reviewing

Reviewing Skill

General guidelines

• If a docs/design/aurora/ folder exists, read and follow Aurora Compact Model to understand the design.
  • The Aurora Compact Model exists to save time and tokens by keeping key information in a single compact (thus the name) file.
  • Use the full Aurora instructions only when applying the Architecture skill.
• In order to ensure enough context for the review, break it down into manageable chunks and/or delegate it to subagents as needed. You may also ask for additional information or clarification from the user if necessary.
• If the user asks for a "formal review", treat it as a formal review and write the results to the appropriate files. Otherwise, provide recommendations in the conversation without writing to the review files.
• If unsure whether it is formal or not, ask.
• You MUST NOT alter code, documentation, or other files except the review output files.
• Reviews recommend improvements and fixes. Reviews do not make decisions and do not record decisions.

Review principles

• If reviewing code, refer to the Code Review Checklists and Principles for comprehensive guidance on what to look for. This includes security review guidance.
• If reviewing documentation, refer to the Documentation Review Checklists and Principles for comprehensive guidance on what to look for.
• If reviewing architecture and designs, refer to the Architecture Review Checklists and Principles for comprehensive guidance on what to look for.
• For a pre-release review, refer to the Pre-release Review Checklists for comprehensive guidance on what to look for.
• The checklist documents are canonical. If a checklist and a skill instruction conflict, the checklist wins.

Files and folders to ignore

• Read only the Compact.json files under docs/design/aurora/ for context on the Aurora model. Do not read any other files in that directory for reviews.
• Do not read any files or folders under docs/design/ named MIS-*. Those are just the human-readable version of the model and contain no relevant information not already in the Compact Model.
• Do not read files under .github/ unless specifically instructed to review them.
• The following files are irrelevant for reviews:
  • .gitignore
  • .gitattributes
  • *.lock
  • .editorconfig
  • rustfmt.toml
  • rust-toolchain.toml
  • assets/

Deliverables

• Record findings in the appropriate review file under docs/design/:
  • docs/design/Review-Architecture.md
  • docs/design/Review-Code.md
  • docs/design/Review-Documentation.md
  • docs/design/Review-Prerelease.md
  • docs/design/Review-Security.md
• Apply the canonical checklist for the review type and record findings according to checklist requirements.

Cross-skill tasks

• If asked to implement fixes, do not proceed under this skill. Either:
  • Switch to the appropriate skill, or
  • Provide recommendations only and leave implementation to a separate task.
• If asked to update a project plan, use the Planning skill.
• If asked to produce or update an Aurora architecture model, use the Architecture skill.

Validation

• Findings are recorded in the correct file(s) under docs/design/ as specified above.
• Findings are grouped by severity and include clear verification guidance.
• Recommendations are concrete and smallest-safe.
• The review output does not include implementation changes outside the review files.

Glossary

See the shared Skills glossary.