Auto Review

Run the bundled structured review helper as a closeout check. This is code review, not Guardian auto_review approval routing.

Codex review is the default when no engine is set. It uses the helper's built-in Codex model default unless overridden, usually delivers the best review results, and should remain the normal final closeout engine. Claude review is optional and uses the helper's built-in Claude model default unless overridden.

Use when:

• user asks for Codex review / Claude review / autoreview / second-model review
• after non-trivial code edits, before final/commit/ship
• reviewing a local branch or PR branch after fixes

Contract

• Treat review output as advisory: verify every finding against real code, adjacent files, and dependency docs/types when relevant.
• Reject speculative or over-broad findings; fix accepted issues with the smallest change at the right ownership boundary.
• When a finding exposes a repeated bug class, inspect the current PR scope for sibling instances before fixing.
• Keep review-triggered fixes inside the original task scope; use references/scope.md before accepting anything broader.
• If a review-triggered fix changes code, rerun focused proof plus autoreview until the helper exits cleanly; stop there.
• Honor the requested engine/model, do not invoke nested reviewers, and use review panels only when explicitly requested or risk justifies them.
• Do not push just to review. Push only when the user requested push, ship, or PR update.

Use references/troubleshooting.md for heartbeat patience, Gitcrawl repair, regression provenance, security-suppression, and conscious-rejection rules.

Scope And Release Guardrails

Use references/scope.md before accepting review-triggered fixes that could expand the task, touch release process, or exceed two patch cycles.

Core Workflow

1. Set AUTOREVIEW and AUTOREVIEW_HARNESS once for the active skill location.
2. Pick the real target: dirty local work, branch/PR base, or a single commit.
3. Run the helper with Codex by default, or Claude when requested.
4. Verify each finding against the code and reject weak findings explicitly.
5. Fix accepted findings at the right ownership boundary.
6. Rerun focused tests plus autoreview when fixes change code.
7. Stop after the helper exits 0 with no accepted/actionable findings and report that exact clean run.

Skill Path (set once)

Set the skill script paths once, then use "$AUTOREVIEW" and "$AUTOREVIEW_HARNESS" in the examples below.

Choose one:

# Project-local skill in the current repo:
export AUTOREVIEW=".agents/skills/autoreview/scripts/autoreview"
export AUTOREVIEW_HARNESS=".agents/skills/autoreview/scripts/test-review-harness"

# Source checkout of openclaw/agent-skills:
export AUTOREVIEW="skills/autoreview/scripts/autoreview"
export AUTOREVIEW_HARNESS="skills/autoreview/scripts/test-review-harness"

# Global skill:
export AGENTS_HOME="${AGENTS_HOME:-$HOME/.agents}"
export AUTOREVIEW="$AGENTS_HOME/skills/autoreview/scripts/autoreview"
export AUTOREVIEW_HARNESS="$AGENTS_HOME/skills/autoreview/scripts/test-review-harness"

When using Claude Code, set AGENTS_HOME="$HOME/.claude" for global skills. Project-local skills live under .claude/skills/ in the current repo.

Pick Target

Dirty local work:

"$AUTOREVIEW" --mode local

Use this only when the patch is actually unstaged/staged/untracked in the current checkout. --mode uncommitted is accepted as an alias for --mode local. For committed, pushed, or PR work, point the helper at the commit or branch diff instead; do not force dirty modes just because the helper docs mention dirty work first. A clean local review only proves there is no local patch.

Branch/PR work:

"$AUTOREVIEW" --mode branch --base origin/main

Optional review context is first-class. Prompt files and datasets must be repo-relative so review bundles cannot pull arbitrary host files:

"$AUTOREVIEW" --mode branch --base origin/main --prompt-file review-notes.md --dataset evidence.json

If an open PR exists, use its actual base:

base=$(gh pr view --json baseRefName --jq .baseRefName)
"$AUTOREVIEW" --mode branch --base "origin/$base"

Committed single change:

"$AUTOREVIEW" --mode commit --commit HEAD

Use commit review for already-landed or already-pushed work on main. Reviewing clean main against origin/main is usually an empty diff after push. For a small stack, review each commit explicitly or review the branch before merging with --base.

Parallel Closeout

Format first if formatting can change line locations. Then it is OK to run tests and review in parallel:

"$AUTOREVIEW" --parallel-tests "<focused test command>"

Tradeoff: tests may force code changes that stale the review. If tests or review lead to code edits, rerun the affected tests and rerun review until no accepted/actionable findings remain. Once that rerun exits cleanly, stop; do not spend another long review cycle on redundant confirmation.

Review Panels

Run multiple reviewers against one frozen bundle:

"$AUTOREVIEW" --reviewers codex,claude

--panel is shorthand for Codex plus Claude unless --engine changes the first reviewer:

"$AUTOREVIEW" --panel

Set reviewer models and thinking/effort explicitly:

"$AUTOREVIEW" --reviewers codex,claude --model codex=gpt-5.1 --thinking codex=high --model claude=sonnet --thinking claude=max

Inline syntax is also supported for simple model IDs:

"$AUTOREVIEW" --reviewers codex:gpt-5.5:high,claude:claude-fable-5:max

Codex maps thinking to model_reasoning_effort and accepts low, medium, high, or xhigh. Claude maps thinking to --effort and also accepts max.

For models with slashes or extra colons, prefer keyed form:

"$AUTOREVIEW" --reviewers codex,claude --model codex=gpt-5.5 --model claude=claude-fable-5

Engine Details

Use references/engine-details.md for model defaults, environment overrides, Claude fallback models, and Codex/Claude isolation details.

Context Efficiency

Run the helper directly so target selection, engine choice, structured validation, and exit status all stay in one path. If output is noisy, summarize the completed helper output after it returns; do not ask another agent or reviewer to rerun the review.

Helper

After setting AUTOREVIEW and AUTOREVIEW_HARNESS above:

"$AUTOREVIEW" --help

The smoke harness has thin shell wrappers over a shared Python implementation:

"$AUTOREVIEW_HARNESS" --fixture benign --engine codex

The helper:

• chooses dirty local changes first, otherwise PR base, otherwise origin/main for non-main branches; branch review does not fetch automatically.
• supports Codex and Claude only; Codex is the default, and panels are opt-in with --panel or --reviewers.
• treats --prompt-file and --dataset as repo-relative inputs, with sensitive paths, symlinks, oversized content, and secret-looking values guarded.
• resolves commands safely outside the reviewed checkout and runs reviewers with read-only/tool-isolated settings; see references/engine-details.md.
• prints a clean line and exits 0 when no accepted/actionable findings remain; exits nonzero when accepted/actionable findings are present.

Final Report

Include:

• review command used
• tests/proof run
• findings accepted/rejected, briefly why
• the clean review result from the final helper/review run, or why a remaining finding was consciously rejected

Do not run another review solely to improve the final report wording. If the final helper run exited 0 and produced no accepted/actionable findings, report that exact run as clean.

References

• references/troubleshooting.md - security-audit suppression and other edge-case closeout notes
• references/scope.md - scope governor and release-branch freeze rules
• references/engine-details.md - model defaults, environment overrides, and engine isolation details
• references/upstream.md - OpenClaw upstream provenance and local packaging notes