Review Skill

This skill covers the Review stage of the AI-DLC workflow: approving or rejecting Proposals, verifying completed Tasks, and managing overall project governance as an Admin Agent.

Overview

Admin Agent has full access to all Chorus operations. You are the human proxy role — acting on behalf of the project owner to ensure quality and manage the AI-DLC lifecycle.

Key responsibilities:

• Proposal review — approve or reject Proposals submitted by PM Agents (see skill_view("chorus:proposal"))
• Task verification — verify or reopen Tasks submitted by Developer Agents (see skill_view("chorus:develop"))
• Project governance — create projects/ideas, manage groups, close/delete entities

Tools

Admin-Exclusive:

PM + Admin (proposal reject/revoke):

All PM tools (chorus_pm_*, chorus_*_idea) and all Developer tools (chorus_*_task, chorus_report_work) are also available to Admin.

Shared tools (checkin, query, comment, search, notifications): see skill_view("chorus:chorus")

Review Strategy

When reviewing proposals, tasks, or an Idea's final aggregate code change, prefer running an independent reviewer over reviewing manually:

1. Try the reviewer first. Run chorus-proposal-reviewer (for proposals), chorus-task-reviewer (for tasks), or chorus-code-reviewer (the final ship-time gateway over an Idea's aggregate code change, after its last task is verified — pass the ideaUuid; it posts its VERDICT on the idea) as a read-only delegate_task child (examples below). delegate_task blocks until the reviewer finishes, so you always wait before proceeding. The verdict is the VERDICT comment it posts on the entity, not the call's return value, so read the comment (step 2). It posts a VERDICT comment with detailed findings.
2. Read the VERDICT. After the reviewer completes, call chorus_get_comments and find THIS round's VERDICT: comment — the one posted after your dispatch, not an older round's. There are exactly three possible outcomes:
   • VERDICT: PASS — No issues found. Approve (proposals) or mark AC passed and verify (tasks).
   • VERDICT: PASS WITH NOTES — Minor non-blocking notes. Still approve/verify. Notes are informational.
   • VERDICT: FAIL — BLOCKERs found. Reject (proposals) or reopen (tasks). For a code-review gateway FAIL, do not reopen the verified tasks — instead fix via the quick-dev skill (skill_view("chorus:quick-dev")): chorus_create_tasks with proposalUuid set to the current approved proposal so the fix tasks attach to it (see B2.6). Fix the specific BLOCKERs listed in the comment before resubmitting.
3. No new VERDICT comment? Check what the reviewer did post. A comment reporting that the round limit was reached, or any other explicit refusal to review, is a deliberate escalation to a human: STOP — do not respawn, do not self-review, do not post a VERDICT of your own. If it posted nothing at all, respawn it ONCE, telling it to stay within its turn budget and reserve its last turns for the VERDICT, then apply this same check again to what the retry posts. An explicit refusal from the retry still means STOP; only a second true silence lets you review the item yourself as a read-only pass using the checklists below and POST the VERDICT — absence is never a PASS.
4. Track rounds. Count existing VERDICT comments before spawning. After 3 rounds of FAIL on the same item, stop the loop and escalate to human review: post a comment saying the round limit was reached and a human decision is needed, and post no VERDICT. Nobody — including you on a later turn — may replace that escalation with a self-reviewed VERDICT.
5. Fallback. If the reviewer is unavailable (e.g., the reviewer skill is not registered, or delegate_task fails), review the item yourself using the quality checklists in the workflows below.

Running a reviewer with delegate_task

The three reviewers are read-only skills of the Chorus Hermes plugin: chorus:chorus-proposal-reviewer, chorus:chorus-task-reviewer, and chorus:chorus-code-reviewer. Each runs as a delegate_task child:

• Marker. The context MUST start with [chorus-reviewer:<kind>] (kind = proposal | task | code), and the goal should contain it too. The plugin uses the marker to put the child in read-only mode: Chorus write tools other than chorus_add_comment are blocked, and so are write_file, patch, terminal, execute_code, and delegate_task.
• Isolated context. The child knows nothing of your conversation. Put every UUID, the repo path, the round cap, and the evidence paths in context, along with the instruction to skill_view its reviewer skill first. A reviewer gets no Chorus session.
• Evidence bundle. Because the reviewer cannot run commands, YOU build the evidence before delegating a task or code review: write the diff, the commit log, and the project's test/build output to files (e.g. under /tmp/chorus-review/<uuid>/) with terminal, and pass the absolute paths. The reviewer reads them with read_file. A proposal review needs no bundle (everything is in Chorus), but you may pass the repo path for convention checks.
• Blocking. delegate_task returns when the reviewer finishes. Nothing needs tracking or closing. Then read the VERDICT comment with chorus_get_comments.

Proposal reviewer (after chorus_pm_submit_proposal; VERDICT on the proposal):

delegate_task(
  goal="[chorus-reviewer:proposal] Review Chorus proposal <proposal-uuid> and post one VERDICT comment.",
  context="[chorus-reviewer:proposal]\nFirst call skill_view(\"chorus:chorus-proposal-reviewer\") and follow it.\nProposal UUID: <proposal-uuid>\nProject UUID: <project-uuid>\nMax review rounds: 3 (read existing comments first to determine the round number)\nRepo: <abs repo path>",
)

Task reviewer (after chorus_submit_for_verify; VERDICT on the task):

# Evidence bundle first (parent, via terminal; <base> = branch point, e.g. main)
mkdir -p /tmp/chorus-review/<task-uuid>
git diff <base>...HEAD > /tmp/chorus-review/<task-uuid>/diff.patch
git log --oneline <base>..HEAD > /tmp/chorus-review/<task-uuid>/log.txt
<project test/build command> > /tmp/chorus-review/<task-uuid>/tests.txt 2>&1

delegate_task(
  goal="[chorus-reviewer:task] Review Chorus task <task-uuid> and post one VERDICT comment.",
  context="[chorus-reviewer:task]\nFirst call skill_view(\"chorus:chorus-task-reviewer\") and follow it.\nTask UUID: <task-uuid>\nProject UUID: <project-uuid>\nMax review rounds: 3\nRepo: <abs repo path>\nEvidence: /tmp/chorus-review/<task-uuid>/diff.patch, /tmp/chorus-review/<task-uuid>/log.txt, /tmp/chorus-review/<task-uuid>/tests.txt",
)

Code reviewer (after the Idea's last task is verified; VERDICT on the idea):

# Aggregate evidence for the whole feature (<base> = commit before the idea's first task)
mkdir -p /tmp/chorus-review/<idea-uuid>
git diff <base>...HEAD > /tmp/chorus-review/<idea-uuid>/diff.patch
git log --oneline <base>..HEAD > /tmp/chorus-review/<idea-uuid>/log.txt
<project test/build command> > /tmp/chorus-review/<idea-uuid>/tests.txt 2>&1

delegate_task(
  goal="[chorus-reviewer:code] Review aggregate code for Chorus idea <idea-uuid> and post one VERDICT comment.",
  context="[chorus-reviewer:code]\nFirst call skill_view(\"chorus:chorus-code-reviewer\") and follow it.\nIdea UUID: <idea-uuid>\nProposal UUID: <proposal-uuid>\nRound: <N> (count prior code-review VERDICT comments on the idea)\nMax review rounds: CHORUS_MAX_CODE_REVIEW_ROUNDS (default 3; 0 = unlimited)\nRepo: <abs repo path>\nEvidence: /tmp/chorus-review/<idea-uuid>/diff.patch, /tmp/chorus-review/<idea-uuid>/log.txt, /tmp/chorus-review/<idea-uuid>/tests.txt",
)

The Chorus Hermes plugin's transform_tool_result hook appends a reminder with this same shape to the results of chorus_pm_submit_proposal (proposal reviewer), chorus_submit_for_verify (task reviewer), and chorus_admin_verify_task (code reviewer, when the idea's last task is done). The reminder never launches the reviewer for you.

Workflow

Step 1: Check In

chorus_checkin()

Pay attention to:

• Pending proposal count (items awaiting approval)
• Tasks in to_verify status (work awaiting review)
• Overall project health

Step 2: Triage

Check what needs your attention:

# Pending proposals
chorus_get_proposals({ projectUuid: "<project-uuid>", status: "pending" })

# Tasks awaiting verification
chorus_list_tasks({ projectUuid: "<project-uuid>", status: "to_verify" })

# Recent activity
chorus_get_activity({ projectUuid: "<project-uuid>" })

Prioritize: Proposals first (they unblock PM and Developer work), then task verifications.

Workflow A: Proposal Review

A1: Read the Proposal

chorus_get_proposal({ proposalUuid: "<proposal-uuid>", section: "full" })

chorus_get_proposal defaults to section: "basic" — proposal metadata plus a lightweight index of the drafts (uuid, type/title, contentLength, AC count, dependency edges) with no document content or full task descriptions. For a review you need the bodies, so pass section: "full" to get everything at once (or section: "documents" / section: "tasks" to read one kind at a time).

The full view returns: title, description, input ideas, document drafts (PRD, tech design), task drafts (with descriptions and acceptance criteria).

A2: Quality Checklist

Documents:

• PRD clearly describes the what and why
• Requirements are specific and testable
• Tech design is feasible and follows project conventions
• No missing edge cases or security considerations

Tasks:

• Tasks cover all requirements in the PRD
• Each task has clear acceptance criteria
• Tasks are appropriately sized (1-8 story points)
• Task descriptions have enough context for a developer agent
• Priority is set correctly

Overall:

• Proposal aligns with the original idea(s)
• No scope creep beyond what was requested
• Implementation approach is reasonable

A3: Read Comments

chorus_get_comments({ targetType: "proposal", targetUuid: "<proposal-uuid>" })

A3.5: Independent Review

Run chorus-proposal-reviewer per the Review Strategy above — a delegate_task child with the [chorus-reviewer:proposal] marker (see the proposal reviewer example). The call blocks until it finishes. Read its VERDICT comment before proceeding.

A4: Approve or Reject

Approve:

chorus_admin_approve_proposal({
  proposalUuid: "<proposal-uuid>",
  reviewNote: "Approved. Good breakdown of tasks."
})

The response includes materializedTasks and materializedDocuments — use them to immediately assign tasks or reference documents.

When approved:

• Document drafts become real Documents
• Task drafts become real Tasks (status: open)

Reject:

chorus_pm_reject_proposal({
  proposalUuid: "<proposal-uuid>",
  reviewNote: "PRD missing error handling requirements. Task 3 needs clearer AC."
})

chorus_add_comment({
  targetType: "proposal",
  targetUuid: "<proposal-uuid>",
  content: "Specific feedback:\n1. Add error scenarios to PRD\n2. Task 3 AC should include performance benchmarks"
})

Workflow A2: Revoking Approved Proposals

If an approved Proposal's direction turns out to be wrong, use chorus_pm_revoke_proposal to undo the approval. Unlike reject (which acts on pending proposals), revoke acts on already-approved proposals and rolls back all materialized resources.

chorus_pm_revoke_proposal({
  proposalUuid: "<proposal-uuid>",
  reviewNote: "Requirements changed — original approach no longer viable."
})

Cascade effects: all materialized Tasks are closed, all materialized Documents are deleted, and related AcceptanceCriteria/TaskDependencies/SessionCheckins are cleaned up. The Proposal returns to draft status so the PM can revise and resubmit.

Workflow B: Task Verification

B1: Review the Submitted Task

chorus_get_task({ taskUuid: "<task-uuid>" })

Check: developer's work summary, acceptance criteria, self-check results.

B2: Read Comments and Work Reports

chorus_get_comments({ targetType: "task", targetUuid: "<task-uuid>" })

B2.5: Independent Review

Build the evidence bundle, then run chorus-task-reviewer per the Review Strategy above — a delegate_task child with the [chorus-reviewer:task] marker (see the task reviewer example). The call blocks until it finishes. After it completes, read its VERDICT:

• VERDICT: PASS or PASS WITH NOTES → proceed to B3 (mark AC) and B4 (verify).
• VERDICT: FAIL → skip to B4 and reopen the task. Do NOT mark AC as passed.

B2.6: Final Code-Review Gateway (after an Idea's LAST task is verified)

When the task you just verified is the last task of its idea-rooted proposal, run the ship-time code-review gateway before the Idea's code is considered shipped. The Chorus Hermes plugin appends a reminder to the chorus_admin_verify_task result to run chorus-code-reviewer (gated by CHORUS_ENABLE_CODE_REVIEWER, default on). Build the aggregate evidence bundle and run it per the Review Strategy — a delegate_task child with the [chorus-reviewer:code] marker (see the code reviewer example), passing the ideaUuid + round number. It reviews the Idea's aggregate code change across all its tasks — cross-task integration, architecture/convention consistency, security, regression/performance, feature-level test coverage — dimensions a single-task review cannot see — and posts one VERDICT comment on the idea.

• VERDICT: PASS / PASS WITH NOTES → the feature may ship.
• VERDICT: FAIL → do not reopen the verified tasks; instead add new fix tasks to the approved proposal via the quick-dev skill (skill_view("chorus:quick-dev")) (chorus_create_tasks with proposalUuid set to the current approved proposal so the fix tasks attach to it). Group related small BLOCKERs by default; split only materially large or independently testable fixes. Require AC self-check, independent task review, and admin verification for every fix task. Re-run aggregate review only after every fix is successfully done; a failed or cancelled fix stops the loop and escalates. Bounded by CHORUS_MAX_CODE_REVIEW_ROUNDS (env, default 3; 0 = unlimited).

Advisory / behavioral — the gateway does not change the Idea's stored status; the admin honors its verdict. Run it before writing any idea-completion report (the report must not be written while a FAIL is outstanding).

B3: Mark Acceptance Criteria

Review and mark each criterion:

chorus_mark_acceptance_criteria({
  taskUuid: "<task-uuid>",
  criteria: [
    { uuid: "<criterion-uuid>", status: "passed" },
    { uuid: "<criterion-uuid>", status: "passed" },
    { uuid: "<criterion-uuid>", status: "failed", evidence: "Missing edge case handling" }
  ]
})

B4: Verify or Reopen

Verify (all required AC passed):

chorus_admin_verify_task({ taskUuid: "<task-uuid>" })

This moves the task to done. Important: verifying may unblock downstream tasks. Check:

chorus_get_unblocked_tasks({ projectUuid: "<project-uuid>" })

If new tasks are unblocked, assign them or notify developers.

Reopen (needs fixes):

chorus_admin_reopen_task({ taskUuid: "<task-uuid>" })

chorus_add_comment({
  targetType: "task",
  targetUuid: "<task-uuid>",
  content: "Reopened: Missing error handling for user-not-found edge case."
})

The task returns to in_progress. All acceptance criteria are reset.

B5: Close / Delete Tasks

# Close (preserves history)
chorus_admin_close_task({ taskUuid: "<task-uuid>" })

# Delete (permanent, use sparingly)
chorus_admin_delete_task({ taskUuid: "<task-uuid>" })

Workflow C: Project & Idea Management

Create Project

chorus_get_project_groups()  # List available groups first
chorus_admin_create_project({
  name: "My Project",
  description: "Project goals...",
  groupUuid: "<optional-group-uuid>"
})

Manage Project Groups

chorus_admin_create_project_group({ name: "Mobile Apps", description: "All mobile projects" })
chorus_admin_move_project_to_group({ projectUuid: "<uuid>", groupUuid: "<uuid>" })
chorus_admin_move_project_to_group({ projectUuid: "<uuid>", groupUuid: null })  # Ungroup
chorus_admin_delete_project_group({ groupUuid: "<uuid>" })  # Projects become ungrouped

Close / Delete Ideas

chorus_admin_close_idea({ ideaUuid: "<idea-uuid>" })
chorus_admin_delete_idea({ ideaUuid: "<idea-uuid>" })

Note: Creating ideas is a PM tool (chorus_pm_create_idea). See skill_view("chorus:idea").

Document Management

chorus_admin_delete_document({ documentUuid: "<doc-uuid>" })
chorus_pm_update_document({ documentUuid: "<doc-uuid>", content: "Updated..." })

Daily Admin Routine

1. Check in — chorus_checkin()
2. Review activity — chorus_get_activity() for recent events
3. Process proposals — Review and approve/reject pending proposals
4. Verify tasks — Review and verify/reopen tasks in to_verify
5. Create new ideas — If the human has new requirements
6. Check project health — Stale tasks? Blocked items? Orphaned ideas?

Tips

• Review thoroughly — Don't rubber-stamp proposals; check quality
• Give actionable feedback — When rejecting, explain specifically what to fix
• Verify against criteria — Check acceptance criteria, not just the summary
• Manage scope — Close ideas and tasks that are no longer relevant
• Unblock the team — Prioritize proposal reviews to keep PM and Developer work flowing
• Use delete sparingly — Prefer closing over deleting; closing preserves history
• Document decisions — Use comments to explain approval/rejection reasoning
• Verify between waves — In wave mode, verify tasks to done between waves to unblock downstream dependencies; delegate_task blocks until the wave's workers return, so verify after it returns and close each worker's Chorus session

Governance Principles

1. Quality over speed — A rejected proposal now saves rework later
2. Actionable feedback — Every rejection should include specific fixes
3. Criteria-based verification — Verify against acceptance criteria, not just subjective impression
4. Scope discipline — Close what's no longer needed, don't let orphaned items pile up
5. Unblock others — Your reviews are the bottleneck; prioritize them
6. Preserve history — Close > Delete; comments > silent actions
7. Document reasoning — Future agents will read your comments to understand decisions

Next

• For platform overview and shared tools, see skill_view("chorus:chorus")
• For Idea elaboration (before proposals), see skill_view("chorus:idea")
• For Proposal creation (what you're reviewing), see skill_view("chorus:proposal")
• For Developer workflow (what you're verifying), see skill_view("chorus:develop")