exit 1 = proceed to full review (normal path). Exit >=2 = error, also falls
 # through so impl-review proceeds safely rather than failing on triage.
fi

Opt-out note: Pass --no-triage to force the full backend review (useful when explicitly validating a suspicious chore diff, or when the deterministic whitelist misclassifies). FLOW_RALPH_NO_TRIAGE=1 has the same effect for Ralph runs.

Step 1: Load Backend Workflow

1. $BACKEND was already resolved by workflow-common.md Phase 0 (Preamble) — do NOT re-run it.
2. Read only the file for that backend:

$BACKEND	File to read
codex	workflow-codex.md
copilot	workflow-copilot.md
cursor	workflow-cursor.md
rp	workflow-rp.md

Do not read the other backend files. Each is self-contained for its backend; loading the others wastes context.

Step 2: Execute the backend workflow

Follow the phases in the per-backend file end-to-end. Each file owns its own Identify → Execute → Verdict → Receipt steps (and, for RP, the full Phase 1-4 setup-review (5-15 min, DO NOT RETRY) / chat-send (2-10 min, DO NOT RETRY) / receipt build + Fix Loop). Cross-backend gated phases (Deep-Pass, Validator, Interactive Walkthrough) live in workflow-common.md — the backend files reference them.

Fix Loop (INTERNAL - do not exit to Ralph)

CRITICAL: Do NOT ask user for confirmation. Automatically fix ALL valid issues and re-review — our goal is production-grade world-class software and architecture. Never use the plain-text numbered prompt in this loop.

MAJOR_RETHINK is NOT a fix-loop input. Every backend can emit MAJOR_RETHINK (a valid verdict tag), but it means the design/approach is wrong — not something to patch finding-by-finding. Do NOT enter the fix loop on it. Escalate immediately: surface the reviewer's rationale to the caller and stop with a typed BLOCKED: DESIGN_CONFLICT (Ralph mode: output <promise>RETRY</promise>). A re-approach is a human/worker decision, never an ad-hoc patch. Only NEEDS_WORK drives the loop below.

MAX ITERATIONS (backend-agnostic — applies to ALL backends: rp, codex, copilot, cursor): keep an iteration counter in agent context, starting at 0. Each fix+re-review cycle increments it. When the counter reaches ${MAX_REVIEW_ITERATIONS:-4} (default 4; env-overridable, configurable in Ralph's config.env) and the verdict is still NEEDS_WORK, BREAK the loop and escalate: surface the surviving findings to the caller and stop (in Ralph mode output <promise>RETRY</promise> so the next iteration starts fresh). Never loop unbounded. The per-backend workflow files defer to this cap. This loop is INTERNAL — the caller (e.g. the worker) invokes impl-review ONCE and acts on the terminal verdict; a caller-side "re-invoke until SHIP" outer loop would reset this in-agent counter every round and make the cap unbounded in aggregate. flowctl now ALSO enforces the cap deterministically (fn-90 R5): on codex/copilot/cursor each flowctl <backend> impl-review <task-id> dispatch increments a cumulative PER-TASK counter (impl_review_rounds[<task-id>]) internally; on rp — which dispatches via rp chat-send (2-10 min, DO NOT RETRY) — the workflow calls flowctl review-rounds increment <spec-id> --kind impl --task <task-id> before every dispatch (same counter, task-scoped reviews only). Either surface REFUSES at the cap with an ESCALATE: marker + exit 4 — a distinct exit code from transport/backend failures (2/3), so a host or Ralph loop cannot misread the cap refusal as a retryable error. The flowctl counter survives fresh invocations and resets ONLY on a SHIP verdict or an explicit re-plan (flowctl spec reset-review-rounds <spec-id>), never on a fresh invocation or a code edit. Under Ralph/autonomous, surface the refusal as NEEDS_HUMAN — never retry it.

If verdict is NEEDS_WORK, loop internally until SHIP or the iteration cap:

0. Deep-pass phase (only if DEEP=true) — see optional-phases.md § Deep-Pass Phase.

• After primary review completes (any verdict) and before validator, run each selected pass via $FLOWCTL <backend> deep-pass --pass <name> --receipt ... --primary-findings ....
• Passes merge into receipt via fingerprint dedup + cross-pass promotion (autonomy markers only; interactive returns host_judges JSON, receipt untouched - fn-113).
• Deep may upgrade SHIP → NEEDS_WORK if it surfaces new blocking findings; it never downgrades NEEDS_WORK → SHIP.

1. Validator pass (only if VALIDATE=true) — see optional-phases.md § Validator Pass.

• Extract findings JSON-lines, dispatch $FLOWCTL <backend> validate --findings-file ... --receipt ...
• If all findings drop → verdict upgrades to SHIP automatically (exit fix loop; autonomy markers only - interactive returns host_judges JSON and you judge survivors, fn-113)
• Else → only surviving (kept) findings enter the fix loop in step 2

2. Interactive walkthrough (only if INTERACTIVE=true AND verdict still NEEDS_WORK) — see walkthrough.md. Ask the user via plain text. Render the options below as a numbered list 1. … N., followed by a final option N+1. Other — type your own answer. Print the question, then the numbered list, then stop and wait for the user's next message before continuing. Parse the reply as: a bare number 1–N+1 → that option; the literal text of an option label → that option; free text after Other → custom answer.

• For each surviving finding, ask user via plain-text numbered prompt: Apply / Defer / Skip / Acknowledge / LFG-rest.
• Deferred findings appended to .flow/review-deferred/<branch-slug>.md.
• Skip / Acknowledge are no-ops beyond receipt logging.
• Apply list restricts the fix loop below to just those findings.
• Receipt gains walkthrough: {applied, deferred, skipped, acknowledged}.

3. Parse issues from reviewer feedback (Critical → Major → Minor)
4. Fix code and run tests/lints
5. Commit fixes (mandatory before re-review; RP backend uses the snapshot-scoped staging in workflow-rp.md — never blanket-stage with git add --all)
6. Re-review:

• Codex: Re-run flowctl codex impl-review (receipt enables context)
• Copilot: Re-run flowctl copilot impl-review (receipt enables context; must be mode == "copilot" to resume)
• Cursor: Re-run flowctl cursor impl-review (receipt enables context; must be mode == "cursor" to resume)
• RP: $FLOWCTL rp chat-send (2-10 min, DO NOT RETRY) --window "$W" --tab "$T" --message-file <literal re-review path from workflow-rp.md's fix loop> (NO --new-chat; stdout redirected to the same literal response file, Read once)

7. Repeat until <verdict>SHIP</verdict> — or the MAX ITERATIONS cap above breaks the loop (escalate with surviving findings)

CRITICAL: For RP, re-reviews must stay in the SAME chat so reviewer has context. Only use --new-chat on the FIRST review.