Optimize approach

Answer one question: is this the best approach for what the change is trying to do — and if not, what is? Judge the shape of the solution, not its lines. Report only; never edit files.

Lens-eligible for the pr-reviewer agent: lens.md auto-loads on deep reviews.

Step 0 — Scope

1. Target: the named files or plan.md; else the branch diff (git diff <base>...HEAD, base default origin/main).
2. Intent: one or two lines from the plan, the PR title and body, or the commit messages.
3. Split the target into approach units — one cohesive way of solving one sub-goal. Judge each unit separately.
4. Read every unit in full, plus its callers and any existing utility or pattern an alternative would reuse (grep before you claim one exists).

Step 1 — Score the four axes

No axis fires → the unit is optimal.

Step 2 — Drop what another lens owns

Drop the candidate (the unit stays optimal) when any of these holds:

1. Mechanical tidy — a rename, guard-clause flip, dead-code removal, or constant extraction. That is /polish.
2. Failure mode without a better shape — "this could fail because X" with no approach that structurally avoids X. That is /critical.
3. Wrong behaviour — the change does not do what it claims, or breaks a caller. That is a review finding, not an approach.
4. Taste — the alternative is equally good, just different.

Step 3 — The materiality bar

Propose only when the alternative is all three:

• Material — a namable win: a reused util, a complexity class dropped, a race removed.
• Grounded — stated in two sentences with file:line evidence you read, not a guess.
• Worth the switch — the win outweighs the blast radius of changing approach now.

When in doubt, say nothing: silence on a sound approach costs nothing; a weak "better way" costs trust.

✗ Wrong — "`const timeoutMs = 5000` could be a named constant"     (mechanical tidy → /polish)
✓ Right — "src/api/client.ts:40 adds retryWithBackoff; src/lib/retry.ts:12 already exports
          withRetry with the same semantics. Reuse it: one call site, removes a duplicate."

Output

At most two proposals, strongest first. Every unit optimal → print exactly Approach: optimal — no materially better approach found. and stop.

### <unit> — <axis>
**Now:** <the current approach, one line, with file:line>
**Better:** <the alternative, one or two lines, with the file:line it reuses or the constraint it relies on>
**Why it wins:** <the material gain>
**Cost:** <files touched, risk>