Steps

Review a GitHub pull request using the gh CLI. Examine it as a thorough human reviewer would.

Steps

1. Identify the PR:

   • If the user provided a PR number or URL, use that.
   • Otherwise, find the PR for the current branch: gh pr view --json number,url
   • If no PR is found, inform the user.

2. Fetch PR details by running:

   gh pr view <number> --json title,body,baseRefName,headRefName,files,additions,deletions,commits,reviews,comments,url
   

3. Read the PR description carefully:

   • Understand the stated motivation and approach.
   • If the description contains links (to issues, docs, RFCs, etc.), fetch them (via the host's web-fetch tool, or curl via bash) to understand the context.

4. Examine the diff:

   gh pr diff <number>
   

   If the diff is very large, also look at the file-level summary:

   gh pr diff <number> --stat
   

   and then examine the most important files in detail.

5. Conduct the review by evaluating:

   • Correctness: Are there bugs, logic errors, or edge cases not handled?
   • Design: Is the approach sound? Are there simpler alternatives?
   • Readability: Is the code clear and well-structured?
   • Testing: Are changes adequately tested? Are there missing test cases?
   • Security: Are there potential security issues (injection, XSS, etc.)?
   • Performance: Are there obvious performance concerns?
   • Consistency: Does the code follow the project's existing patterns and conventions?

6. Present the review to the user:

   • Start with a brief overall assessment (1-2 sentences).
   • List specific issues found, grouped by severity:
     • Blocking: Must be fixed before merging
     • Suggestions: Improvements worth considering
     • Nits: Minor style or preference items
   • For each issue, reference the specific file and line(s), and explain what the problem is and how to fix it.

7. Offer next steps. Ask the user which of these to do:

   Option A: Post review comments on the PR

   • Use gh pr review <number> to submit the review.
   • Each comment must be clearly prefixed with [AI Review] so it is obvious the feedback was AI-generated.
   • Use --comment for suggestion-level reviews, --request-changes if there are blocking issues.

   Option B: Check out the branch and implement fixes locally

   • Check out the PR branch: gh pr checkout <number>
   • For each identified issue, make the fix and create a separate commit.
   • Each commit message should reference the issue it addresses.
   • Push the fixes when done.

   Option C: Do nothing (just keep the review as conversation output).

Notes

• Be thorough but fair. Acknowledge what the PR does well, not just problems.
• Do not nitpick formatting if the project has a formatter configured.
• If the PR is very large, focus review effort on the most critical or complex changes. Inform the user of sections that you did not focus on, and offer to use subagents to target those parts.
• When posting comments via gh, always label them as AI-generated.