code-review

---
name: code-review
description: 'Review changes since a fixed point along separate Standards and Spec axes, plus Code Contracts when the repository defines @cc or CONTRACTS obligations. Runs enabled reviews in parallel sub-agents and reports them side by side. Use for branches, PRs, work-in-progress changes, or "review since X".'
---

Independent review axes for the diff between `HEAD` and a fixed point the user supplies:

- **Standards**: does the code conform to this repo's documented coding standards?
- **Spec**: does the code faithfully implement the originating issue / spec?
- **Code Contracts**, when present: does the change comply with applicable `@cc` and `CONTRACTS` obligations?

Run enabled axes as **parallel sub-agents** so they don't pollute each other's context, then aggregate their findings without merging the axes.

The issue tracker configuration should have been provided to you.

If it is missing, run `/loom` to initialize the project. Until then, use Beads when `br` is installed ([workflow](../loom/references/issue-tracker-beads.md)); otherwise use [local Markdown](../loom/references/issue-tracker-local.md).

## Process

### 1. Pin the fixed point

Whatever the user said is the fixed point (a commit SHA, branch name, tag, `main`, `HEAD~5`, etc.). If they didn't specify one, ask for it.

Capture the diff command once: `git diff <fixed-point>...HEAD` (three-dot, so the comparison is against the merge-base). Also note the list of commits via `git log <fixed-point>..HEAD --oneline`. When installed, `sem` provides entity-aware diffs, history, blame, and impact.

Before going further, confirm the fixed point resolves (`git rev-parse <fixed-point>`) and the diff is non-empty. A bad ref or empty diff should fail here, not inside two parallel sub-agents.

### 2. Identify the spec source

Look for the originating spec, in this order:

1. Issue references in the commit messages (`#123`, `Closes #45`, GitLab `!67`, etc.), fetched via the workflow in `ai-docs/agents/issue-tracker.md`.
2. A path the user passed as an argument.
3. A spec file under `ai-docs/`, `specs/`, or `.scratch/` matching the branch name or feature.
4. If nothing is found, ask the user where the spec is. If they say there isn't one, the **Spec** sub-agent will skip and report "no spec available".

### 3. Identify the standards sources

Anything in the repo that documents how code should be written, such as `CODING_STANDARDS.md` or `CONTRIBUTING.md`.

On top of whatever the repo documents, the Standards axis always carries the **smell baseline** below: a fixed set of Fowler code smells (_Refactoring_, ch.3) that applies even when a repo documents nothing. Two rules bind it:

- **The repo overrides.** A documented repo standard always wins; where it endorses something the baseline would flag, suppress the smell.
- **Always a judgement call.** Each smell is a labelled heuristic ("possible Feature Envy"), never a hard violation. Like any standard here, skip anything tooling already enforces.

Each smell reads _what it is_ → _how to fix_; match it against the diff:

- **Mysterious Name**: a function, variable, or type whose name doesn't reveal what it does or holds. → rename it; if no honest name comes, the design's murky.
- **Duplicated Code**: the same logic shape appears in more than one hunk or file in the change. → extract the shared shape, call it from both.
- **Feature Envy**: a method that reaches into another object's data more than its own. → move the method onto the data it envies.
- **Data Clumps**: the same few fields or params keep travelling together (a type wanting to be born). → bundle them into one type, pass that.
- **Primitive Obsession**: a primitive or string standing in for a domain concept that deserves its own type. → give the concept its own small type.
- **Repeated Switches**: the same `switch`/`if`-cascade on the same type recurs across the change. → replace with polymorphism, or one map both sites share.
- **Shotgun Surgery**: one logical change forces scattered edits across many files in the diff. → gather what changes together into one module.
- **Divergent Change**: one file or module is edited for several unrelated reasons. → split so each module changes for one reason.
- **Speculative Generality**: abstraction, parameters, or hooks added for needs the spec doesn't have. → delete it; inline back until a real need shows.
- **Message Chains**: long `a.b().c().d()` navigation the caller shouldn't depend on. → hide the walk behind one method on the first object.
- **Middle Man**: a class or function that mostly just delegates onward. → cut it, call the real target direct.
- **Refused Bequest**: a subclass or implementer that ignores or overrides most of what it inherits. → drop the inheritance, use composition.

### 4. Detect code contracts

Search the repository for production `@cc` declarations and files named `CONTRACTS`, excluding documentation examples and intentionally malformed fixtures. If any exist, enable the **Code Contracts** axis. The contract sub-agent performs full applicability discovery; this search only decides whether to spawn it.

### 5. Spawn enabled sub-agents in parallel

**Standards sub-agent prompt** should include:

- The full diff command and commit list.
- The list of standards-source files you found in step 3, **plus the smell baseline from step 3** pasted in full (the sub-agent has no other access to it).
- The brief: "Report, per file/hunk where relevant, (a) every place the diff violates a documented standard: cite the standard (file + the rule); and (b) any baseline smell you spot: name it and quote the hunk. Distinguish hard violations from judgement calls: documented-standard breaches can be hard, but baseline smells are always judgement calls, and a documented repo standard overrides the baseline. Skip anything tooling enforces. Under 400 words."

**Spec sub-agent prompt** should include:

- The diff command and commit list.
- The path or fetched contents of the spec.
- The brief: "Report: (a) requirements the spec asked for that are missing or partial; (b) behaviour in the diff that wasn't asked for (scope creep); (c) requirements that look implemented but where the implementation looks wrong. Quote the spec line for each finding. Under 400 words."

**Code Contracts sub-agent prompt**, when enabled, should include:

- The full diff command and commit list.
- The brief: "Run `$code-contracts verify` against this exact diff. Return every evidenced violation or contradiction required by that procedure, including its contract ID, location, evidence, consequence, and material coverage limits. Keep the summary under 200 words; do not omit findings to meet the summary limit."

If the spec is missing, skip the Spec sub-agent and note this in the final report. If no production contracts exist, skip the Code Contracts sub-agent and report `no contracts found`.

### 6. Aggregate

Present enabled reports under `## Standards`, `## Spec`, and `## Code Contracts` headings, verbatim or lightly cleaned. Do **not** merge or rerank findings because each axis answers a different question.

End with a one-line summary: total findings per enabled axis, and the worst issue _within each axis_ (if any). Don't pick a single winner across axes.

## Why separate axes

A change can pass one axis and fail another:

- Code that follows every standard but implements the wrong thing → **Standards pass, Spec fail.**
- Code that does exactly what the issue asked but breaks the project's conventions → **Spec pass, Standards fail.**
- Code can satisfy the issue and repository style while violating a colocated invariant → **Standards pass, Spec pass, Code Contracts fail.**

Reporting them separately stops one axis from masking another.

When a finding needs a diagram or the user requests a guided walkthrough, inspect the relevant code and use fenced Mermaid with source references. Keep text-only reviews concise.