Spec Peer Review

A capable authoring model drafts a spec; a second, independent model pressure-tests it. This skill runs that cross-LLM pressure-test only when the user explicitly asks for a review round after approving the current draft. It does not auto-run, auto-incorporate findings, or auto-loop additional rounds.

The skill is harness-agnostic and project-agnostic. It uses Compozy as the review engine: each round runs one compozy exec against a configurable runtime (--ide/--model/ --reasoning). The review result is a direct-written Markdown findings file. compozy exec stdout/stderr is operational evidence only; never parse it as the review source of truth.

Required Reading Router

Match your step to the row. Read the listed file in full before acting. These files are load-bearing, not appendices — the inline text in this SKILL.md is a pointer, not a substitute.

Step	MUST read
Step 1.4 — assessing spec readiness	references/quality-markers.md
Step 2 — composing the review prompt	references/peer-review-prompt.md
Step 4 — validating findings	scripts/validate-findings.sh (run it)

Reference Index

• references/quality-markers.md — the six tech-agnostic markers a spec must carry before review (scope boundary, architectural boundaries, concrete contracts, data-model/migration rationale, ownership decisions, numbered safety invariants). The Step 1 readiness gate; the markers are not inlined here.
• references/peer-review-prompt.md — the canonical executable reviewer prompt template, including the scoped-write contract and the exact findings-file format. Its placeholders are substituted verbatim; never paraphrase it.
• scripts/validate-findings.sh — read-only structural validator for the findings artifact (frontmatter, required sections, no placeholders). Run it; never edit it.

User Decisions

When this skill instructs the agent to ask whether to incorporate findings or run another round, it MUST use the runtime's dedicated interactive question tool — the tool or function that presents a question to the user and pauses execution until the user responds (for example AskUserQuestion).

If the runtime does not provide such a tool, present the question as the complete assistant message and stop generating. Do not answer the question on the user's behalf.

Bundled Path Rule

Resolve every bundled helper relative to the directory that holds this SKILL.md. When a command below appears as scripts/<name> or references/<name>, expand it to the absolute skill directory before reading or running it:

bash <skill-dir>/scripts/validate-findings.sh --kind techspec --round <N> --path <findings-path>

The validator is a read-only helper: it inspects the findings artifact and exits non-zero on structural contract violations.

Inputs

• spec-path (optional): explicit path to the spec under review (a TechSpec, design doc, RFC, or detailed PRD). When omitted, auto-resolve to the most recently modified .compozy/tasks/<slug>/_techspec.md if that layout exists; otherwise ask the user for a path. Never invent a path.
• --context <p1,p2,...> (optional): additional context files to feed the reviewer (ADRs, related specs, RFCs, research, design docs). The skill never assumes any of these exist.
• --out <dir> (optional): output directory for round artifacts. See Output Directory.
• --ide <ide> (optional, default claude): reviewer runtime, forwarded to compozy exec --ide. Accepted values mirror compozy exec: codex, claude, cursor-agent, droid, opencode, pi, gemini, copilot. Reject an invalid value rather than falling back.
• --model <name> (optional, default opus): forwarded to compozy exec --model. Do not pre-validate; let compozy surface incompatibilities.
• --reasoning <effort> (optional, default xhigh): forwarded to compozy exec --reasoning-effort. Accepted: low, medium, high, xhigh.

Output Directory

Resolve <out> in this order:

1. --out if provided.
2. Otherwise, if the spec resolves under a .compozy/tasks/<slug>/ layout, use that task's qa/ directory: .compozy/tasks/<slug>/qa/.
3. Otherwise, default to .peer-reviews/<UTC-timestamp-YYYYMMDDTHHMMSSZ>/ at the repository root.

Create the directory if it does not exist.

Findings Artifact Contract

Each review round has exactly one authoritative findings file:

<out>/peer-review-findings-roundN.md

The reviewer may write exactly that file and no other file. If the target path is missing, ambiguous, unwritable, or outside the resolved <out> directory, the reviewer must refuse and stop. It must not print findings to stdout as a fallback.

The findings file MUST use this structure:

---
schema_version: 1
review_kind: techspec
round: N
readiness: READY|BLOCKED|NEEDS_REWORK
reviewer_runtime: claude
reviewer_model: opus
generated_at: <ISO-8601 timestamp>
---

# Summary

# Blockers

# Nits

# Evidence

# Deferred Or Follow-Up

Every blocker and nit must include an ID, a real section/path reference, the issue, and a concrete suggested fix. Blockers must also include the rationale for why the issue blocks approval.

Procedures

Step 0: Verify Compozy is available

1. Confirm the compozy binary is on PATH (e.g. command -v compozy). If missing, abort with a one-line message instructing the user to install Compozy. Do not fall back to a harness-native subagent — the cross-LLM independence is the point.
2. No agent install is required: this skill calls compozy exec directly (no --agent).

Step 1: Validate Input and Context

1. Resolve spec-path (see Inputs). If omitted and no .compozy/tasks/<slug>/_techspec.md exists, ask the user for a path and stop.
2. Confirm the user has already approved the current draft or explicitly asked to review the saved spec as-is.
3. Read the spec and confirm it is a final-shape design (has sections covering boundaries, implementation/plan, and verification/test strategy) — not a rough draft.
4. STOP. Read references/quality-markers.md in full before assessing readiness. The six markers are defined there, not here. Verify the spec carries all six. If any marker is missing, report the missing markers and ask the user whether to amend the spec first or proceed anyway — do not silently abort, and do not silently proceed.
5. Resolve <out> (see Output Directory) and ensure it exists and is writable.
6. Determine the next review round number by listing existing <out>/peer-review-findings-round*.md and <out>/peer-review-summary-round*.md files. Start at round1 when none exist.

Step 2: Compose the Review Prompt

1. STOP. Read references/peer-review-prompt.md in full before composing the prompt. It is the canonical executable reviewer prompt template; substitute its placeholders verbatim and do not paraphrase it. The assembled prompt must start with the reviewer instructions, not with a Markdown wrapper describing the template.
2. Define the round artifact paths under <out>/: peer-review-findings-roundN.md, peer-review-events-roundN.jsonl (event log), peer-review-result-roundN.err (stderr), peer-review-status-before-roundN.txt, peer-review-status-after-roundN.txt, and peer-review-validation-error-roundN.md (only when needed).
3. Discover project rule files that exist (CLAUDE.md, AGENTS.md, .cursor/rules/*, .cursorrules, CONTRIBUTING.md) to populate {project_rules}.
4. Substitute the placeholders:
   • {spec_path} — exact path to the spec under review.
   • {context_paths} — newline-separated paths from --context, or the literal none.
   • {project_rules} — newline-separated discovered rule-file paths, or none.
   • {findings_path} — exact absolute path to <out>/peer-review-findings-roundN.md.
   • {round} — numeric review round N.
5. Write the assembled prompt to <out>/peer-review-prompt-roundN.md.

Step 3: Execute the Cross-LLM Review

1. Capture the pre-run status snapshot:

   git status --short > <out>/peer-review-status-before-roundN.txt
   

2. Run (substitute the resolved --ide/--model/--reasoning, defaults claude/opus/xhigh):

   compozy exec --ide <ide> --model <model> --reasoning-effort <reasoning> --format json --prompt-file <out>/peer-review-prompt-roundN.md > <out>/peer-review-events-roundN.jsonl 2> <out>/peer-review-result-roundN.err
   

3. Capture the post-run status snapshot:

   git status --short > <out>/peer-review-status-after-roundN.txt
   

4. If the command returns a non-zero exit code, fail loudly. Do not retry silently. Inspect stderr for model misconfiguration (see Error Handling).

5. Treat peer-review-events-roundN.jsonl as operational evidence only. Do not parse it for readiness or findings.

6. Require the findings target file to exist after the command exits. If missing, the round is invalid even when compozy exec exited 0.

Step 4: Validate and Summarize Findings

1. Run the bundled read-only validator:

   bash <skill-dir>/scripts/validate-findings.sh --kind techspec --round N --path <out>/peer-review-findings-roundN.md
   

2. Manually inspect the findings file and verify the semantic contract:

   • every finding has a real section/path reference;
   • blockers include a rationale tied to project rules or architecture constraints;
   • no TBD, placeholder text, invented paths, or stdout-only findings;
   • comparing the pre/post status snapshots shows no changes outside the expected review artifact/log paths.

3. If validation fails, write <out>/peer-review-validation-error-roundN.md with the failed checks, command, exit status, and artifact paths. Do not summarize the round as READY.

4. Write <out>/peer-review-summary-roundN.md from the validated findings file with: the readiness verdict (READY / BLOCKED / NEEDS_REWORK); one-line rationale per blocker; the nits list; sections/ADRs likely affected; and the operational artifact paths.

5. Present a concise user-facing summary: verdict, blocker/nit counts, main themes, and the artifact paths written for the round.

6. Do NOT modify the spec or any ADRs yet.

Step 5: User-Directed Incorporation

1. Ask the user which findings to incorporate:
   • A) all blockers
   • B) selected blockers/nits
   • C) nothing
   • D) manual edits before any incorporation
2. Apply only the findings the user selected. Do not silently apply all blockers or all nits.
3. If incorporation requires an ADR or related-doc update, update only the docs tied to the selected findings.
4. Record the incorporation decision in <out>/peer-review-incorporation-roundN.md, listing incorporated items, deferred items, and files changed.
5. Show the user what changed and what remains deferred.

Step 6: Optional Additional Rounds

1. Ask whether the user wants another peer-review round or wants to stop with the current saved spec.
2. If the user requests another round, re-run from Step 2 against the updated spec and create a fresh roundN+1 artifact set in the same <out> directory.
3. Do not auto-loop. The user explicitly requests further rounds.

Critical Rules

• This skill never commits, pushes, opens PRs, or auto-approves specs.
• Prompt, event log, findings, summary, incorporation, and status snapshot artifacts are versioned with -roundN. Never overwrite a prior round.
• The compozy exec call is the only place this skill spends external review credit. Do not invoke it more than once per round unless the round is explicitly invalid and the user requests a rerun.
• The bundled helper paths (references/peer-review-prompt.md, references/quality-markers.md, scripts/validate-findings.sh) are read-only templates/helpers — read or run them, never edit them during a review round.

Error Handling

• Compozy not found: abort with a one-line install hint rather than swallowing or falling back to a harness-native subagent.
• Model misconfiguration (The model 'X' does not exist): stop and surface the configured model. The runtime may be set to a stale name. Do not mutate the call to substitute a model — verify with the user and record the failure in the round artifacts.
• --ide invalid: list the accepted values and ask the user to choose; do not fall back silently to claude.
• Quality markers missing: report the missing markers and ask whether to amend or proceed. Do not silently run the review on an incomplete spec.
• Missing findings file: treat as an invalid round, not a clean review. Write a validation-error artifact and ask whether to rerun.
• Malformed findings frontmatter or missing required sections: treat as an invalid round. Do not infer readiness from stdout.
• Empty or placeholder findings: treat empty # Blockers or # Nits sections as acceptable only when the section explicitly says None.; reject TBD, TODO, or vague placeholders.
• Existing peer-review files: never overwrite. All round artifacts are versioned with -roundN.