Code Review Skill: Practical Guide for AI Agents

Where this fits

You're a developer who just asked your agent to review a pull request before merging. The agent opens the diff, scans for bugs, flags a SQL injection, and notes a missing edge case—but it never runs the code. That's the workflow the code-review skill from Sandbase Harness enables. It turns a vague "review this" request into a structured, repeatable analysis that fits directly into your pre-merge or code-quality loop.

Why agents benefit

• Structured procedure: The skill defines a step-by-step process—understand intent, check correctness, security, maintainability, and performance—so agents don't skip critical checks.
• Scope awareness: It asks for language, conventions, and requested scope, and explicitly states limitations when input is incomplete. Agents learn to say "I can't verify that without tests" instead of guessing.
• Security-first checks: Built-in focus on injection, authorization, secret exposure, and unsafe deserialization—areas where naive agents often miss real risks.
• No execution risk: The skill reviews code without running it, so agents can safely analyze untrusted patches or diffs in a sandboxed environment.
• Clear boundaries: It reminds agents not to substitute for test suites or human review, preventing overconfident recommendations.

Practical scenarios

Pre-merge PR review

An agent uses the skill to review a GitHub PR diff. It checks for correctness against the described behavior, spots a missing null check, and suggests adding a test. The developer gets actionable feedback before CI even runs.

Security audit of a legacy module

A developer points the agent at a legacy Python file. The skill's security checks flag an unsafe eval on user input and a hardcoded API key. The agent recommends using ast.literal_eval and moving secrets to environment variables.

Maintainability check for a new feature

During a code review, the agent evaluates a new function for style and maintainability. It notes inconsistent naming, overly long functions, and missing docstrings, aligning with the project's PEP 8 conventions.

Add it to your agent workflow

Install the skill with:

npx skills add sandbaseai/sandbase-harness --skill code-review

Then, when a user provides a file path or diff, the agent automatically triggers the skill. For example:

User: Review src/auth.py for security issues.
Agent: Running code-review skill...
- Checks: input validation, authorization logic, secret handling.
- Findings: Missing rate limiting on login endpoint; potential timing attack.

Compare before adopting

Before you commit, compare the skill against your existing tooling. Look at how often the repository updates (check commit history), whether the skill's checks align with your team's standards, and if alternatives like reviewdog or custom prompts cover the same ground. Also consider whether the skill's procedural approach fits your agent's current toolchain—some agents may already have built-in review capabilities.

Why it is worth tracking

With 637 stars and an active author, sandbase-harness shows steady community interest. The skill's focus on security and its explicit non-execution stance make it a safe, useful addition to any agent's toolkit, especially for teams that handle untrusted code. As agent-based review becomes standard, this skill sets a baseline for what a good review should include. For a deeper look, see the skill page on OpenAgentSkill at https://www.openagentskill.com/skills/sandbaseai-sandbase-harness-code-review. Evaluate it when you need a structured, security-aware review process without the risk of running unknown code.