Review verification protocol

Review Verification Protocol

This protocol MUST be followed before reporting any code review finding. Skipping these steps leads to false positives that waste developer time and erode trust in reviews.

Anti-confabulation (gate 0 — runs before every other gate)

Before issuing any verdict — flag, reject, or downgrade a finding — you MUST echo the exact artifact you are judging, quoted from a source you read in this turn:

• For a code finding: the file:line plus the cited code, read freshly now (not recalled from earlier in the session).
• For a diff review: the actual diff hunk under review.

The artifact is the only source of truth. Never infer what you are reviewing from the branch name, the working directory, surrounding files, or recollection. If your mental model differs from the freshly read source, the source wins. A verdict issued without a same-turn echo of its target is invalid — emit the echo first, or do not emit the verdict.

This gate exists because an LLM under contextual priming will confidently flag code that is not in the file. It runs before the hard gates below.

Hard gates (sequenced)

Run these in order. Do not move to the next gate until its pass condition is met (objective evidence, not internal certainty).

1. Read — Open the file and read the full enclosing function, method, or type (not only the diff hunk).
   Pass: You can name the symbol and cite at least one line outside the changed lines that shows control flow, scope, or use relevant to the finding.

2. Reference (required before any “unused”, “dead code”, or “never called” claim) — Search the workspace for the identifier and for imports/exports that could reference it.
   Pass: Recorded outcome: match count or list, or explicit “zero matches in repo” before asserting unused.

3. Upstream (required before “missing validation” or “missing error handling”) — Inspect the immediate caller, route/middleware, or documented framework behavior that might already enforce the rule.
   Pass: One sentence naming where responsibility lives, or “checked caller + framework path; still missing” with which layer you checked.

4. Severity — Before assigning Critical or Major, map the issue to Severity Calibration and exclude style-only or Informational items.
   Pass: Chosen label matches a bullet under that severity; otherwise downgrade, reclassify as Informational, or omit.

5. Submit — Each retained finding uses [FILE:LINE] plus a one-line proof; complete Before Submitting Review steps 1–7 for this review.
   Pass: Every step satisfied or the finding was removed or downgraded.

The checklist below expands these gates by issue type; use both.

Pre-Report Verification Checklist

Before flagging ANY issue, verify:

• I read the actual code - Not just the diff context, but the full function/class
• I searched for usages - Before claiming "unused", searched all references
• I checked surrounding code - The issue may be handled elsewhere (guards, earlier checks)
• I verified syntax against current docs - Framework syntax evolves (Tailwind v4, TS 5.x, React 19)
• I distinguished "wrong" from "different style" - Both approaches may be valid
• I considered intentional design - Checked comments, project conventions (e.g. AGENTS.md or CLAUDE.md), architectural context

Verification by Issue Type

"Unused Variable/Function"

Before flagging, you MUST:

1. Search for ALL references in the codebase (grep/find)
2. Check if it's exported and used by external consumers
3. Check if it's used via reflection, decorators, or dynamic dispatch
4. Verify it's not a callback passed to a framework

Common false positives:

• State setters in React (may trigger re-renders even if value appears unused)
• Variables used in templates/JSX
• Exports used by consuming packages

"Missing Validation/Error Handling"

Before flagging, you MUST:

1. Check if validation exists at a higher level (caller, middleware, route handler)
2. Check if the framework provides validation (Pydantic, Zod, TypeScript)
3. Verify the "missing" check isn't present in a different form

Common false positives:

• Framework already validates (FastAPI + Pydantic, React Hook Form)
• Parent component validates before passing props
• Error boundary catches at higher level

"Type Assertion/Unsafe Cast"

Before flagging, you MUST:

1. Confirm it's actually an assertion, not an annotation
2. Check if the type is narrowed by runtime checks before the point
3. Verify if framework guarantees the type (loader data, form data)

Valid patterns often flagged incorrectly:

// Type assertion with ok check, NOT unsafe cast
data, ok := value.(UserData)
if !ok {
    return fmt.Errorf("unexpected type: %T", value)
}

// Type switch is safe narrowing
switch v := value.(type) {
case User:
    v.Name  // Go knows this is User
}

"Potential Memory Leak/Race Condition"

Before flagging, you MUST:

1. Verify cleanup function is actually missing (not just in a different location)
2. Check if AbortController signal is checked after awaits
3. Confirm the component can actually unmount during the async operation

Common false positives:

• Cleanup exists in useEffect return
• Signal is checked (code reviewer missed it)
• Operation completes before unmount is possible

"Performance Issue"

Before flagging, you MUST:

1. Confirm the code runs frequently enough to matter (render vs click handler)
2. Verify the optimization would have measurable impact
3. Check if the framework already optimizes this (React compiler, memoization)

Do NOT flag:

• Functions created in click handlers (runs once per click)
• Array methods on small arrays (< 100 items)
• Object creation in event handlers

Severity Calibration

Critical (Block Merge)

ONLY use for:

• Security vulnerabilities (injection, auth bypass, data exposure)
• Data corruption bugs
• Crash-causing bugs in happy path
• Breaking changes to public APIs

Major (Should Fix)

Use for:

• Logic bugs that affect functionality
• Missing error handling that causes poor UX
• Performance issues with measurable impact
• Accessibility violations

Minor (Consider Fixing)

Use for:

• Code clarity improvements
• Documentation gaps
• Inconsistent style (within reason)
• Non-critical test coverage gaps

Informational (No Action Required)

Use for:

• Improvements that require adding new dependencies or modules
• Suggestions for net-new code that didn't exist in the codebase before (new modules, test suites, abstractions)
• Architectural ideas for future consideration
• Test infrastructure suggestions (new mock libraries, behaviour extraction)
• Optimizations without measurable impact in the current context

These are NOT review blockers. They should be noted for the author's awareness but must not appear in the actionable issue count. The Verdict should ignore informational items entirely.

Do NOT Flag At All

• Style preferences where both approaches are valid
• Optimizations with no measurable benefit
• Test code not meeting production standards (intentionally simpler)
• Library/framework internal code (shadcn components, generated code)
• Hypothetical issues that require unlikely conditions

Valid Patterns (Do NOT Flag)

Go

Pattern	Why It's Valid
val, ok := map[key]	Comma-ok idiom, standard for maps
Returning error as last return value	Go error handling convention
defer for cleanup	Correct resource management pattern
Short variable names in small scope	Idiomatic Go (e.g., i, err, ctx)
interface{} / any in generic code	Valid for truly heterogeneous data

Concurrency

Pattern	Why It's Valid
Unbuffered channel for synchronization	Correct when goroutines must synchronize
select with default	Non-blocking channel operation, intentional
sync.Once for initialization	Thread-safe lazy init pattern
context.Background() in main/tests	Valid root context for top-level calls
Goroutine without explicit join	Valid for fire-and-forget with proper lifecycle management

Testing

Pattern	Why It's Valid
Table-driven tests	Standard Go testing pattern
t.Helper() in test utilities	Correct for accurate error line reporting
testify/assert alongside stdlib	Common and acceptable in Go projects
Test function names without _	TestFooBar is idiomatic Go

General

Pattern	Why It's Valid
+? lazy quantifier in regex	Prevents over-matching, correct for many patterns
Direct string concatenation	Simpler than template literals for simple cases
Multiple returns in function	Can improve readability
Comments explaining "why"	Better than no comments

Context-Sensitive Rules

Error Handling

Flag unchecked error ONLY IF ALL of these are true:

• Error return is explicitly ignored (not _)
• Function can return meaningful errors (not just Close())
• Not in test code or example code
• Error would indicate a real problem, not a benign condition

Goroutine Lifecycle

Flag goroutine leak ONLY IF:

• No context cancellation controls the goroutine
• No channel or WaitGroup provides shutdown signal
• Goroutine can outlive its parent scope
• Not a top-level server goroutine managed by the runtime

Interface Design

Flag missing interface ONLY IF:

• Concrete type is used across package boundaries
• Testing requires mocking the dependency
• Multiple implementations exist or are planned
• Not a simple data struct (interfaces for behavior, not data)

Before Submitting Review

Final verification:

1. Re-read each finding and ask: "Did I verify this is actually an issue?"
2. For each finding, can you point to the specific line that proves the issue exists?
3. Would a domain expert agree this is a problem, or is it a style preference?
4. Does fixing this provide real value, or is it busywork?
5. Format every finding as: [FILE:LINE] ISSUE_TITLE
6. For each finding, ask: "Does this fix existing code, or does it request entirely new code that didn't exist before?" If the latter, downgrade to Informational.
7. If this is a re-review: ONLY verify previous fixes. Do not introduce new findings.

If uncertain about any finding, either:

• Remove it from the review
• Mark it as a question rather than an issue
• Verify by reading more code context