auto-review

Auto-Review

Quick independent review of spec/plan/ADR via sub-agent delegation. Triggered as part of the [A] Review checkpoint flow. 60 seconds max. Advisory — never blocks.

When to Run

Auto-review runs when the user picks [A] Review at a workflow checkpoint. It is part of the [A] flow, not a separate step.

The workflow checkpoint presents:

[A] Review — sub-agent reviews, then proceed
[S] Skip review — approve without independent review

When the user picks [A], the workflow MUST run auto-review before proceeding to the next phase. The only way to skip is [S].

Conditions (checked by the workflow before spawning)

1. Task tool is available. If not (e.g., Antigravity), [A] falls back to simple approval. This is a degradation, so make it loud — never silent (R29):

   • Announce: Sage: auto-review skipped — Task tool unavailable on this platform. Quality chain is degraded.
   • Append one line to the initiative's decisions.md: [<date>] auto-review skipped (Task tool unavailable) — <phase> approved without independent review. so /reflect and /status surface the gap later.

2. Scope is Standard or Comprehensive. Lightweight tasks skip auto-review — they have no spec/plan to review. [A] behaves as simple approval.

3. Config allows it. Check .sage/config.yaml for auto_review. If auto_review: false, [A] behaves as simple approval with note: "Auto-review disabled. Run the review command for independent evaluation."

When all conditions are met and user picks [A]: announce "⚡ Running [type] review (sub-agent)..." and spawn the sub-agent.

Time Budget

60 seconds max per review. If the sub-agent doesn't respond within 60 seconds, skip with: "Auto-review timed out. Run the review command manually for a full evaluation." Do not block the workflow.

Presentation Format

Clean pass

⚡ Running spec review (sub-agent)...
✓ Auto-review: PASS — no issues found.
Proceeding to [next phase].

Issues found (no CRITICAL)

⚡ Running spec review (sub-agent)...

⚠ Auto-review found {N} issues:

  MAJOR: {finding — specific, one line}
  MINOR: {finding — specific, one line}

[R] Revise — address findings before proceeding
[P] Proceed — I'll handle these during implementation
[D] Discuss — let's talk about these findings

Pick R/P/D, or tell me what to change.

Critical findings

⚡ Running spec review (sub-agent)...

🔴 Auto-review found a CRITICAL issue:

  CRITICAL: {finding — specific, one line}

  Recommend: Revise before proceeding.

[R] Revise — address the critical issue
[D] Discuss — let's talk about this
[P] Proceed anyway — I understand the risk

[P] Proceed is ALWAYS available. The user decides, not the gate.

Decision Logging

After every auto-review (any verdict), prepend to .sage/decisions.md:

### YYYY-MM-DD — Auto-review: {artifact type}
Verdict: {PASS|NEEDS REVISION|FAIL}. {findings summary if any}.
User chose: {R|P|D}. (auto-review sub-agent)

Enforcement

The producing agent MUST NOT filter findings

When the sub-agent returns its review, present ALL findings to the user exactly as returned. Do NOT:

• Remove findings you disagree with
• Downgrade severity (CRITICAL → MAJOR)
• Add your own commentary dismissing findings
• Summarize multiple findings into one

The whole point is independent judgment. Filtering defeats it.

Do NOT skip because the artifact "looks good"

See the Rationalization table below — those are the exact excuses observed in the production skip, each with the rule that overrides it.

Rationalization table

Derived from the RED baseline in TESTS.md (the documented production skip on spec [A] / plan [A]). The compliance marker ⚡ Running [type] review (sub-agent)... MUST appear unless the user typed an explicit [S].

Sub-Agent Prompts

All review sub-agents are READ-ONLY. Include this constraint at the top of every sub-agent prompt. Sub-agents MUST NOT modify any files — no Edit, no Write, no code changes. Their role is to find issues and report them. The user decides what to do with findings.

If a sub-agent modifies a spec, plan, or code file, the review is INVALID and must be discarded. Re-run with the original artifact.

Findings Classification (shared by all sub-agents)

Every finding gets ONE of these severity labels:

• CRITICAL — Must fix. Blocks the next phase.
• MAJOR — Should fix. Significant gap or risk.
• MINOR-substantive — Improvement opportunity that affects readability, maintainability, or future behavior. Examples: missing edge case handling, suboptimal data structure, fragile patterns, ambiguous naming that hurts comprehension.
• MINOR-cosmetic — Style/naming/formatting choices with equally valid alternatives. No behavior change. Examples: variable naming preferences, comment wording, equivalent syntactic forms, trailing whitespace.

The --quality-locked flag uses this distinction: it auto-revises CRITICAL, MAJOR, and MINOR-substantive findings, but treats MINOR-cosmetic as acceptable.

Without --quality-locked, the user decides what to do with all findings regardless of severity.

Spec Review

Use when: spec.md is approved [A] in build or architect workflow.

You are a spec reviewer. You were NOT involved in writing this spec.
Evaluate it with fresh eyes. Be specific. Be brief.

CRITICAL: You are READ-ONLY. Do NOT modify any files. Do NOT use
Edit or Write tools. Your job is to REPORT findings, not fix them.
If you find an issue, describe it — do not attempt to correct it.

Read the spec at: {SPEC_PATH}
Read the framing decision from: .sage/decisions.md (most recent
framing entry)

CHECK THESE 5 THINGS:

1. FRAMING ALIGNMENT: Does the spec address the pain stated in the
   Framing section? Or has it drifted to solve a different problem?

2. ACCEPTANCE CRITERIA: Is every criterion testable? Can each one
   be verified with a specific observable check? Flag any that use
   vague language (works well, handles gracefully, is fast).

3. BOUNDARY COMPLETENESS: Are the WILL NOT boundaries specific
   enough? Are there obvious exclusions missing?

4. MISSING EDGE CASES: Based on the described behavior, what failure
   modes are not addressed? Empty states, errors, permissions,
   concurrent access.

5. INTERNAL CONSISTENCY: Do intent, boundaries, and acceptance
   criteria align? Does the acceptance criteria test what the
   intent promises?

CLASSIFY each finding:
- CRITICAL: Must fix before planning. Blocks proceeding.
- MAJOR: Should fix before planning. Significant gap.
- MINOR-substantive: Improvement opportunity. Affects readability,
  maintainability, or future behavior. Can address later.
- MINOR-cosmetic: Style/naming/formatting with equally valid
  alternatives. No behavior change.

FORMAT (strict):
VERDICT: PASS | NEEDS REVISION | FAIL
CRITICAL: [list or "None"]
MAJOR: [list or "None"]
MINOR-substantive: [list or "None"]
MINOR-cosmetic: [list or "None"]

Be concise. No generic praise. No padding. Just findings.

Plan Review

Use when: plan.md is approved [A] in build or architect workflow.

You are a plan reviewer. You were NOT involved in writing this plan.
Evaluate it with fresh eyes. Be specific. Be brief.

CRITICAL: You are READ-ONLY. Do NOT modify any files. Do NOT use
Edit or Write tools. Your job is to REPORT findings, not fix them.

Read the plan at: {PLAN_PATH}
Read the spec at: {SPEC_PATH}

CHECK THESE 6 THINGS:

1. SPEC-PLAN ALIGNMENT: Does the plan implement everything in the
   spec? Does it implement anything NOT in the spec?

2. TASK DECOMPOSITION: Are tasks independently testable? Is each
   small enough for a single pass? Are done criteria specific?

3. DEPENDENCY ORDERING: Are tasks ordered so dependencies complete
   first? Any circular dependencies?

4. COVERAGE GAPS: Any spec requirements with no plan task? Any
   acceptance criteria with no verifying task?

5. RISK CONCENTRATION: Are risky tasks front-loaded (fail fast)
   or buried at the end?

6. SCOPE COMPLETENESS: Does every task declare Files: (or Output:
   for [DOC] tasks)? Do the declared paths cover every deliverable
   the task's Action/Output names? The scope gate derives its scope
   from these lines (manifest.py scope derive) — a task with no
   Files: line contributes NOTHING to the derived scope, and the
   derivation does not guess.

CLASSIFY each finding:
- CRITICAL: Must fix before implementing. Blocks proceeding.
- MAJOR: Should fix before implementing. Significant gap.
- MINOR-substantive: Improvement opportunity. Affects readability,
  maintainability, or future behavior. Can address later.
- MINOR-cosmetic: Style/naming/formatting with equally valid
  alternatives. No behavior change.

FORMAT (strict):
VERDICT: PASS | NEEDS REVISION | FAIL
CRITICAL: [list or "None"]
MAJOR: [list or "None"]
MINOR-substantive: [list or "None"]
MINOR-cosmetic: [list or "None"]

Be concise. No generic praise. No padding. Just findings.

ADR / Architectural Spec Review

Use when: ADR or architectural spec is approved [A] at the architect workflow's design checkpoint.

You are an architecture reviewer. You were NOT involved in writing
this design. Evaluate it with fresh eyes. Be specific. Be brief.

CRITICAL: You are READ-ONLY. Do NOT modify any files. Do NOT use
Edit or Write tools. Your job is to REPORT findings, not fix them.

Read the artifact at: {ADR_PATH}
Read the brief at: {BRIEF_PATH} (if exists)

CHECK THESE 5 THINGS:

1. TRADE-OFF ANALYSIS: Are alternatives documented? Is the reasoning
   for the chosen approach specific, not hand-wavy? Would a skeptical
   senior engineer find the justification credible?

2. MIGRATION PATH: If this changes existing architecture, is there a
   concrete migration plan? Are breaking changes identified?

3. RISK ASSESSMENT: Are risks named with mitigations? Or is the
   "Risks" section empty/generic ("we'll monitor it")?

4. BLAST RADIUS: What systems are affected? Are downstream
   dependencies identified? Is the scope of change clear?

5. REVERSIBILITY: Can this decision be reversed if it's wrong?
   What's the cost of reversal? Is the team aware of lock-in?

CLASSIFY each finding:
- CRITICAL: Must fix before proceeding. Blocks implementation.
- MAJOR: Should fix. Significant gap in reasoning.
- MINOR-substantive: Improvement opportunity. Affects readability,
  maintainability, or future behavior. Can address later.
- MINOR-cosmetic: Style/naming/formatting with equally valid
  alternatives. No behavior change.

FORMAT (strict):
VERDICT: PASS | NEEDS REVISION | FAIL
CRITICAL: [list or "None"]
MAJOR: [list or "None"]
MINOR-substantive: [list or "None"]
MINOR-cosmetic: [list or "None"]

Be concise. No generic praise. No padding. Just findings.

Root Cause Review (Fix Workflow)

Use when: root cause diagnosis is approved [A] at the fix workflow's Root Cause Gate (Step 2).

You are a diagnostic reviewer. You were NOT involved in this
investigation. Evaluate the root cause analysis with fresh eyes.
Be specific. Be brief.

CRITICAL: You are READ-ONLY. Do NOT modify any files. Do NOT use
Edit or Write tools. Your job is to REPORT findings, not fix them.

The agent claims this root cause:
{ROOT_CAUSE_STATEMENT}

Evidence provided:
{EVIDENCE}

Confidence level: {CONFIDENCE}

Files investigated: {FILE_LIST}

CHECK THESE 5 THINGS:

1. EVIDENCE QUALITY: Is the root cause backed by concrete evidence
   (stack traces, log output, code paths)? Or is it speculation
   ("probably", "likely", "should be")?

2. SYMPTOM vs CAUSE: Does the diagnosis identify the SOURCE of the
   problem, or just the SYMPTOM? A symptom fix will break again.

3. ALTERNATIVE CAUSES: Are there other plausible explanations the
   investigation didn't rule out? Could something upstream cause
   the same symptoms?

4. REPRODUCTION: Is there a clear path from root cause to visible
   symptom? Can the chain of causation be traced step by step?

5. SCOPE ASSESSMENT: Does the root cause suggest the fix is bigger
   than stated? Does it affect other code paths not mentioned?

CLASSIFY each finding:
- CRITICAL: Diagnosis is likely wrong or incomplete. Must reinvestigate.
- MAJOR: Missing evidence or unexplored alternative. Should investigate.
- MINOR: Improvement to diagnosis clarity. Can proceed.

FORMAT (strict):
VERDICT: PASS | NEEDS REVISION | FAIL
CRITICAL: [list or "None"]
MAJOR: [list or "None"]
MINOR-substantive: [list or "None"]
MINOR-cosmetic: [list or "None"]

Be concise. No generic praise. No padding. Just findings.

Fix Plan Review

Use when: fix plan is approved [A] at the fix workflow's Fix Scope Gate (Step 3, Moderate+ fixes only).

You are a fix plan reviewer. You were NOT involved in diagnosing
this bug or writing this plan. Evaluate with fresh eyes. Be specific.

CRITICAL: You are READ-ONLY. Do NOT modify any files. Do NOT use
Edit or Write tools. Your job is to REPORT findings, not fix them.

Read the fix plan at: {PLAN_PATH}
Root cause: {ROOT_CAUSE_STATEMENT}

CHECK THESE 5 THINGS:

1. ROOT CAUSE COVERAGE: Does the plan actually address the root
   cause? Or does it patch the symptom while leaving the cause?

2. FILE COMPLETENESS: Are all files that need changing listed?
   Trace the root cause through the codebase — any callers,
   dependents, or related code paths missing?

3. TEST STRATEGY: Does the plan include a reproducing test that
   would have caught this bug? Is it testing the root cause, not
   just the symptom?

4. REGRESSION RISK: Could these changes break existing functionality?
   Are related tests identified for regression checking?

5. SCOPE HONESTY: Is this really a Moderate fix, or has it grown
   to Systemic? Count the files and interface changes.

CLASSIFY each finding:
- CRITICAL: Plan will not fix the bug or will cause regression.
- MAJOR: Missing coverage or incomplete approach. Should revise.
- MINOR-substantive: Improvement opportunity. Affects readability,
  maintainability, or future behavior. Can proceed.
- MINOR-cosmetic: Style/naming/formatting with equally valid
  alternatives. No behavior change.

FORMAT (strict):
VERDICT: PASS | NEEDS REVISION | FAIL
CRITICAL: [list or "None"]
MAJOR: [list or "None"]
MINOR-substantive: [list or "None"]
MINOR-cosmetic: [list or "None"]

Be concise. No generic praise. No padding. Just findings.

Review Loop v2 (ledger mode)

Active by DEFAULT (an absent review_loop: block means mode: v2) (see orchestration/quality-locked for the loop; the ledger tool is sage/runtime/tools/review.py). When active, REPLACE each sub-agent prompt's CLASSIFY + FORMAT block above with the v2 output contract below, and append the packet, passes, and calibration text. With mode: v1 this section is inert.

Output contract (v2 — no verdict)

Include verbatim in every sub-agent prompt:

You do not decide the loop; you report findings. The decision is computed from them.

A critical or major must come with a witness: a failing test you wrote and ran, a concrete repro (input → observed → expected), or an execution trace. If you cannot demonstrate it, report it — it will be recorded as substantive. This is not a penalty; it is the definition of the severities.

An empty finding list is a valid, creditable outcome; you are scored on precision, not volume. Every critical/major must cite the spec clause, constitution rule, or requirement it violates — a finding that cites nothing is capped at substantive automatically, so spend your effort on citations and witnesses, not on quantity.

Findings are ONE fenced ```json block: an array of objects, one per finding. Prose outside the block is permitted for reasoning but is not parsed.

[{
  "pass": "testability | completeness | consistency | risk-concentration",
  "severity": "critical | major | substantive | cosmetic",
  "cited_rule": "spec §4.2 | constitution:api.3 | null",
  "anchor": {"file": ".sage/work/<slug>/spec.md", "region": [118, 141]},
  "claim": "one falsifiable sentence",
  "witness": {"kind": "test | repro | trace | none",
              "ref": "path or matrix cell, else null",
              "status": "red | green | n/a"},
  "exit_criteria": "what specifically would make this finding pass"
}]

Perspective passes (round 1, spec/plan/ADR)

Sequential checklist passes in one dispatch; tag each finding's pass:

1. testability — for each clause, write the test you would write. A clause where you can't is a finding.
2. completeness — the trace matrix: emit a requirement → implementation-anchor → test-anchor table, one row per criterion. EVERY empty cell is a finding with witness.kind: trace — the empty cell is the demonstration, absence made observable.
3. consistency — do intent, boundaries, and acceptance criteria agree with each other and with the framing?
4. risk-concentration (plan only) — are risky tasks front-loaded, or buried where failure is discovered last?

Two-phase protocol (rounds >1)

• Phase A — verify before you hunt. For each open/not-fixed ledger entry: FIXED | NOT-FIXED | DISPUTED-STANDS with a one-line factual check against the anchor region (for witness.kind: test, the witness run at current HEAD — green is FIXED, mechanically).
• Phase B — new findings, scoped to the revision delta plus Phase-A anchors. The whole-artifact pass happened at round 1; do not re-purchase it. Contradicting a settled entry requires the artifact to have changed since settlement — intake checks the fingerprint.

Input packet (v2)

The dispatching workflow assembles, in this order — no improvisation:

1. The artifact; on rounds >1, plus the delta since the last reviewed fingerprint.
2. Deterministic gate outputs verbatim (spec-check, hallucination, verify — already run).
3. The framing entry and spec/plan excerpts the artifact claims to implement.
4. The ledger (open + settled entries) — Phase A's worklist.
5. Optional: sage-ontology blast radius for changed areas. When ontology is absent, say so in the packet — loud degradation, never silent.

Failure Modes

• Task tool not available: Do NOT self-review (it shares the author's blind spots). Skip the sub-agent, but LOUDLY, per Conditions #1: announce the degradation and log one line to decisions.md. Never skip silently — a review that vanishes without a trace reads as a review that passed.
• Sub-agent times out: Skip with note. Do NOT block workflow.
• Sub-agent returns malformed output: Present raw output to user with a note: "Review format was unexpected. Please interpret." (v2: malformed means review.py intake rejected it — surface the tool's error, do not hand-repair the JSON.)
• Config says disabled: Show one-line note, skip.
• User always picks [P] Proceed: That's fine. The findings are still in decisions.md for /reflect to learn from.