RE

review-reviewer

Performs a primary code review pass based on predefined compliance contracts and issue-class checks.

Install

mkdir -p .claude/skills/review-reviewer && curl -L -o skill.zip "https://agentskills.codes/api/skills/download/19326" && unzip -o skill.zip -d .claude/skills/review-reviewer && rm skill.zip

Installs to .claude/skills/review-reviewer

Activation

This is the description your AI agent reads to decide when to run this skill — the better it matches your request, the more reliably it fires.

Primary review pass for code reviews — inspect the in-scope change-set, apply mandatory issue-class checks, emit schema-conformant handoff records, and freeze the pre-routed findings set for later review roles. Use when a code-review workflow needs the concrete reviewer behavior to live in a reusable skill instead of inside prompt Step 5.
340 chars✓ has a “when” triggerlonger than Claude Code's old 250-char listing cap (fine on current versions)
Advanced

Key capabilities

  • Inspect in-scope change-sets against compliance contracts
  • Apply mandatory issue-class checks to code, docs, and tests
  • Emit schema-conformant handoff records for identified concerns
  • Maintain row-level and matrix-level linkage state
  • Freeze findings set for downstream review roles

How it works

The skill iterates through a deterministic coverage matrix to apply mandatory issue-class checks defined in external compliance contracts. It generates structured handoff records for each finding while updating linkage state for downstream roles.

Inputs & outputs

You give it
In-scope change-set and validated coverage matrix
You get back
Frozen reviewer findings set and schema-conformant handoff records

When to use review-reviewer

  • Pre-screen a pull request
  • Apply mandatory security and testing checks
  • Standardize review findings for the team

About this skill

Review Reviewer (primary review pass)

Canonical sources of truth (contract-driven)

When running the reviewer pass, use these sources in this order:

  • .github/instructions/code-review-compliance-contract.instructions.md
    • authoritative for review flow, classification, evidence handling, handoff requirements, and mandatory issue-class behavior
  • .github/instructions/review-linter-compliance-contract.instructions.md
    • authoritative when Step 4 produced linter scope or linter findings for provider Go or test files
  • .github/instructions/docs-compliance-contract.instructions.md
    • authoritative for documentation compliance whenever website/docs/**/*.html.markdown files are in the current review scope
  • .github/instructions/testing-compliance-contract.instructions.md
    • authoritative for testing compliance whenever internal/**/*_test.go files are in the current review scope
  • .github/instructions/review-coverage-matrix.schema.json
    • authoritative for the coverage matrix shape and linkage-state containers the primary pass must keep current
  • file-scoped instructions and companion guidance loaded for the in-scope files under REVIEW-SCOPE-*
    • authoritative for scoped implementation, docs, testing, and provider-specific expectations once the prompt has loaded them

Do not treat this skill as a second independent rule source. The contracts and scoped instructions own the rules; this skill owns the reusable reviewer method. Do not treat this skill as a moderator, architect, skeptic, advocate, or presentation pass. It is the primary reviewer only.

Mandatory: read the entire skill

Before applying this skill, read this file to EOF.

Preflight checklist

Before running the reviewer pass, complete this checklist:

  • I have read this skill to EOF.
  • I have loaded .github/instructions/code-review-compliance-contract.instructions.md to EOF and applied the relevant REVIEW-* rules.
  • I have the resolved review scope and a schema-conformant coverage matrix that has already passed the prompt-owned completion gate.
  • If provider Go or test files are in scope, the linter applicability decision for this run is already known from the prompt's linter step.
  • If website/docs/**/*.html.markdown files are in scope, I have loaded .github/instructions/docs-compliance-contract.instructions.md to EOF and am applying exact DOCS-* rules to those docs files.
  • If internal/**/*_test.go files are in scope, I have loaded .github/instructions/testing-compliance-contract.instructions.md to EOF and am applying exact TEST-* rules to those test files.
  • I am producing structured handoff records and updated linkage state, not final reader-visible review output.

If preflight is incomplete, do not run the reviewer pass.

Verification (assistant response only)

When (and only when) this skill is invoked, the assistant MUST append the following line to the end of the assistant's final response:

Skill used: review-reviewer

Rules:

  • Do NOT write this marker into any repository file.
  • If multiple skills are invoked, each skill should append its own Skill used: ... line.
  • Do NOT emit the marker in intermediate/progress updates; only in the final response.

Scope

This skill is the reusable primary reviewer technique orchestrated inside:

  • .github/prompts/code-review-local-changes.prompt.md
  • .github/prompts/code-review-committed-changes.prompt.md

It runs after scope resolution, coverage-matrix build and validation, and the prompt-owned linter step when applicable. It produces the frozen pre-routed findings set for later architect, skeptic, advocate, moderator, and presentation stages.

Role

You are the reviewer for the change-set. Your job is to:

  • inspect the full in-scope change-set
  • walk the deterministic coverage matrix in its established order
  • apply the mandatory issue-class checks required by the shared review contract
  • for variant-constrained managed surfaces, complete ownership-boundary and lifecycle-symmetry checks before freezing any later secondary concern on that same surface
  • apply the docs compliance contract when docs files are in scope
  • apply the testing compliance contract when acceptance-test files are in scope
  • emit schema-conformant REVIEW-HANDOFF-* records immediately when evidence-backed concerns are found
  • keep row-level and matrix-level linkage state current while the review is happening
  • freeze a complete reviewer findings set for routed downstream roles

The reviewer method

  • Consume scope and matrix, do not improvise route order — use the resolved change-set and the validated coverage matrix as the review surface.
  • Walk required rows and control windows in matrix order — inspect each required surface, overlap surface, and lifecycle or control window before freezing findings.
  • Apply mandatory issue-class checks deliberately — for provider surfaces, execute the contract-owned issue-class families rather than relying on ad hoc intuition.
    • Use REVIEW-COORD-003A, REVIEW-COORD-004, and the related REVIEW-HANDOFF-* requirements from the shared contract to keep first-pass ownership checks, mandatory issue-class execution, and immediate record emission aligned, and stamp emitted records with the exact schema issueClasses tokens that apply.
    • For variant-constrained managed surfaces, inspect importer, ID validation, lookup, and read first to decide whether foreign variants can be accepted or hydrated into state. If they can, emit the ownership-boundary record immediately instead of continuing to secondary findings.
    • Treat a generic ID type, generic ID validator, or generic lookup helper plus a later read-time or update-time discriminator check as sufficient evidence that foreign variants can enter the lifecycle unless the earlier path already enforced the discriminator.
    • When that generic-resolution-plus-late-discriminator pattern is present, classify the ownership-overlap record as an issue, not an observation; this is a present ownership-boundary defect rather than a mere architectural risk.
    • After the ownership-boundary outcome is known, inspect update and delete against that same foreign-variant path. If later lifecycle windows reject, mutate inconsistently, or still delete the foreign variant, emit a separate lifecycle-symmetry record before moving on to metadata drift, update-shape, acceptance-matrix, or docs-example checks.
    • If read or update performs the discriminator guard only after generic resolution, verify that delete mirrors that guard; if it does not, emit the lifecycle-symmetry record even when the current tests do not include an explicit foreign-variant fixture.
    • When delete can still mutate or destroy the foreign variant after read or update already applies the discriminator guard, classify the mode-gating-symmetry record as an issue, not an observation.
    • After the ownership and lifecycle checks, inspect the update path for broader request-shape or residual-state risk. If current-run evidence shows a PUT versus PATCH mismatch or another broader update request shape that may preserve, replace, or broaden unspecified fields, emit a separate patch-residual-state concern instead of folding it into ownership, lifecycle, or metadata drift.
    • When current-run evidence proves only that broader update-shape or residual-state risk and not concrete destructive harm, classify the patch-residual-state record as an observation, not an issue.
    • For user-managed map or object arguments, inspect read and import round-tripping after the ownership and lifecycle checks. If helper logic can repopulate undeclared API-returned keys or values when prior configured state is absent, treat that as an optional-state-drift concern rather than folding it into a generic metadata note.
    • When an acceptance test already ignores a user-managed field during import verification, treat that import-ignore exception as affirmative evidence to inspect for optional-state-drift; do not assume the ignore is harmless without proving the field can still round-trip cleanly.
    • When current-run evidence shows that a user-managed map or object field can round-trip service-added or undeclared values back into state, classify the optional-state-drift record as an issue, not an observation.
    • Apply exact DOCS-* rules for in-scope docs files and exact TEST-* rules for in-scope test files instead of treating those files as generic support evidence only.
    • When changed reference docs are in scope alongside implementation or acceptance-test files, inspect changed examples for implementation-backed or acceptance-test-backed casing, field-key, map-key, value, or shape mismatches and emit a separate docs-example correctness record with the exact supporting DOCS-* rule instead of folding that evidence into a Go-only finding.
    • If the docs and a local acceptance test both show the same Terraform argument as a map or object literal, compare the keys directly and treat spelling/casing drift on that same argument as a docs-example correctness defect.
    • For brand-new managed resources with acceptance coverage, treat the absence of a distinct complete scenario as its own acceptance-test-matrix concern when the resource exposes optional metadata, multiple supported shapes, or other broader supported configuration beyond the narrow basic and update paths.
    • Do not treat category-specific, subtype-specific, or other narrower targeted scenarios as satisfying the required complete scenario when the broader supported shape still lacks one.
  • Emit handoff records immediately — when an evidence-backed concern is found, create or enrich a schema-conformant REVIEW-HANDOFF-* record at once and update emittedRecordIds plus issueClassToRecordIds before moving on.
    • Use the exact schema token ownership-overlap for foreign-variant ownership-boundary concerns

Content truncated.

When not to use it

  • When the preflight checklist is incomplete
  • When acting as a moderator, architect, skeptic, or advocate
  • When final reader-visible review output is required

Prerequisites

.github/instructions/code-review-compliance-contract.instructions.md.github/instructions/review-coverage-matrix.schema.jsonResolved review scopeSchema-conformant coverage matrix

Limitations

  • Does not own final rendering or moderation
  • Cannot improvise route order outside the coverage matrix

How it compares

Unlike manual review, this method uses contract-driven, schema-conformant record emission to ensure findings are serialized and linked according to a predefined coverage matrix.

Compared to similar skills

review-reviewer side by side with the closest alternatives in the catalog.

SkillInstallsUpdatedSafetyDifficulty
review-reviewer (this skill)020dNo flagsAdvanced
reviewing-code218moNo flagsIntermediate
pr-review61moReviewIntermediate
code-review-checklist39dNo flagsBeginner

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