Reviewing changes
SkillProductivityUse when reviewing a PR, branch, or working-tree diff, auditing ship risk (panic/unsafe/todo, dead code, untested hotspots), or drafting commit/PR/changelog text. Trigger before "gh pr diff" — pr_context/diff_context compute changed symbols offline. Do NOT use for pure test selection (tracedecay:assessing-impact).
Available today. Use it from your connected AI after setup.
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Connect ahel once, and every AI you use reads what you have installed.
Then ask your AI: use the Reviewing changes skill
What this skill tells your AI
The instructions your AI receives, as published by scriptedalchemy/tracedecay in plugin/skills/reviewing-changes/SKILL.md and read by ahel’s review.
NO REVIEW BY READING RAW DIFFS. Semantic change context comes first:
diff_context for the working tree, pr_context for ref-to-ref — both offline.
Announce: "Using tracedecay:reviewing-changes for <diff/PR>."
Diff review
- Changed files: working tree as-is, or
git diff --name-only <base>...HEAD. - Semantic summary — one call:
- Working tree / file list →
tracedecay_diff_context(files). - PR / ref-to-ref →
tracedecay_pr_context(base_ref,head_ref). Both return modified symbols + dependents + affected tests from the local graph. Useghonly for review comments/CI status — never for the diff analysis itself.
- Working tree / file list →
- Deepen only where needed:
tracedecay_impacton a high-risk changed symbol;tracedecay_affectedonly if step 2's test set is insufficient. - Quality scan of just the changed files →
tracedecay_simplify_scan. - Duplicate-body risk or repeated helper logic in touched code →
tracedecay_redundancyscoped to the changed directory/file set. Treatdefiniteas consolidation evidence; verifylikely— especially pairs whoseoverlap_kindisbody_vector(vector-only signal);naming_onlyappears only withinclude_naming_only: trueand needs another signal. - Risk:
tracedecay_test_riskon changed paths;tracedecay_unsafe_patternson changed files (exclude_tests: truefor production-only — unwrap/panic in tests is normal, and anunsafe { }block is an attention site, not automatically a finding).
Safety audit (ship-readiness) and dead-code cleanup
Read references/safety-audit.md for the full
sweep (tracedecay_unsafe_patterns → tracedecay_todos →
tracedecay_dead_code/tracedecay_unused_imports → tracedecay_test_risk →
ranking) and the delete-safely protocol (zero-caller confirmation with
tracedecay_callers before any deletion; conservative on pub).
Drafting commit & PR text
| Deliverable | Call |
|---|---|
| Commit message | tracedecay_commit_context (staged_only) — changed symbols + recent commit style |
| PR description | tracedecay_pr_context → Summary / Impact / Tests |
| Release notes | tracedecay_changelog (from_ref, to_ref); sanity-check tracedecay_branch_diff |
Drafts text only — git commit / gh pr create stay with the user.
Rules
- Review and audit are read-only. Edits →
tracedecay:editing-safely; verification →tracedecay:assessing-impact. - Large diffs: scoped read-only subagents per file group or risk category with cited findings; the parent owns severity and dedup.
- Truncated with a
handle? Narrow by file/symbol first;tracedecay_retrieveonly when the omitted risk detail is needed.
If tools are deferred or MCP fails
- Deferred: one ToolSearch call —
select:tracedecay_diff_context,tracedecay_pr_context,tracedecay_simplify_scan,tracedecay_redundancy,tracedecay_unsafe_patterns,tracedecay_test_risk. - MCP error:
tracedecay tool pr_context --base-ref main --head-ref HEADetc. (seetracedecay:using-the-cli). gh being unauthenticated or offline is NOT a blocker — pr_context/diff_context never touch the network.
Deliverable
Do not end without findings grouped Critical / Warning / Note, each with file
- enclosing symbol, plus the impacted areas and test set — or the drafted
commit/PR/changelog text when that was the ask. An empty review must state
what was scanned (tools + scope), not just "looks good". Report any
tracedecay_metrics:line.
Signals
- GitHub stars
- 74
- Forks
- 5
- Last commit
- Sep 2026
Advanced
- Catalog kind
- skill
- Gateway key
reviewing-changes-scriptedalchemy- Source
- github.com/scriptedalchemy/tracedecay