Local Review

Perform systematic review with actionable, validated feedback only. Use this skill as an explicit local self-review step before handoff, not as a generic replacement for native PR review tools. Run it before /done when a coding session produced changes worth checking.

Reference Files

Scope

• Default target: staged or uncommitted local changes
• Secondary target: current branch diff against base when the working tree is clean or the user asks for branch review
• Explicit PR requests are secondary: keep the same review criteria, but treat them as a handoff path rather than the main workflow
• Keep the skill focused on concrete bugs, missing validation/tests that clearly matter, and repository instruction-file compliance
• Do not use this skill for inbound PR comments or thread resolution; use pr-comments for that

Workflow

Copy this checklist to track progress:

Review progress:
- [ ] Discover local review target
- [ ] Gather context and scoped instruction files
- [ ] Choose the local review path
- [ ] Validate findings
- [ ] Produce the review report

1. Discover the review target:
   • If staged or unstaged changes exist, review those first
   • Otherwise review the current branch diff against its base
   • Only switch to a PR handoff summary when the user explicitly points at an existing PR
   • Record the current branch and changed files so the report is grounded in the local session
2. Gather context:
   • Capture the change intent from the session, recent commits, or the user's request
   • Load relevant repository instruction files (AGENTS.md / CLAUDE.md as applicable, including any in nested package/MFE directories whose code is in the diff)
   • Apply only in-scope instruction-file rules for the changed paths
   • Run the project's lint, type check, and test commands (from package.json scripts) to capture current status — note pre-existing failures so they are distinguishable from regressions caused by the change. Include the lint/type-check/test status in the report so the reader knows the baseline at review time
3. Choose the local review path:
   • Local self-review is the default: current diff/branch with a local report in chat
   • Existing PR requests are secondary: apply the same validation bar, then produce a concise handoff summary instead of changing the main workflow
   • For large changes, shard by subsystem and keep the final report consolidated
4. Validate issues:
   • Re-check exact lines before reporting
   • Keep only high-confidence issues; drop speculative or duplicate items
   • Confirm each issue still applies to the latest diff and maps to a changed line
   • Collapse multiple comments that share the same root cause into one finding
5. Produce the report:
   • Default output: a local review report in chat
   • Organize findings into Must fix before push, Should fix soon, and Ready for handoff
   • Do not post inline comments, resolve threads, or handle inbound review feedback from this skill
   • Hand off inbound PR feedback to pr-comments

High signal only

Flag only when certain:

• Code will fail to compile (syntax, types, imports)
• Code will produce incorrect behavior (clear logic or state errors)
• Code introduces a concrete security risk with direct exploit path — load references/security-checklist.md for the three-tier classification when the diff touches auth, input handling, external APIs, or environment configuration
• Code introduces a measurable performance regression — load references/performance-checklist.md for common bottleneck patterns when the diff touches data fetching, rendering, images, or dependencies
• Changed behavior is clearly missing a necessary regression or validation test, including: a new component or hook shipped with no co-located test file, or an existing test where every assertion is a render-only presence check (expect(getByText(...)).toBeInTheDocument()) with no user interaction or branch coverage
• Bug fix without a failing test that reproduces it first (Prove-It Pattern: if the fix is correct, a test for the bug should fail before and pass after)
• Test code over-abstracts shared setup to the point where individual tests are unreadable without tracing helpers (prefer DAMP — Descriptive And Meaningful Phrases — over DRY in test code)
• Lint, type check, or tests fail as a result of the change (distinguish from pre-existing failures captured in step 2)
• Unambiguous instruction-file violation (quote rule, verify scope)
• YAGNI violation: code adds abstractions, config systems, or extension points not justified by a current requirement (three similar lines is better than a premature abstraction)
• KISS violation: implementation is more complex than the problem demands — a simpler approach exists that achieves the same result

Never flag:

• Style, quality, or subjective preferences
• Pre-existing issues unrelated to the change
• Potential issues dependent on unknown inputs
• Linter-only issues likely caught automatically
• Explicitly silenced violations

Output format

Read references/comment-examples.md before producing the report if you need a formatting refresher.

Default local output:

## Local review

### Must fix before push
- [<severity>] `path/to/file.ts:line` <short factual title>
  Why: <one to two sentences with concrete impact>
  Fix: <committable fix or clear implementation guidance>

### Should fix soon
- [<severity>] `path/to/file.ts:line` <short factual title>
  Why: <one to two sentences with concrete impact>
  Fix: <committable fix or clear implementation guidance>

### Ready for handoff
- <brief readiness summary>

If the user explicitly points at an existing PR, adapt the same validated findings into a concise handoff summary:

## PR handoff summary

- [<severity>] `path/to/file.ts:line` <short factual title>
  Why: <one to two sentences with concrete impact>
  Fix: <committable fix or clear implementation guidance>

Summary (if no issues):

## Local review

### Must fix before push
- None.

### Should fix soon
- None.

### Ready for handoff
- No blocking issues found. Checked for high-confidence bugs, missing validation/tests, and instruction-file compliance on the current local changes.

Anti-patterns

• Starting by asking for a PR number when local changes are available -> review the local diff first
• Teaching inline review comments as the default output -> keep the main path local-first
• "This might cause issues" -> "Variable x is undefined at src/foo.ts:45, causing ReferenceError at runtime."
• "Consider refactoring" -> "Violates instruction-file rule '<quoted rule>' in scoped file src/foo.ts."
• Multiple comments for the same root cause -> one comment linking all affected locations

Related skills

• done for session capture after the review is complete
• babysit-pr for triaging and resolving inbound review threads after feedback has been left

Every flagged issue should be something a senior engineer would catch.