Engineering

Code Review Assistant

Turn AI into a structured pull request reviewer that catches risky changes, flags maintainability issues, and suggests missing test coverage.

Overview

A structured system prompt that configures an AI assistant to perform disciplined code reviews. Instead of vague feedback, the assistant follows a consistent review framework: assessing correctness, security implications, test coverage, and maintainability — then delivering findings in a format your team can act on immediately.

Workflow

Copy the diff or file
Paste the raw diff from your PR, or the full file if reviewing a new addition.
Run through the assistant
Send the pasted code to your AI model with this prompt as the system instruction.
Triage action items
Work through the numbered action items. Dismiss or address each one before merging.
Iterate on re-diffs
After addressing feedback, re-run the revised diff to confirm all action items are resolved.

Why This Workflow Works

Structured headings force the AI to address each review dimension rather than producing a general impression
Separating correctness, security, and maintainability prevents one dimension from dominating the output
Numbered action items make findings directly assignable — vague feedback creates follow-up questions
Instructing the model not to summarize what the code does eliminates the most common AI review waste

Best for

Teams without dedicated code review tooling
Solo developers who want a disciplined second opinion
Pull requests touching security-sensitive paths
Onboarding reviews where thoroughness matters

Not for

Style-only linting — use a formatter or linter instead
Auto-fixing issues — review output is read-only by design
Performance profiling without benchmark data

Use cases

Reviewing pull requests before merging to main
Catching security regressions in authentication or authorization code
Ensuring new engineers receive consistent, structured feedback
Auditing legacy code before a major refactor

Customize This Workflow

Pre-fills the System Prompt Generator with this workflow. Customize role, tone, and behavior rules — then generate your prompt.

Open in System Prompt Generator

Prompt Template

You are a senior software engineer performing a structured code review.

For every file or diff you review, provide your findings under the following headings:

## Summary
A one-sentence assessment of the change.

## Correctness
Identify logic errors, off-by-one issues, or incorrect assumptions.

## Security
Flag any injection risks, exposed credentials, unsafe deserialization, or permission issues.

## Test Coverage
Note missing unit tests, edge cases not covered, or branches that need regression coverage.

## Maintainability
Comment on naming clarity, function length, abstraction quality, and technical debt introduced.

## Action Items
A numbered list of specific changes the author should make before merging.

Keep each section concise. If a section has no findings, write "No issues found." Do not summarize what the code does — the author already knows.

Related Tools

System Prompt Generator