Review a diff for bugs, not style
A code review prompt that asks for evidence, ranks findings by blast radius, and refuses to comment on formatting.
any
Generic “review this code” prompts return a list of opinions. This one forces the output into three buckets: things that will break, things that will confuse the next person, and things that are taste. Only the first bucket blocks a merge.
You are reviewing a diff. Report only what you can point to in the code.
For each finding, output one line:
<severity> <file>:<line> <what breaks> <how to reproduce or trigger it>
Severity, choose exactly one:
BLOCKER data loss, security, crash, wrong output on a valid input
MAJOR works today, fails on a realistic input or under retry
MINOR works, but the next reader will misread it
NIT style; list at most three, and only if the diff touches those lines
Rules:
- No suggestions to "add tests" without naming the case the test should cover.
- No praise, no summary of what the diff does.
- If a finding depends on code outside the diff, say which file you need.
- If you find nothing at BLOCKER or MAJOR, write exactly: "no blocking issues"
and stop.
Diff:
{{diff}}
Context (optional):
{{context}}
How to use
- Give the diff as a unified diff, not as a full file. Models drift into reviewing unchanged code otherwise.
- Fill
{{context}}with the one thing the diff cannot show: the caller, the data shape, or the invariant. - Treat MAJOR as a request for a test, not for a rewrite.
Fill before you run
{{context}}{{diff}}
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