name: code-review description: Standalone code review methodology for structured, severity-classified code assessment
Code Review Skill
Activate this skill when performing standalone code reviews via the /maestro:review command or during orchestration quality gates (post-phase checks and final completion gate). This skill provides the methodology for scoping, executing, and reporting code reviews.
Scope Detection Protocol
Determine review scope using the following priority order:
- User-specified paths: If the user provides file paths or glob patterns, expand glob patterns using the
globtool to resolve them to concrete file paths before delegating to thecode_revieweragent - Staged changes: If
git diff --stagedproduces output, review staged changes - Last commit diff: If no staged changes exist, review the last commit via
git diff HEAD~1 - Fallback: If none of the above yield content, ask the user to specify scope
Always confirm the detected scope with the user before proceeding.
If scope is provided as file paths and a git diff is empty for some paths (for example, new unstaged files), include those files' current contents directly in review context so they are still reviewed.
Review Orchestration
Delegation Flow
- Detect review scope using the protocol above
- Gather the full diff content for the detected scope, and include current file contents when diff content is unavailable for scoped files
- Delegate to the
code_revieweragent with:- The full diff content
- File paths involved
- Any user-provided focus areas or concerns
- Process the agent's Task Report
- Present findings to the user in the structured output format below
Context Enrichment
When delegating to the code_reviewer agent, include:
- The diff content (not just file names)
- Surrounding context for modified sections (10 lines before/after when available)
- Project language and framework information (detected from package.json, Cargo.toml, go.mod, etc.)
Severity Classification
Critical
Issues that could cause security vulnerabilities, data loss, or system crashes:
- SQL/NoSQL injection vectors
- Authentication/authorization bypasses
- Unvalidated user input at system boundaries
- Resource leaks (unclosed connections, file handles)
- Race conditions with data corruption potential
Major
Issues that cause bugs, design flaws, or significant maintainability problems:
- Logic errors in business rules
- Missing error handling on external calls
- SOLID principle violations that impact extensibility
- Incorrect API contracts or type mismatches
- Missing null/undefined checks on external data
Minor
Issues related to style, naming, or minor convention violations:
- Naming inconsistencies
- Code style deviations from project conventions
- Suboptimal but correct implementations
- Missing type annotations where inference is insufficient
Suggestion
Optional improvements that enhance readability or maintainability:
- Alternative patterns that improve clarity
- Performance optimizations with marginal impact
- Structural improvements for future extensibility
Output Format
Present findings in a structured table followed by a summary:
## Code Review Results
**Scope**: [description of what was reviewed]
**Files Reviewed**: [count]
**Total Findings**: [count by severity]
### Findings
| # | Severity | File | Line | Description | Suggested Fix |
|---|----------|------|------|-------------|---------------|
| 1 | Critical | path/to/file.ts | 42 | [description] | [fix] |
| 2 | Major | path/to/file.ts | 87 | [description] | [fix] |
### Summary
[1-2 paragraph summary of overall code quality, patterns observed, and priority actions]
Verification Rule
Every finding must:
- Reference a specific file and line number
- Be verified against the actual code (not assumed from patterns)
- Include a concrete suggested fix or action
- Be classified with a severity that matches the classification criteria above
Do NOT report:
- Speculative issues based on assumptions about runtime behavior
- Style preferences not established by the project's conventions
- Issues in code outside the review scope
Review Scope Calibration
Calibrate the depth and focus of review based on the type of change being reviewed:
Calibration Rules
- New files: Full review across all dimensions — architecture fit, pattern compliance, security, naming conventions, error handling, testability, dependency direction
- Modified files (behavior change): Focus on the diff — correctness of new behavior, regression risk, contract compliance with existing interfaces, edge case handling in new code paths
- Modified files (refactoring): Focus on behavior preservation — verify same inputs produce same outputs, no unintended side effects introduced, no behavior changes disguised as refactoring
- Deleted files: Dependency verification — confirm no remaining code imports from, references, or depends on the deleted files. Check for orphaned tests that tested the deleted code.
- Configuration changes: Environment impact assessment — does this change affect production? Staging? Local development? All environments? Are there secrets or credentials involved?
Application
When reviewing a diff that contains multiple change types (new files + modifications + deletions), apply the appropriate calibration to each file independently. Do not apply "new file" depth to a file that only had a minor modification.
Finding Deduplication Protocol
When reviewing multiple files, identify and consolidate findings that share the same root cause.
Deduplication Rules
- If the same pattern violation appears in 3+ files, report it once as a systemic finding with the list of all affected locations — not as N separate findings
- A systemic finding includes: the pattern being violated, why it matters, the full list of affected file:line locations, and a single remediation recommendation that addresses all instances
- Unique findings (appearing in only 1-2 files) are reported individually as normal
Deduplication Format
### Systemic Finding: [Pattern Violation Name]
- **Severity**: [Critical | Major | Minor | Suggestion]
- **Description**: [What the pattern violation is and why it matters]
- **Affected Locations**:
- `path/to/file1.ext:line` — [brief context]
- `path/to/file2.ext:line` — [brief context]
- `path/to/file3.ext:line` — [brief context]
- **Remediation**: [Single recommendation that addresses all instances]
This produces cleaner, more actionable review output by surfacing systemic issues as patterns rather than repeating the same finding across multiple files.

