Rite review

/rite-review: feature-scoped review

Review the active feature scope only. Read the active workspace first; if none, tell the user to run /rite-spec <feature>.

Scope: /code-review is a generic diff review with no workspace context. /rite-review reads .devrites/work/<slug>/spec.md first, runs Spec ↔ Code-review axes as parallel fresh-context reviewers (see parallel-dispatch.md), and gates feeding into /rite-seal. Use /code-review for a one-off diff; use /rite-review for a DevRites feature where the spec is the contract.

Rules consulted (read on demand from .claude/skills/devrites-lib/reference/standards/)

Pull these via Read when the diff demands them:

• code-review.md: small PRs, severity labels, tests-first review focus.
• review-checklist.md: compact pass/fail sweep before reporting the verdict.
• principles.md: declared project invariants (.devrites/principles.md); a diff that violates one with no recorded exception is a Critical, blocking finding.
• testing.md: confirm that passing tests actually prove the spec.
• agents.md: when to fan out to which review subagent.
• security.md: when input / auth / data / integrations / secrets are in scope.
• security-checklist.md: for the same security-sensitive scope, the compact trust-boundary sweep.
• performance.md: only when perf is relevant or a regression risk is visible.

Operating rules

• Feature scope only. Review touched files + the diff. NO whole-project refactors, NO drive-by cleanup. DO NOT delete suspected dead code outside this feature without asking. Spec Drift Guard applies.
• Review the finished product. /rite-polish has already simplified code and normalized or polished UI. If review finds a remaining complexity issue, record it as a finding rather than rerunning a simplification pass.
• Findings are labeled (below). Re-prove after any accepted correction.
• Reviewers judge; root reconciles; wright fixes. Follow agents.md. The root owns the verdict and canonical writes; every accepted source/test correction routes to devrites-slice-wright.

Workflow

0. Read .claude/skills/devrites-lib/reference/standards/core.md first (the always-on operating rules); pull the on-demand rules above as the diff demands them. Then run devrites-engine preamble for deterministic workspace orientation.
1. Read spec.md, tasks.md, state.md, decisions.md, evidence.md, touched-files.md, .devrites/principles.md (if present: the binding invariants to score the diff against), and the git diff. For "what would this change break" questions, prefer a code-intelligence index if available (codebase-memory-mcp first, cross-checked with codegraph + graphify, else standard methods (LSP / Read/Grep/Glob); see .claude/skills/devrites-lib/reference/standards/tooling.md) over file reads; they answer impact/callers in one call. When a finding hinges on an external library's current API, context7 if available can confirm the signature.
2. Review tests first: do they prove the acceptance criteria? Missing, weak, or wrong tests are the first findings. Completion: every acceptance criterion maps to a proven test or a labeled finding.
3. Review spec and code separately in parallel. A change can pass one axis and fail the other: code that follows every project standard but implements the wrong thing (Code-review pass, Spec fail), or code that does exactly what the spec asked but breaks project conventions (Spec pass, Code-review fail). Separate contexts prevent one axis from masking the other:
   • Freeze the candidate and fresh-context dispatch two read-only reviewers in parallel, each with its own agent-packet/v1, narrow brief, and no cross-pollination:
     • Spec axis → devrites-spec-reviewer: "Apply your documented discipline on the active feature workspace + diff. Report (a) criteria the spec asked for that are missing or partial, (b) behaviour in the diff the spec did not ask for (scope creep / drift), (c) criteria implemented incorrectly. Quote the spec line per finding. If the spec is missing or unreadable, report Review gap: missing spec and do not infer requirements from the diff."
     • Code-review axis → devrites-code-reviewer: "Apply your full documented discipline (tests-first, correctness, readability, architecture, maintainability, standards) on the active feature workspace + diff. Cite file:line per finding; skip what tooling already enforces. Also flag the AI-codegen smells (silent/empty catch, defensive try-catch bloat + redundant logging, single-use factory / needless indirection, dependency creep where an in-repo option exists, a 100-line function where 20 would do) and the silent-failure bugs (a missing value coerced to 0/''/[], a dropped Result/err return, off-by-one / boundary, logic that contradicts the comment/docstring/name). Per hunk, check whether working code was deleted that the task did not ask to remove. Score the diff against .devrites/principles.md: a change that breaks a declared invariant with no recorded, human-approved exception is a Critical. Distinguish hard documented-standard violations from baseline smells; smells are judgment calls unless a DevRites or project standard makes them binding."
   • Do NOT merge or re-rank their findings. Present them under separate ## Spec and ## Code review sub-sections in review.md. Surface contradictions between the axes explicitly (e.g. "Spec axis says complete, Code-review axis says untestable"): /rite-seal decides what blocks.
4. Reconcile, don't re-review. With the two parallel reports in hand, the inline lead reconciles. It does not re-run the code-review axes over correctness / readability / architecture / maintainability that devrites-code-reviewer already covered. Stay in scope (feature-scoped-review). Add only what the dispatched agents could not, then resolve overlaps and contradictions before labeling. (five-axis-review.md documents the axes the code-review agent applies.)
   • UI feature? Apply the UX rubric (nielsen-heuristics) and the cognitive-load lens (cognitive-load) on the UX axis: surface heuristics scoring ≤ 2 and any cognitive-load findings (extraneous noise, missing progressive disclosure, vocabulary drift) at the appropriate severity.
5. Security: apply devrites-audit security (security-review) when user input, auth, data storage, external integrations, secrets, or permissions are involved.
6. Performance: apply devrites-audit perf (performance-review) only when performance is relevant or a regression risk is visible (measure first).
7. Reconcile and accept only in-scope fixes. Consolidate them into one bounded wright correction packet; never edit source in the reviewing context. Freeze the new candidate and run affected verification after changes (/rite-prove logic), then perform at most one narrow recheck of affected findings.
8. The root updates review.md, evidence.md, and state.md. Completion: the records name the reviewed candidate identity and every accepted correction has affected proof plus its narrow recheck.
9. Require an account from every reviewer. After review.md is written, run:

   devrites-engine review-integrity
   devrites-engine review-fingerprints --write
   

   Exit 1 means an adversarial axis reported neither findings nor a justification. Re-run that axis or add its No-findings: justification; do not carry a silent axis into /rite-seal (where it surfaces as an Important).

Finding labels

• Critical: must fix before seal (correctness/security/data loss).
• Important: should fix before seal (likely bug, real maintainability risk).
• Suggestion: worth doing, not blocking.
• Nit: trivial/style.
• FYI: context, no action implied.

Action tag (separate from severity). Tag each finding with how to act on it: blocking (fix before seal), non-blocking (fix when convenient), or if-minor (fix only if the change is already small: a pure noise-economics lever). Only a blocking Critical gates the seal; a non-blocking / if-minor finding is recorded, not a stop.

Confidence and signal-to-noise

Apply /rite-vet's confidence rules. A reviewer that posts 18 comments per PR teaches the team to ignore every one (below ~10% false-positive rate devs investigate each finding; past ~30% they label the tool noisy and skip it):

• Confidence-band each finding (1-10) and state the band. A low-confidence finding (≤4) you can't verify against the code is suppressed: roll it into one Suppressed (low-confidence): n line, never raised as Critical/Important.
• Verify before you escalate. Every Critical/Important quotes the spec line or cites the file:line that proves it: no unverified blockers.
• Limit low-value comments. Roll up trivia ("N style nits") into a single line; tooling already catches style. Review's job is correctness + spec fidelity, not a lint dump.
• A silent axis is suspicious, not clean. An adversarial axis that raises nothing must earn it: end its ## Spec / ## Code review section with a No-findings: line naming the passes it ran (missing/partial/incorrect for spec; edge cases, error paths, the riskiest decision, a changed behavior whose test may not cover it for code) and why each came back empty. Confidence bands suppress false positives; this requirement catches silent false negatives (code-review.md § Zero findings is suspicious).

Severity orientation (labels, not score)

After labeling, summarize findings as Critical / Important / Suggestion / Nit / FYI counts. There is no composite number. /rite-seal gates on Critical == 0 and on acceptance plus drift. Do not invent a composite score.

Mid-flight discipline. When tempted to demote a Critical, hide a finding, fix without re-verification, or wander out of scope: see anti-patterns. Load it the moment you reach for the excuse.

Output → review.md

Write the detailed review to review.md. In chat, run devrites-engine progress first, then use the shared completion reply contract (devrites-lib/reference/reply-contract.md). Default success shape:

Done: review complete for <slice N | feature>.
Changed: review.md, review-fingerprints.jsonl, evidence.md <updated|n/a>, state.md
Evidence: open findings Critical 0 / Important <non-blocking n> / Suggestion <n> / Nit <n> / FYI <n>; re-verification <cmd -> pass|n/a>
Open: <none | non-blocking Important/Suggestion follow-ups>
Next: /rite-seal
Record: .devrites/work/<slug>/review.md
↻ Hygiene: /compact (review findings) if fixing now; /clear if clean

If a blocking Critical or required re-proof remains, use the shared Stopped / blocked form and route Fix: to the single repair or /rite-prove; do not recommend /rite-seal.