Pre-Commit Self-Review

Overview

Review the current changeset for issues before committing. Analyzes the diff for bugs, security problems, leftover debug code, and style inconsistencies. Presents findings for the user to decide on — does not auto-fix.

The Process

Gather the changeset:

• Run git diff --staged to get staged changes
• If nothing is staged, fall back to git diff for unstaged changes
• If both are empty, inform the user there's nothing to review

Check project conventions:

• If CLAUDE.md exists at the project root, read it for project-specific rules
• Note any conventions around naming, error handling, imports, or formatting
• Use these as additional review criteria alongside the defaults

Analyze changes for issues:

• Bugs and logic errors - Off-by-one, null/undefined access, wrong comparisons, missing edge cases, race conditions
• Leftover debug code - console.log, debugger, print() statements, TODO/FIXME/HACK comments added in this diff
• Security issues - Hardcoded secrets, SQL injection, XSS, unsanitized input, overly permissive permissions
• Missing error handling - Unhandled promise rejections, unchecked return values, bare except/catch blocks
• Style inconsistencies - Naming convention mismatches, inconsistent patterns compared to surrounding code

Present findings:

• Group issues by severity:
  • Blocking - Bugs, security issues, or errors that must be fixed before committing
  • Warning - Likely problems worth addressing but not strictly required
  • Nitpick - Style or preference issues, take-or-leave
• For blocking issues, suggest a specific fix with code
• For warnings and nitpicks, describe the issue and location
• If the changeset is clean, confirm with a brief summary of what was reviewed

Key Principles

• Diff-focused - Only review what changed, not the entire file
• Advisory, not automatic - Present findings for the user to act on
• Convention-aware - Respect project-specific rules from CLAUDE.md
• Severity-driven - Clearly separate must-fix from nice-to-have
• Concise - Don't repeat the code back; reference file and line, describe the issue, suggest the fix