Agent skill

Skill Staged Review

by nyldn in nyldn/claude-octopus

A skill your agent uses when a PR or feature needs both specification and code-quality review

MITAuto-check passedDevelopment

Install Skill Staged Review

skills CLI
$ npx skills add nyldn/claude-octopus --skill skill-staged-review -a claude-code

Project install by default; add -g for ~/.claude/skills/.

GitHub CLI
$ gh skill install nyldn/claude-octopus skill-staged-review --agent claude-code

Project scope by default; add --scope user for a personal install. Needs GitHub CLI 2.90.0 or later (public preview).

Manual copy
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/nyldn/claude-octopus.git skills-src && mkdir -p .claude/skills && cp -r skills-src/skills/skill-staged-review .claude/skills/skill-staged-review && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.claude/skills/ instead of .claude/skills for a personal install. The folder must contain SKILL.md.

Claude Code skills documentation · loads skills from .claude/skills/

Facts

Skill name
skill-staged-review
GitHub stars
4.2k
Used in
1 other repo
Token cost
~2.8k tokens
SKILL.md length
716 words
Files
2
Skills in repo
62
Repo updated
First seen
Licence
MIT

At a glance

A skill your agent uses when a PR or feature needs both specification and code-quality review

  • Works in 2 steps: Spec Compliance → Code Quality
  • Feature needs both specification and code-quality review
  • SKILL.md covers Execution Contract (MANDATORY…, Stage 1: Spec Compliance, Stage 2: Code Quality and Combined Report, plus 4 more sections
  • Calls git, gh and tsx

What it does

Skill Staged Review is an agent skill from nyldn/claude-octopus. Use when a PR or feature needs both specification and code-quality review

Its SKILL.md is about 2.8k tokens, which your agent loads only when the skill is triggered. The skill folder holds 2 other files (for example `agents/openai.yaml`).

It sits in Development, covering Code quality. The repository describes itself as: Run multiple AI models against the same research, design, or coding task. Surface disagreements before you ship. The licence is MIT.

When your agent uses it

  • Feature needs both specification and code-quality review
  • Tasks that involve Code quality

Example prompts

  • “/skill-staged-review”

Workflow steps

2 steps, taken from the step headings in SKILL.md.

  1. Spec Compliance
  2. Code Quality

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit b34780d. It shows what the files ask for, not the result of running them.

  • Tool permissions

    Pre-approves nothing: there is no allowed-tools line, so your agent's usual permission prompts apply.

    From allowed-tools in the SKILL.md frontmatter.

  • Runs code

    Shell commands in SKILL.md call:

    • git
    • gh
    • tsx
    • go

    From the folder's file list and the shell code blocks in SKILL.md.

  • Network

    No URLs in SKILL.md. Its commands use git and gh, which can reach the network depending on how they are called.

    From URLs in SKILL.md, links to its own repository left out.

  • Credentials

    Names no API keys, tokens, secrets or passwords.

    From names ending in _API_KEY, _TOKEN, _SECRET, _KEY or _PASSWORD in SKILL.md.

Context cost

Skill Staged Review loads about 2.8k tokens when it runs. Until then it costs about 23 tokens; SKILL.md has 716 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it
~23
When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches
~2.8k

Estimates: characters ÷ 4, the usual rule of thumb; real counts depend on the model's tokenizer. Scripts and assets cost tokens only if the agent reads them.

Safety

Auto-check passed

The automated check found no risky patterns in SKILL.md.

Automated static check — not a guarantee. Review scripts before installing. It scans the text of SKILL.md for risky patterns (piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files, hidden Unicode, destructive commands); files beside SKILL.md are not scanned.

SKILL.md

The full file from nyldn/claude-octopus at commit b34780d, republished under its MIT licence (© nyldn). 716 words, ~2,834 tokens.

Download SKILL.mdSave it as .claude/skills/skill-staged-review/SKILL.md (or your agent's skills folder). This skill also uses 1 other file; get the full folder from GitHub.
name
skill-staged-review
description
Use when a PR or feature needs both specification and code-quality review
disable-model-invocation
true

Host: Codex CLI — This skill was designed for Claude Code and adapted for Codex. Cross-reference commands use installed skill names in Codex rather than /octo:* slash commands. Use the active Codex shell and subagent tools. Do not claim a provider, model, or host subagent is available until the current session exposes it. For host tool equivalents, see skills/blocks/codex-host-adapter.md.

Execution Contract (MANDATORY - CANNOT SKIP)

This generated Codex skill preserves an enforced workflow contract from the source skill.

PROHIBITED:

  • Do not summarize, simulate, or skip the referenced workflow command when this skill requires execution.
  • Do not claim provider output or validation artifacts exist without checking the actual files or command output.
  • Do not continue silently when a required provider, command, or host capability is unavailable; report the unavailable dependency and use a supported fallback.

Two-Stage Review Pipeline

Separates spec compliance (did you build the right thing?) from code quality (did you build it right?). Stage 1 must pass before Stage 2 runs.

Stage 1: Spec Compliance

Validates the implementation against the intent contract.

Step 1: Load Intent Contract
bash
PLAN_STORAGE="${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT:-${HOME}/.claude-octopus/plugin}/scripts/plan-storage.sh"
OCTO_PLAN_DIR="$("$PLAN_STORAGE" current "$PWD" 2>/dev/null || true)"
INTENT_FILE="${OCTO_PLAN_DIR:+${OCTO_PLAN_DIR}/session-intent.md}"
if [[ -f "$INTENT_FILE" ]]; then
  echo "Intent contract found: $INTENT_FILE"
  cat "$INTENT_FILE"
else
  echo "WARNING: No current resolved intent contract found for this workspace"
  echo "Skipping Stage 1 — proceeding to Stage 2 (code quality) only."
fi

If no intent contract exists: Warn the user and skip to Stage 2. Do NOT fabricate success criteria — the contract must exist from a prior workflow.

Step 2: Validate Success Criteria

For each success criterion in the intent contract:

  1. Read the criterion from the ## Success Criteria section
  2. Find evidence in the codebase that the criterion is met
  3. Mark status:
    • [PASS] — Evidence confirms criterion is met
    • [FAIL] — Evidence shows criterion is NOT met
    • [PARTIAL] — Partially met, gaps identified

Present results:

markdown
## Stage 1: Spec Compliance

### Success Criteria Check

#### Good Enough Criteria
- [PASS] Criterion 1: <how it was met>
- [FAIL] Criterion 2: <why not met, what's missing>

#### Exceptional Criteria
- [PARTIAL] Criterion 1: <what's done, what's remaining>
Step 3: Validate Boundaries

For each boundary in the intent contract:

  1. Read the boundary from the ## Boundaries section
  2. Check for violations in the implementation
  3. Mark status:
    • [RESPECTED] — No violations found
    • [VIOLATED] — Implementation crosses the boundary
markdown
### Boundary Check
- [RESPECTED] Boundary 1: <confirmation>
- [VIOLATED] Boundary 2: <what violated it>
Step 4: Stage 1 Gate
ResultAction
All criteria PASS + all boundaries RESPECTEDProceed to Stage 2
Any criterion FAILReport failures. Ask user: fix now or proceed anyway?
Any boundary VIOLATEDReport violations. Ask user: fix now or proceed anyway?

If user chooses to fix: Stop review, list specific fixes needed. If user chooses to proceed: Note the overrides and continue to Stage 2.

Stage 2: Code Quality

Runs stub detection and full code quality review.

Step 1: Stub Detection

Run 5 checks on all changed files:

bash
# Get changed files
if git diff --cached --name-only 2>/dev/null | head -1 > /dev/null; then
  changed_files=$(git diff --cached --name-only)
elif git diff --name-only HEAD~1..HEAD 2>/dev/null | head -1 > /dev/null; then
  changed_files=$(git diff --name-only HEAD~1..HEAD)
else
  changed_files=$(git diff --name-only)
fi

# Filter source files
source_files=$(echo "$changed_files" | grep -E "\.(ts|tsx|js|jsx|py|go|rs|sh)$" || true)

STUB_ISSUES=0

for file in $source_files; do
  [[ -f "$file" ]] || continue

  # Check 1: TODO/FIXME/PLACEHOLDER markers
  todo_count=$(grep -cE "(TODO|FIXME|PLACEHOLDER|XXX)" "$file" 2>/dev/null || echo "0")
  if [[ "$todo_count" -gt 0 ]]; then
    echo "WARNING: $file has $todo_count TODO/FIXME markers"
    STUB_ISSUES=$((STUB_ISSUES + 1))
  fi

  # Check 2: Empty function bodies
  empty_fn=$(grep -cE "function.*\{\s*\}|=>\s*\{\s*\}" "$file" 2>/dev/null || echo "0")
  if [[ "$empty_fn" -gt 0 ]]; then
    echo "ERROR: $file has $empty_fn empty functions"
    STUB_ISSUES=$((STUB_ISSUES + 1))
  fi

  # Check 3: Suspicious null/undefined returns
  null_ret=$(grep -cE "return (null|undefined);" "$file" 2>/dev/null || echo "0")
  if [[ "$null_ret" -gt 0 ]]; then
    echo "WARNING: $file has $null_ret null/undefined returns — verify intentional"
    STUB_ISSUES=$((STUB_ISSUES + 1))
  fi

  # Check 4: Substantive line count
  subst_lines=$(grep -cvE "^\s*(//|/\*|\*|#|import|export|$)" "$file" 2>/dev/null || echo "0")
  if [[ "$subst_lines" -lt 5 ]]; then
    echo "WARNING: $file has only $subst_lines substantive lines"
    STUB_ISSUES=$((STUB_ISSUES + 1))
  fi

  # Check 5: Mock/test data in production code
  mock_count=$(grep -cE "const.*(mock|test|dummy|fake).*=" "$file" 2>/dev/null || echo "0")
  if [[ "$mock_count" -gt 0 ]]; then
    echo "WARNING: $file has $mock_count mock/test data references"
    STUB_ISSUES=$((STUB_ISSUES + 1))
  fi
done

echo "Stub detection complete: $STUB_ISSUES issues found"
Show full SKILL.md (332 more words)Show less

After stub detection, dispatch code to multiple providers for parallel quality review. A Claude-only review pipeline misses what external models catch — Codex excels at logic errors and correctness, while Antigravity provides an independent security and edge-case analysis. Using both produces higher-confidence findings.

Check provider availability and dispatch in parallel:

bash
# Get the diff for review
DIFF_CONTENT=$(git diff --cached 2>/dev/null || git diff HEAD~1..HEAD 2>/dev/null || git diff)

If external providers are available — dispatch focused reviews through Octopus routing:

bash
providers=()
command -v codex >/dev/null 2>&1 && providers+=(codex)
command -v agy >/dev/null 2>&1 && providers+=(agy)

for provider in "${providers[@]}"; do
  safe_provider=$(printf '%s' "$provider" | tr -c '[:alnum:]_-' '_')
  "${HOME}/.claude-octopus/plugin/scripts/orchestrate.sh" spawn "$provider" \
    "Review this code diff for LOGIC, CORRECTNESS, and SECURITY issues. Focus on:
1. Logic bugs and off-by-one errors
2. Unhandled error paths
3. Race conditions or concurrency issues
4. Incorrect type handling or implicit coercions
5. Security issues at trust boundaries

Report ONLY high-confidence issues. Do NOT flag style preferences.

DIFF:
${DIFF_CONTENT}" > "/tmp/octopus-review-${safe_provider}.md" 2>/dev/null &
done

Wait for external reviews to complete, then synthesize all findings from Claude plus available external providers into a unified quality assessment. If external providers are unavailable, fall back to the Claude-only review below.

Claude (you) performs the full quality review regardless:

  1. Architecture alignment — Does the code follow project patterns?
  2. Error handling — Are errors caught and handled appropriately?
  3. Security — Any OWASP Top 10 issues?
  4. Performance — Any obvious bottlenecks or N+1 queries?
  5. Readability — Clear naming, reasonable complexity?
  6. Test coverage — Are new behaviors tested?

Synthesize external findings: If external providers returned results, merge their findings with yours. Where providers disagree on severity, note the divergence. Where multiple providers flag the same issue, mark it as high-confidence.

Step 3: Present Stage 2 Results
markdown
## Stage 2: Code Quality

### Stub Detection
- Files scanned: N
- Issues found: N
- [Details of each issue]

### Quality Review
- Architecture: [PASS/WARN/FAIL]
- Error Handling: [PASS/WARN/FAIL]
- Security: [PASS/WARN/FAIL]
- Performance: [PASS/WARN/FAIL]
- Readability: [PASS/WARN/FAIL]
- Test Coverage: [PASS/WARN/FAIL]

### Blocking Issues
[List any issues that must be fixed before merge]

### Recommendations
[Non-blocking suggestions for improvement]

Combined Report

After both stages complete, present the unified report:

markdown
## Staged Review — Complete

### Stage 1: Spec Compliance
- Success Criteria: N/N passed
- Boundaries: N/N respected
- Verdict: [PASS/FAIL]

### Stage 2: Code Quality
- Stub Detection: N issues
- Quality Score: [HIGH/MEDIUM/LOW]
- Blocking Issues: N
- Verdict: [PASS/FAIL]

### Overall Verdict: [PASS/FAIL]

[If FAIL: list specific items that must be addressed]
[If PASS: ready for merge/ship]

When to Use Each Review Type

Review TypeWhenWhat It Checks
skill-code-reviewQuick PR reviewCode quality only
skill-staged-reviewMajor feature completionSpec compliance + code quality
skill-verification-gateBefore any completion claimEvidence of passing

Error Handling

ErrorResolution
No intent contractSkip Stage 1, warn user, run Stage 2 only
No changed filesReport nothing to review
Git not availableUse file listing instead of git diff
Stage 1 failuresAsk user: fix or override
Stage 2 blocking issuesMust fix before merge

The Bottom Line

Staged Review = Spec Compliance (Stage 1) + Code Quality (Stage 2)
Stage 1 gates Stage 2. Both must pass for overall PASS.

Build the right thing, then build it right.

Post Results to PR (v8.44.0)

After the combined report is generated, check for an open PR and post findings.

bash
# Detect open PR on current branch
CURRENT_BRANCH=$(git rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD 2>/dev/null || echo "")
PR_NUM=""

if [[ -n "$CURRENT_BRANCH" && "$CURRENT_BRANCH" != "main" && "$CURRENT_BRANCH" != "master" ]]; then
    if command -v gh &>/dev/null; then
        PR_NUM=$(gh pr list --head "$CURRENT_BRANCH" --json number --jq '.[0].number' 2>/dev/null || echo "")
    fi
fi

if [[ -n "$PR_NUM" ]]; then
    # Post combined report through the outbound credential gate.
    REPO_SLUG=$(gh repo view --json nameWithOwner --jq .nameWithOwner)
    COMMENT_BODY="## Staged Review — Claude Octopus

${COMBINED_REPORT}

*Staged review by Claude Octopus (/octo:staged-review)*"
    if ! "${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT:-${HOME}/.claude-octopus/plugin}/scripts/safe-gh-comment.sh" \
            --repo "$REPO_SLUG" pr-comment "$PR_NUM" - <<< "$COMMENT_BODY"; then
        echo "GitHub write state is unknown; check for the staged review comment before retrying:" >&2
        gh pr view "$PR_NUM" --repo "$REPO_SLUG" --comments || true
        return 1 2>/dev/null || exit 1
    fi

    echo "Staged review posted to PR #${PR_NUM}"
fi

Behavior:

  • Auto-posts when running inside /octo:deliver or /octo:embrace workflows
  • Asks user first when invoked standalone via /octo:staged-review

© nyldn, MIT. Rendered from Markdown: HTML in the file is shown as text, images as links, and headings moved down two levels. Raw file

Files

SKILL.md and 1 other file in skills/skill-staged-review of nyldn/claude-octopus.

  • SKILL.md
  • agents/openai.yaml

Open the folder on GitHubat commit b34780d

Used in 1 other repository

We found 2 copies of this SKILL.md (exact, near-identical or edited) in other folders, from 1 other GitHub owner. This page covers the copy in nyldn/claude-octopus, which our catalogue first saw on October 7, 2026.

Compare with similar skills

Skill Staged Review next to the 5 skills that share the most tags, products or categories with it. Stars are the repository's; “used in” counts other GitHub owners with a copy.

Skill Staged Review compared with similar skills
SkillStarsUsed inTokensAuto-checkLicenceRepo updated
Skill Staged Review this skillnyldn/claude-octopus4.2k1 repos~2.8kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
WooCommerce Code Reviewwoocommerce/woocommerce11k3 repos~1.1kAutomated safety check: PassCustom licence
Ponytail Lazy Developer ModeDietrichGebert/ponytail160k1 repos~873Automated safety check: PassMIT
Systematic Code Refactoringluongnv89/claude-howto42k—~3kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Install Anti-Slop Oxlint Rulesdmmulroy/anti-slop5.4k—~2.2kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Constraint-Driven Developmentaddyosmani/agent-skills104k2 repos~5.2kAutomated safety check: PassMIT

Similar skills

  • WooCommerce Code Review

    woocommerce/woocommerce

    Reviews WooCommerce code changes against the project's standards, flagging backend PHP architecture, naming, documentation, data integrity and testing violations.

    11k GitHub starsUsed in 3 repos~1.1k tokens
    DevelopmentAuto-check passed
  • Ponytail Lazy Developer Mode

    DietrichGebert/ponytail

    Makes the agent pick the laziest solution that works: skip unneeded work, reuse what exists, prefer the standard library and platform features, and keep diffs small.

    160k GitHub starsUsed in 1 repo~873 tokens
    DevelopmentAuto-check passed
  • Systematic Code Refactoring

    luongnv89/claude-howto

    Guides refactoring in phases based on Martin Fowler's method: research, test coverage check, planning and small tested steps, with your approval at each phase.

    42k GitHub stars~3k tokensUpdated 10 days ago
    DevelopmentAuto-check passed
  • Installs, updates or migrates the vendored anti-slop Oxlint plugin in a repository, keeping local rule changes and the plugin's license and provenance files.

    5.4k GitHub stars~2.2k tokensUpdated 1 mo ago
    DevelopmentAuto-check passed
  • Constraint-Driven Development

    addyosmani/agent-skills

    Records a project's quality bar in CONSTRAINTS.md and watches diffs for signs an agent quietly weakened it, such as suppressions, skipped tests or lowered thresholds.

    104k GitHub starsUsed in 2 repos~5.2k tokens
    DevelopmentAuto-check passed
  • Skill Doli Code Review

    Dolibarr/dolibarr

    Reviews Dolibarr PHP code for compliance with coding standards and security best practices, and fixes identified issues.

    7.7k GitHub starsUsed in 1 repo~1.1k tokens
    DevelopmentAuto-check passed

More from nyldn/claude-octopus

All 62 skills in this repo
  • Octopus Quick

    nyldn/claude-octopus

    Quick execution for ad-hoc tasks without full workflow overhead — use for small, self-contained requests

    4.2k GitHub starsUsed in 1 repo~2.2k tokens
    Auto-check passed
  • Octopus Research

    nyldn/claude-octopus

    Thorough research across multiple sources — use for complex topics needing broad synthesis

    4.2k GitHub starsUsed in 1 repo~1.9k tokens
    Auto-check passed
  • Octopus Security Audit

    nyldn/claude-octopus

    OWASP compliance, vulnerability scanning, and adversarial red team testing — use for security reviews

    4.2k GitHub starsUsed in 1 repo~2.3k tokens
    Auto-check passed
  • Skill Audit

    nyldn/claude-octopus

    Audit codebases for quality, consistency, and broken patterns — use for pre-release or tech debt review

    4.2k GitHub starsUsed in 1 repo~3.2k tokens
    Auto-check passed
  • Skill Content Pipeline

    nyldn/claude-octopus

    Extract patterns and anatomy from URLs — use to reverse-engineer content strategies from live pages

    4.2k GitHub starsUsed in 1 repo~3.9k tokens
    Auto-check passed
  • Skill Context Detection

    nyldn/claude-octopus

    Auto-detect work context (Dev vs Knowledge) — use to tailor workflows based on current task type

    4.2k GitHub starsUsed in 1 repo~2.6k tokens
    Auto-check passed

Categories

Questions about Skill Staged Review

What does Skill Staged Review do?

A skill your agent uses when a PR or feature needs both specification and code-quality review. Skill Staged Review is an agent skill from nyldn/claude-octopus.

When should I use Skill Staged Review?

Skill Staged Review fits situations like: feature needs both specification and code-quality review; tasks that involve Code quality.

How do I install Skill Staged Review in Claude Code?

Run `npx skills add nyldn/claude-octopus --skill skill-staged-review -a claude-code`. Or copy the skill folder (skills/skill-staged-review in nyldn/claude-octopus) into .claude/skills/skill-staged-review in your project. Claude Code loads it when a task matches its description.

How do I install Skill Staged Review in Codex?

Run `npx skills add nyldn/claude-octopus --skill skill-staged-review -a codex`. Or copy the skill folder (skills/skill-staged-review in nyldn/claude-octopus) into .agents/skills/skill-staged-review in your project. Codex loads it when a task matches its description.

Can I use Skill Staged Review in Cursor, Gemini CLI or GitHub Copilot?

Cursor, Gemini CLI, GitHub Copilot and OpenCode also load SKILL.md folders. With the skills CLI, run `npx skills add nyldn/claude-octopus --skill skill-staged-review -a cursor` (or -a gemini-cli, github-copilot or opencode for the others). To copy it by hand, put the folder in .cursor/skills/skill-staged-review, .gemini/skills/skill-staged-review, .github/skills/skill-staged-review and .opencode/skills/skill-staged-review in your project.

What does Skill Staged Review need to run?

Going by SKILL.md and its folder, Skill Staged Review needs the command-line tools its instructions call (git, gh, tsx and go).

Does Skill Staged Review access the network?

SKILL.md contains no URLs. Its commands use git and gh, which can reach the network depending on how they are called. This is read from the text; nothing was executed.

Is Skill Staged Review safe to install?

Our automated static check of SKILL.md found no risky patterns, such as piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files or hidden Unicode. It is not a guarantee. Review the folder before installing.

What licence does Skill Staged Review use?

Skill Staged Review is published under the MIT licence (the repository's licence). It allows redistribution, so the full SKILL.md is shown on this page.

How many tokens does Skill Staged Review use?

About 2.8k tokens (SKILL.md is roughly 11k characters). Agents keep only the skill's name and description in context until a task matches; then they load SKILL.md in full.

What are the alternatives to Skill Staged Review?

Skills that share tags, products or a category with Skill Staged Review: WooCommerce Code Review (woocommerce/woocommerce, 11k stars), Ponytail Lazy Developer Mode (DietrichGebert/ponytail, 160k stars), Systematic Code Refactoring (luongnv89/claude-howto, 42k stars) and Install Anti-Slop Oxlint Rules (dmmulroy/anti-slop, 5.4k stars). The comparison table on this page puts their stars, adoption, token cost, safety result and licence side by side.

Who maintains Skill Staged Review?

nyldn (a GitHub user) maintains it in nyldn/claude-octopus, which has 4,198 GitHub stars. The repository holds 62 skills in this directory. The repository was last updated on October 9, 2026.

Source: nyldn/claude-octopus on GitHub. Facts on this page come from the repository at the commit we read; the author's words are quoted as theirs.