# Claude Code `/code-review` slash command

The prompt templates behind Claude Code's built-in `/code-review` skill. The text is
compiled into the Claude Code binary and injected into the conversation as a user-message
block when the command runs. Content here was extracted from the binary and byte-verified
against live API captures (MITM proxy); all five effort tiers re-verified against the
2.1.245 bundle on 2026-08-25 (two additions since 2.1.211 — see below).

## Usage

`/code-review [level] [target]` — level is one of `low`, `medium`, `high` (default), `xhigh`, `max`; target is an optional PR number, branch, ref range, or path. `--comment` posts findings as inline PR comments; `--fix` applies them to the working tree. `ultra` runs a separate multi-agent cloud review.

When arguments are passed, the injected block is prefixed with `Review target: `<args>`` followed by a blank line; with no arguments it starts directly at the effort header.

## Files

| File | Pipeline |
|---|---|
| `low.md` | 1 diff pass, no subagents, no verify → ≤4 findings |
| `medium.md` | 8 finder angles × 6 candidates, 1-vote verify (precision-tuned) → ≤8 findings |
| `high.md` | 8 finder angles × 6 candidates, 1-vote verify (recall-biased) → ≤10 findings — the default |
| `xhigh.md` | 10 finder angles × 8 candidates, verify, gap-sweep → ≤15 findings |
| `max.md` | identical to xhigh except header wording; only the API reasoning effort differs |
| `report-findings-tool.md` | the `ReportFindings` tool (description + JSON schema) attached to sessions where the host UI renders typed findings — the alternative output channel to the JSON array |

The finder angles: A line-by-line diff scan, B removed-behavior auditor, C cross-file tracer, D language-pitfall specialist (xhigh/max only), E wrapper/proxy correctness (xhigh/max only), plus Reuse, Simplification, Efficiency, Altitude, and Conventions (CLAUDE.md violations).

## Which prompt a model actually gets

The effort level is only half the routing key; the model family is the other half. The
five files here are the `default` column — what a model family with no dedicated cell
receives. The binary's matrix also carries:

| Model family | Cells that differ from `default` |
|---|---|
| `claude-sonnet-5` | `low` uses a variant that targets `min(files, 4)` findings instead of capping at 4 |
| `claude-opus-4-8` | its own `o48-low/med/high/xhigh` prompts at low–xhigh; `max` is the shared `max` |
| `claude-opus-5` | `medium` and `high` both collapse to a single "minimal prompt → single careful diff pass → ≤15 findings" cell that reports via `ReportFindings`; `xhigh` reuses the opus-4-8 xhigh cell; `low` and `max` are the shared ones |

There is also a no-`Agent`-tool fallback for every tier: when the `Agent` tool is absent
the same angles run inline, single-pass, with no subagent verify.

The binary also contains sibling variants not reproduced here: an output mode that reports via a `ReportFindings` tool call instead of a JSON array, an artifact-publishing step (findings rendered to a shareable HTML page), and a workflow-backed orchestration used at high/xhigh/max when workflows are enabled (one finder per correctness angle, one merged cleanup finder, a verifier per distinct file:line, then synthesis).

`SKILL.md` is the skill's registration frontmatter plus the default (high) variant body;
`high.md` is that same body without the frontmatter.