Guide · Agent skill
How to use the Code Review Specialist agent skill
Updated · written with AI from the project's own documentation and checked against our catalogue data
The Code Review Specialist is an agent skill: a folder of instructions that tells an AI agent how to review code in a consistent, structured way. This guide explains what the skill changes about the agent's behaviour, how to install it, how to ask for a review so the skill is triggered, and what limits to keep in mind. By the end you will be able to add the skill to your agent and get review reports with a score, severity-ranked findings and suggested fixes.
Code Review Specialistluongnv89/claude-howto · MIT Download the skill Quick start
- 1Download the ZIP. Get the code-review-specialist ZIP from this page and unzip it.
- 2Place the folder. Copy the code-review-specialist folder into ~/.claude/skills/ for all projects, or into .claude/skills/ in one project.
- 3Or upload it in the apps. In the Claude apps, go to Settings → Capabilities → Skills and upload the skill.
- 4Ask for a review. Describe the code or pull request and say you want a code review, quality check or security and performance analysis.
- 5Read the report. Check the 1-5 score, the key findings with severity, and the suggested fixes.
- 6Verify the findings. Run your own tests and confirm each issue before acting on it, since the review can include false positives.
What the Code Review Specialist skill makes the agent do
When you ask for a code review, a quality check or a pull request review, the skill directs the agent to examine four areas: security, performance, code quality and maintainability. The skill's description also mentions security analysis and performance optimisation as triggers.
- Security: authentication and authorisation problems, data leak risks, injection vulnerabilities, weak cryptography and sensitive data in logs.
- Performance: algorithm efficiency (Big O analysis), memory use, database query optimisation, caching opportunities and concurrency issues.
- Code quality: SOLID principles, design patterns, naming, documentation and test coverage.
- Maintainability: readability, function length (the skill suggests under 50 lines), cyclomatic complexity, dependency management and type safety.
Install the skill from the ZIP or the Claude apps
Download the ZIP for this skill from this page and unzip it. The skill is a folder named code-review-specialist that contains SKILL.md and a templates folder with finding-template.md and review-checklist.md. Put that folder in one of two places: your personal skills folder, or the .claude/skills/ folder of a specific project.
Alternatively, you can upload the skill in the Claude apps under Settings → Capabilities → Skills.
- Personal (all projects): ~/.claude/skills/code-review-specialist/
- Single project: .claude/skills/code-review-specialist/ inside your project folder
- Claude apps: Settings → Capabilities → Skills, then upload the skill
Trigger the skill with a natural request
You do not need a special command. The skill is meant to be picked up when your request matches its description, so describe the job in plain words. Mention the code, the file or the pull request, and say what you want checked.
Requests that match the skill's described triggers include asking for a code review, a code quality assessment, a pull request review, or mentioning security analysis or performance optimisation.
- Please review this pull request for security problems before I merge it.
- Do a code quality check on src/auth/login.ts.
- Review this function for performance issues and explain the complexity.
- Can you check this code for injection risks and sensitive data in logs?
Read the review report
The skill asks the agent to follow a fixed report template. Each reviewed piece of code gets a summary with an overall quality score from 1 to 5, a count of key findings and the areas to look at first. Key issues then list the problem, location (file and line number), impact, severity, and a fix with a code example.
Severity levels named in the skill are Critical, High and Medium. The finding template also lists Low as an option, so a report may use it. Findings are then grouped under security, performance, quality and maintainability headings.
Use the checklists and finding template
The templates folder gives the agent, and you, a checklist and a record format. review-checklist.md covers security, performance, quality and testing items, such as no hard-coded secrets, parameterised queries, no N+1 queries, no console.log in production, and test coverage above 80%. finding-template.md records each issue with its severity, category, location, description, current and suggested code, and impact.
- Ask the agent to work through review-checklist.md against your diff.
- Ask it to write each issue in the format of finding-template.md so reports stay consistent across reviewers.
Know what the skill needs and what it does not do
The skill lists no requirements, does not run scripts, and does not use the network. The review is advisory. The skill describes review criteria but does not run your tests or the code itself, and the agent can miss issues or report false positives. Treat its output as a second opinion, not a certified audit.
- Safety-critical or regulated code that needs a certified audit should not rely on this skill alone.
- Do not use the report as proof that code works. Run your own tests.
What people use it for
- Second review of a pull request before merging, focused on injection, authentication and sensitive data in logs.
- Quality check of a single module for naming, function length, complexity and missing tests.
- Spotting N+1 database queries, missing caching or blocking operations in a data-heavy feature.
- Learning which security and performance problems to watch for by reading the severity-ranked reports.
Frequently asked questions
How do I install the code review specialist skill?
Download the ZIP from this page and unzip it. Put the code-review-specialist folder in ~/.claude/skills/ for all projects or in .claude/skills/ for one project. In the Claude apps, you can instead upload it under Settings → Capabilities → Skills.
Does the code review specialist skill need anything else installed?
The skill's source lists no requirements. It does not run scripts and does not use the network, according to the listing.
Is the code review specialist skill free?
The source describes the skill as MIT licensed. This page does not list a price, so check the licence terms on the source repository for details.
Can it run my tests or check that my code works?
No. The skill describes review criteria, but it does not run your tests or the code itself. Use it alongside your own testing.
Can I trust the review for regulated or safety-critical code?
Not on its own. The review is advisory and can miss issues or report false positives, so a certified audit is still needed for regulated code.
What do the severity levels mean?
The skill's report names Critical, High and Medium. The finding template adds Low. Critical is described as blocking release, High as something to fix before merging, Medium as something to fix soon, and Low as an optional improvement.
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Our verdict
Use this skill if you want a consistent, structured second review of pull requests, with scores, severity levels and suggested fixes, and you are willing to verify the findings yourself. Pick a dedicated audit service or a tool that runs your tests if you need certified results or proof that code behaves correctly.
Download the skill