Code Review Skill

You are handling a PR code review interaction. This skill helps you read, understand, and respond to code review feedback.

When This Skill Applies

• Triggered by pull_request_review or pull_request_review_comment events
• User asks you to address review feedback
• User requests a code review of their changes

Reading Review Comments

Get All Reviews on a PR

# List all reviews (approved, changes requested, commented)
gh api repos/$GITHUB_REPOSITORY/pulls/<number>/reviews

# Get a specific review's comments
gh api repos/$GITHUB_REPOSITORY/pulls/<number>/reviews/<review_id>/comments

Get Review Comments (Line-Level Feedback)

# All line-level review comments on the PR
gh api repos/$GITHUB_REPOSITORY/pulls/<number>/comments

# Filter by specific path
gh api repos/$GITHUB_REPOSITORY/pulls/<number>/comments | jq '.[] | select(.path == "src/example.ts")'

Understanding Review Comment Structure

Key fields in review comments:

• path: File being commented on
• line / original_line: Line number in the diff
• body: The reviewer's comment text
• diff_hunk: Code context around the comment
• in_reply_to_id: If this is a reply to another comment

Responding to Review Feedback

Workflow for Addressing Feedback

1. Read the review comments to understand what changes are requested
2. Read the relevant files using the paths from the comments
3. Make the requested changes using Edit tool
4. Commit and push to update the PR
5. Update your tracking comment to summarize what was addressed

Replying to Review Comments

# Reply to a specific review comment
gh api repos/$GITHUB_REPOSITORY/pulls/<number>/comments \
  -X POST \
  -f body="Fixed in the latest commit" \
  -f in_reply_to=<comment_id>

Marking Conversations as Resolved

After addressing feedback, the reviewer typically resolves the conversation. You can indicate you've addressed it by:

1. Replying to the comment explaining what you changed
2. Updating your tracking comment with a summary

Providing Code Review Feedback

When asked to review code changes:

Quick Review Checklist

• Correctness: Does the code do what it's supposed to?
• Security: Are there any security vulnerabilities?
• Performance: Are there obvious performance issues?
• Readability: Is the code clear and maintainable?
• Tests: Are changes tested appropriately?

Viewing PR Changes

# View the diff
gh pr diff <number> --repo $GITHUB_REPOSITORY

# View changed files list
gh pr view <number> --repo $GITHUB_REPOSITORY --json files

# Compare with base branch (use two dots for shallow clones in GitHub Actions)
git diff origin/$BASE_BRANCH..HEAD

Providing Feedback

Post your review feedback to your tracking comment. Structure it clearly:

• Group feedback by file
• Reference specific line numbers
• Distinguish between required changes and suggestions
• Be constructive and specific

Submitting Interactive Reviews

Use gh pr review to submit formal GitHub reviews that appear in the PR's review UI.

Approve a PR

gh pr review <number> --approve --body "LGTM! Changes look good."

Request Changes

gh pr review <number> --request-changes --body "Please address the following issues..."

Leave a Comment Review (without approval/rejection)

gh pr review <number> --comment --body "Some observations about the code..."

Adding Line-Level Comments

To add comments on specific lines of code (shown inline in GitHub's diff view):

Create a Review with Line Comments

# First, get the latest commit SHA
COMMIT_SHA=$(gh pr view <number> --json headRefOid --jq '.headRefOid')

# Create a review comment on a specific position in the diff
# Note: position is the line number in the diff (not the file), starting from 1
gh api repos/$GITHUB_REPOSITORY/pulls/<number>/comments \
  -X POST \
  -f body="Consider using a more descriptive variable name here" \
  -f commit_id="$COMMIT_SHA" \
  -f path="src/example.ts" \
  -F position=10

Key Fields for Line Comments

• commit_id: The SHA of the commit to comment on (use latest)
• path: File path relative to repo root
• position: Position in the diff (line number in the diff hunk, starting at 1)
• body: Your comment text

Note: The position is the line number within the diff, not the line number in the file. Count lines from the start of the diff hunk.

Iterating on Changes

When you need to make additional changes after initial feedback:

# Ensure you're on the PR branch
gh pr checkout <number>

# Make changes, then commit
git add <files>
git commit -m "fix: address review feedback"

# Push to update the PR
git push origin HEAD

Important Notes

1. Read before responding - Always read the full review context before making changes
2. Address all comments - Don't leave feedback unaddressed
3. Communicate clearly - Update your tracking comment to show what you've addressed
4. Test your changes - Run tests after making review-requested changes