Review Checklist

Canonical source for pre-submit self-checks and review gates. Use this for both agent self-check and maintainer review. For hard invariants, see invariants.md. For workflow rules, see workflows.md.

Pre-submit self-check

Run before every PR submission.

CI gate

• make ci passes (fmt-check → lint → type → test → example).

Correctness

• Every changed docstring matches the actual implementation.
• Error messages are tested — tests assert both exception type and message string.
• Every new module has a corresponding test file.
• Every new SensitivityTag has a matching policy rule in evaluate().

Security

• No secret key material in logs, error messages, or traces.
• No security edge-case bypass vectors: whitespace-only justification, truncated JSON passed to json.loads(), bare int() on untrusted input.
• Token verification is not skipped or short-circuited.
• Firewall step is not bypassed — RawResult → Frame remains mandatory.
• No new raw response mode paths for non-admin principals.

Backward compatibility

• No new required methods added to an existing Protocol (breaks downstream).
• If a Protocol must change, consider a separate Protocol or default implementations.

Code hygiene

• No dead or unused code: parameters, fixtures, helpers.
• Modules stay ≤ 300 lines.
• Custom exceptions from errors.py, not bare ValueError/KeyError to callers.
• Domain vocabulary used consistently: capability, principal, grant, Frame.

Documentation

• CHANGELOG.md updated (for features and fixes).
• Naming consistent across docs and code (no mixed terminology).
• Stale docs fixed if spotted (code is authoritative).

Cross-file consistency checks

When a change touches one of these areas, verify the related files stay aligned:

If you change...	Also check...
A Kernel public method	docs/architecture.md, AGENTS.md, README quickstart
Policy rules or SensitivityTag	docs/capabilities.md, AGENTS.md security rules
Firewall behavior	docs/context_firewall.md, AGENTS.md security rules
Driver Protocol	docs/integrations.md, AGENTS.md driver how-to
pyproject.toml version	src/weaver_kernel/__init__.py __version__
Dependency list	AGENTS.md (justification required)
Error classes	errors.py naming convention (must end with Error)
Review checklist items	.github/copilot-instructions.md review checklist

Update triggers for this file

• A new review pattern is identified from PR feedback.
• A lesson from lessons-learned.md is promoted to a review check.
• CI gains new checks that make a manual check redundant (remove it).
• The definition of done changes (sync with workflows.md).