archetype-review-base

Archetype-review-base — shared review framework

Every domain reviewer follows this skeleton. Each reviewer's own SKILL.md adds the domain heuristics on top. This skill defines the parts that must be IDENTICAL across all reviewers.

Output artifact (canonical)

Pre-implementation reviewers (the 60+ *-reviewer agents, invoked by architect BEFORE senior-dev claims tasks) write a threat model at docs/sec-threats/TM-{slug}.md and append a <!-- HANDOFF --> block (see "Workflow scaffold" below). That is the convention 64/64 reviewers use today.

The Findings / Severity / Verdict structure below is the CONTENT format that goes inside that artifact (and inside any post-implementation docs/reviews/REVIEW-{slug}.md produced by a review-tier agent). Path differs by phase; the section grammar is identical.

Mandatory report sections

The report (TM or REVIEW) MUST contain these sections in this exact order:

# REVIEW-{slug} — {reviewer name}

Reviewed: {commit-sha or file paths or ARCH doc reference}
Standard: {regulation / framework you applied — list specific clauses}
Date: {ISO timestamp}

## Scope

2-3 sentences. What did you look at? What's intentionally out of scope?

## Findings

For each finding, use this exact format:

- **[Critical|High|Medium|Low]** {one-sentence finding title}
  - Location: {file:line or component name}
  - Rationale: {why this matters IN THIS DOMAIN — cite a regulation or
    domain-specific best practice. Generic "could be a problem" is
    rejected.}
  - Remediation: {specific fix — code change, config change, or
    architectural change. NOT "consider adding X" — write the exact change.}
  - References: {URL or document section}

Order findings: Critical → High → Medium → Low.
If no findings at a tier, write: "_None at {tier} severity._"

## Verdict

VERDICT: {APPROVED|BLOCKED} reason="{specific reason}"

Severity scale (DOMAIN-anchored)

Severity is graded against THIS DOMAIN's regulatory or correctness baseline, not generic STRIDE severity. Examples:

• A PCI reviewer rating an unencrypted PAN at REST = Critical (PCI scope violation; immediate regulatory exposure)
• An oracle reviewer rating a Chainlink staleness < 1h = High (likely OK now, MEV vulnerable in stress)
• A gov reviewer rating Section 508 a11y gaps = High (federal contract risk; not Critical because not an immediate breach)

Cite the standard in Rationale. If you can't, the finding is probably generic and should be reduced one severity tier (the security-officer agent handles generic concerns).

Verdict rules

• VERDICT: APPROVED is allowed only when ALL Critical and ALL High findings have remediation in the bd backlog. (Use bd ready --label {your-archetype} to check.)
• VERDICT: BLOCKED is required when even one Critical or High has no remediation, OR when discovery surfaced an unknown that you couldn't resolve.
• Medium and Low findings do NOT block. Note them; pipeline continues.

Domain heuristic vs generic check

You are the SPECIALIST. Your job is the domain-specific stuff that generic STRIDE / OWASP misses. Decision rule:

The check is about…	Belongs to
Card data, PCI scope, idempotency in payments	pci-reviewer
Oracle staleness, MEV, contract upgradeability	oracle-reviewer
PHI flows, BAA chain, FHIR/HL7	healthcare-reviewer
Generic XSS, SQLi, weak hashing, secrets in source	security-officer (NOT you)
Generic "needs error handling"	senior-dev / code-reviewer (NOT you)

If a finding is generic, mention it briefly but DON'T inflate severity. Defer to the appropriate generic reviewer.

Apply skeptical-triage

Before emitting VERDICT: BLOCKED, apply the skeptical-triage skill (3 rounds of self-challenge). False-positive BLOCKED at gate:plan wastes CTO time. Only block when 3/3 rounds confirm.

Verdict log line

After writing your report, append ONE line to your verdict log:

{ISO-ts} {APPROVED|BLOCKED} feature={slug} review=docs/reviews/REVIEW-{slug}-{reviewer}.md criticals={N} highs={M} mediums={K} cost=${USD}

The board's readVerdicts() parser anchors on the leading timestamp. Format MUST be space-separated; pipe-separated form parses as verdict='|' and breaks the pipeline status display.

Prose rules — apply skill prose-style

• No hedge words ("generally", "somewhat", "maybe")
• Lead with the conclusion
• Concrete evidence (file:line) over adjectives
• No filler openings ("In this review, we will...")
• Verdict line on the LAST line of the report

When to escalate vs review

Escalate to security-officer (not just BLOCK) when:

• The finding crosses your domain boundary (e.g. PCI reviewer hits a generic SQLi — that's security-officer's job)
• A regulatory question is ambiguous (e.g. "is this BA or sub-processor under HIPAA?")
• The user has provided conflicting requirements (BLOCKED on contradictions, not on your domain expertise)

Escalation: create a bd task with label security-officer and blocks your review verdict.

Self-test before sign-off

Before writing your verdict line, grep your draft for:

• \b(generally|somewhat|fairly|mostly|possibly|perhaps|maybe)\b — rewrite
• Any finding without a Location line — fix
• Any finding without Remediation as a SPECIFIC change — fix
• Any Critical/High without remediation-in-bd — flip to BLOCKED

If any check fires in a non-quoted block, fix before signing off.

Workflow scaffold (shared — your prompt must NOT repeat this)

Every reviewer shares the same skeleton. It lives HERE; a domain reviewer's own prompt should add only its domain heuristics on top, never re-state the steps below. (Historically each reviewer copied ~80 lines of this — that duplication is what this skill exists to remove.)

When you are invoked

• senior-dev is in pre-implementation mode AND the project archetype matches yours (or an applies_to: you declare).
• Architect has finished the ARCH doc; senior-dev has NOT started coding.
• Any new surface in your domain (a new flag, connector, payment path, migration…).

You run BEFORE senior-dev claims tasks. Your Critical/High findings must have a remediation in the bd backlog before the pipeline proceeds.

Step 0 — Read inputs (canonical; do not re-derive)

mkdir -p docs/sec-threats
ARCH=$(ls docs/architecture/ARCH-*.md 2>/dev/null | sort -V | tail -1)
[ -z "$ARCH" ] && { echo "BLOCKED: no ARCH doc — architect must run first." >&2; exit 1; }
SLUG=$(basename "$ARCH" .md | sed 's/^ARCH-//')
TM="docs/sec-threats/TM-${SLUG}.md"

Then read, in order: the ARCH doc's domain-relevant sections, the source files in your domain, and any .great_cto/PROJECT.md fields your domain needs (e.g. code-sets:, payers:, compliance:).

Output — docs/sec-threats/TM-${SLUG}.md

Use your domain template at skills/great_cto/templates/TM-{archetype}.md if one exists, else the Findings/Severity/Verdict grammar above. End the file with a hand-off block the orchestrator parses:

<!-- HANDOFF -->
{your-name}-verdict: signed-off | blocked
critical-findings: <N>
high-findings: <M>
must-implement-before-senior-dev:
  - <specific change 1>
  - <specific change 2>
gate: <gate:domain-signoff or — if none>

Do NOT include in your prompt

• A "## Skills used" footer — your skills: frontmatter is the source of truth.
• A re-statement of the severity scale, verdict rules, prose rules, escalation policy, or self-test — all defined above in THIS skill.
• A copy of the Step-0 bash — it is canonical here.

See skills/archetype-review-base/reviewer-template.md for the minimal shape a domain reviewer should follow after this scaffold is factored out.