code-review Skill for Claude Code: Review Against Standards and Spec

Reviews the changes since a commit or branch twice, once against your coding standards and once against the spec, and shows both results side by side.

Installs: 834.1K; on skills.sh
Stars: 309.2K; on GitHub
Files: 1; besides SKILL.md
Updated: Nov 2026; last repo commit

code-review takes a fixed point such as a commit, branch or tag, and diffs HEAD against it. It then starts two sub-agents with fresh context. One checks the diff against the standards your repo documents plus a built-in list of twelve code smells. The other checks it against the issue or spec that asked for the work.

Reports stay separate on purpose, so code that follows every rule but builds the wrong thing cannot hide behind a pass. It reads your issue tracker settings, so run /setup-matt-pocock-skills first. It runs git commands but the SKILL.md describes no edits to your code.

Good for

Developers reviewing a branch or PR before merging
Teams with written coding standards and specs
Anyone using agents to write code who wants a second look

Install code-review

Claude Code

Copy this prompt.

Install the code-review skill in Claude Code. Run this command:

claude plugin install mattpocock-skills@claude-plugins-official

Then check that it loaded and tell me how to use it.

2
Paste it into Claude Code. It shows the change and asks before running it.

Install the whole set with the plugin route. code-review tells you to run /setup-matt-pocock-skills, a skill in the same repo, so it knows your issue tracker. The README asks you to run it once per repo. Pick one route per agent, or you get every skill twice. Claude Code names plugin skills /plugin-name:skill-name, so the full name is /mattpocock-skills:code-review if /code-review is not found.

From the project README. Source.

What's in the skill

When it loads

Review the changes since a fixed point (commit, branch, tag, or merge-base) along two axes: Standards (does the code follow this repo's documented coding standards?) and Spec (does the code match what the originating issue/spec asked for?). Runs both reviews in parallel sub-agents and reports them side by side. Use when the user wants to review a branch, a PR, work-in-progress changes, or asks to "review since X".

Sections in SKILL.md

Process
1. Pin the fixed point
2. Identify the spec source
3. Identify the standards sources
4. Spawn both sub-agents in parallel
5. Aggregate
Why two axes

Key facts

Author: Matt Pocock
Repo: mattpocock/skills
Installs on skills.sh: 834,148 (Nov 2, 2026)
GitHub stars: 309,237 (Nov 2, 2026)
License: MIT
Last repo commit: Nov 1, 2026
Files next to SKILL.md: 1 files
skills.sh audits: Gen Agent Trust Hub pass, Socket pass, Snyk warn
Needs: The setup-matt-pocock-skills skill from the same repo, run once, to know your issue tracker

What it includes

Takes your commit, branch or tag, runs git diff, and checks the diff is not empty
Runs code · Pin the fixed point
Looks in commit messages, a path you pass, then docs/, specs/ or .scratch/
Issue lookups go through your tracker, which the setup skill configured.
Network · Identify the spec
Collects CODING_STANDARDS.md, CONTRIBUTING.md and other written rules
Read · Identify the standards
Reports breaches of documented standards and 12 baseline code smells
Read · Standards sub-agent
Reports missing, extra or wrongly built requirements, under 400 words
Read · Spec sub-agent
Prints ## Standards and ## Spec separately with a one-line summary each
Aggregate

From the official docs

Permissions

Low risk

What it can do

Read your data
Create and change things
Delete things
Read-only mode

Watch out for

It runs git commands and sub-agents
It reads your repo through git. Check which tracker the setup skill points at before it fetches issues. github.com

Technical details

Talks to	Your issue tracker, if the spec is an issue
Scopes	Your git history and the diff Standards files and specs in the repo Issue text from your tracker

Questions

What does code-review do?

It reviews a diff along two axes in parallel: does the code follow your repo's standards, and does it match the spec. It reports them side by side and never merges them into one ranking.

How do I install code-review?

Use the install box at the top. Install the whole skill set, because code-review tells you to run /setup-matt-pocock-skills when it has no issue tracker information.

Do I need a spec?

No. If it finds no spec and you say there is none, the Spec review is skipped and reported as "no spec available".

Which code smells does it check?

Twelve from Fowler's Refactoring: Mysterious Name, Duplicated Code, Feature Envy, Data Clumps, Primitive Obsession, Repeated Switches, Shotgun Surgery, Divergent Change, Speculative Generality, Message Chains, Middle Man and Refused Bequest. They are judgement calls, and your documented standards override them.

Does it change my code?

The SKILL.md describes reading the diff and reporting. It does not describe edits. It does run git diff, git log and git rev-parse.

How is it different from the built-in /review command?

The SKILL.md does not compare itself to anything else. Its own difference is the split between standards and spec, run in separate sub-agents.

Information

updated Nov 2, 2026

Repository: mattpocock/skills
Folder: skills/engineering/code-review

mattpocock/skills skills.sh

Sources

Docs, issue trackers and discussions this page is built from.

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