code-review-playbook

What this skill does

# Code Review Playbook
This skill provides a comprehensive framework for effective code reviews that improve code quality, share knowledge, and foster collaboration. Whether you're a reviewer giving feedback or an author preparing code for review, this playbook ensures reviews are thorough, consistent, and constructive.

## Overview
- Reviewing pull requests or merge requests
- Preparing code for review (self-review)
- Establishing code review standards for teams
- Training new developers on review best practices
- Resolving disagreements about code quality
- Improving review processes and efficiency

## Code Review Philosophy

### Purpose of Code Reviews

Code reviews serve multiple purposes:

1. **Quality Assurance**: Catch bugs, logic errors, and edge cases
2. **Knowledge Sharing**: Spread domain knowledge across the team
3. **Consistency**: Ensure codebase follows conventions and patterns
4. **Mentorship**: Help developers improve their skills
5. **Collective Ownership**: Build shared responsibility for code
6. **Documentation**: Create discussion history for future reference

### Principles

**Be Kind and Respectful:**
- Review the code, not the person
- Assume positive intent
- Praise good solutions
- Frame feedback constructively

**Be Specific and Actionable:**
- Point to specific lines of code
- Explain *why* something should change
- Suggest concrete improvements
- Provide examples when helpful

**Balance Speed with Thoroughness:**
- Aim for timely feedback (< 24 hours)
- Don't rush critical reviews
- Use automation for routine checks
- Focus human review on logic and design

**Distinguish Must-Fix from Nice-to-Have:**
- Use conventional comments to indicate severity
- Block merges only for critical issues
- Allow authors to defer minor improvements
- Capture deferred work in follow-up tickets

---

## Conventional Comments

```
issue [blocking]: Missing error handling for API call
If the API returns a 500 error, this will crash. Add try/catch.

security [blocking]: API endpoint is not authenticated
The /api/admin/users endpoint is missing auth middleware.
```

Load `Read("${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/references/conventional-comments.md")` for the full format, labels (praise, nitpick, suggestion, issue, question, security, bug, breaking), decorations ([blocking], [non-blocking], [if-minor]), and examples.

---

## Review Process

### 1. Before Reviewing

**Check Context:**
- Read the PR/MR description
- Understand the purpose and scope
- Review linked tickets or issues
- Check CI/CD pipeline status

**Verify Automated Checks:**
- [ ] Tests are passing
- [ ] Linting has no errors
- [ ] Type checking passes
- [ ] Code coverage meets targets
- [ ] No merge conflicts

**Set Aside Time:**
- Small PR (< 200 lines): 15-30 minutes
- Medium PR (200-500 lines): 30-60 minutes
- Large PR (> 500 lines): 1-2 hours (or ask to split)

### 2. During Review

**Follow a Pattern:**

1. **High-Level Review** (5-10 minutes)
   - Read PR description and understand intent
   - Skim all changed files to get overview
   - Verify approach makes sense architecturally
   - Check that changes align with stated purpose

2. **Detailed Review** (20-45 minutes)
   - Line-by-line code review
   - Check logic, edge cases, error handling
   - Verify tests cover new code
   - Look for security vulnerabilities
   - Ensure code follows team conventions

3. **Testing Considerations** (5-10 minutes)
   - Are tests comprehensive?
   - Do tests test the right things?
   - Are edge cases covered?
   - Is test data realistic?

4. **Documentation Check** (5 minutes)
   - Are complex sections commented?
   - Is public API documented?
   - Are breaking changes noted?
   - Is README updated if needed?

### 3. After Reviewing

**Provide Clear Decision:**
- ✅ **Approve**: Code is ready to merge
- 💬 **Comment**: Feedback provided, no action required
- 🔄 **Request Changes**: Issues must be addressed before merge

**Respond to Author:**
- Answer questions promptly
- Re-review after changes made
- Approve when issues resolved
- Thank author for addressing feedback

---

## Review Checklists

### General Code Quality

- [ ] **Readability**: Code is easy to understand
- [ ] **Naming**: Variables and functions have clear, descriptive names
- [ ] **Comments**: Complex logic is explained
- [ ] **Formatting**: Code follows team style guide
- [ ] **DRY**: No unnecessary duplication
- [ ] **SOLID Principles**: Code follows SOLID where applicable
- [ ] **Function Size**: Functions are focused and < 50 lines
- [ ] **Cyclomatic Complexity**: Functions have complexity < 10

### Security

- [ ] **Authentication**: Protected endpoints require auth
- [ ] **Authorization**: Users can only access their own data
- [ ] **Input Sanitization**: SQL injection, XSS prevented
- [ ] **Secrets Management**: No hardcoded credentials or API keys
- [ ] **Encryption**: Sensitive data encrypted at rest and in transit
- [ ] **Rate Limiting**: Endpoints protected from abuse

---

## Quick Start Guide

**For Reviewers:**
1. Read PR description and understand intent
2. Check that automated checks pass
3. Do high-level review (architecture, approach)
4. Do detailed review (logic, edge cases, tests)
5. Use conventional comments for clear communication
6. Provide decision: Approve, Comment, or Request Changes

**For Authors:**
1. Write clear PR description
2. Perform self-review before requesting review
3. Ensure all automated checks pass
4. Keep PR focused and reasonably sized (< 400 lines)
5. Respond to feedback promptly and respectfully
6. Make requested changes or explain reasoning

---

## CC Built-in Review Commands (2.1.152+)

This playbook is the manual framework; Claude Code ships built-in commands that automate parts of it:

- **`/code-review`** — reviews the current diff for correctness bugs and reuse/simplification/efficiency cleanups.
- **`/code-review --fix`** (CC 2.1.152+) — runs the review then applies the findings to your working tree (a bug-hunting review covering correctness plus reuse/simplification/efficiency).
- **`/code-review --comment`** — posts findings as inline PR comments.
- **`/simplify`** — **CC 2.1.154 changed this**: it now runs a **cleanup-only** review (reuse, simplification, efficiency, altitude) and applies the fixes — it no longer invokes the full `/code-review --fix` bug-hunt. Reach for `/simplify` for tidy-ups, `/code-review --fix` for bug-finding-plus-fix.

Use the built-ins for fast diff-scoped passes; use `ork:review-pr` for the multi-agent, full-PR review (security + testing + architecture). See #1940 for the overlap analysis between `/code-review --comment` and `ork:review-pr`.

---

**Skill Version**: 2.0.0
**Last Updated**: 2026-01-08
**Maintained by**: AI Agent Hub Team

## Related Skills

- `ork:architecture-patterns` - Enforce testing and architectural best practices during code review
- `security-scanning` - Automated security checks to complement manual review
- `ork:testing-unit` - Unit testing patterns to verify during review

## Rules

Each category has individual rule files in `rules/` loaded on-demand:

| Category | Rule | Impact | Key Pattern |
|----------|------|--------|-------------|
| TypeScript Quality | `rules/typescript-quality.md` | HIGH | No `any`, Zod validation, exhaustive switches, React 19 |
| Python Quality | `rules/python-quality.md` | HIGH | Pydantic v2, ruff, mypy strict, async timeouts |
| Security Baseline | `rules/security-baseline.md` | CRITICAL | No secrets, auth on endpoints, input validation |
| Linting | `rules/linting-biome-setup.md` | HIGH | Biome setup, ESLint migration, gradual adoption |
| Linting | `rules/linting-biome-rules.md` | HIGH | Biome config, type-aware rules, CI integration |

**Total: 5 rules across 4 categories**

## Available Scripts

- **`scripts/review-pr.md`** - Dynamic PR review with auto-fetched GitHub data
  - Auto-fetches: PR title, author, state, changed files, diff stats, comments count
  - Usage: `/ork:review-pr [PR-number]`