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Socratic Review

Checked
rysweet·vlatest·other

Critically examines user reasoning through targeted questions, revealing assumptions and strengthening arguments.

Repository

Install on your platform

Showing Claude Code. One command installs this skill into any of the agents below.

  1. 1

    Run this in your project

    terminal
    $ npx skills add rysweet/amplihack --skill socratic-review -a claude-code

  2. Uses the open-source skills CLI and needs Node.js. Add -g to install it for your user instead of this project.

What we know about this skill

Publisher

rysweet

Taken from the source listing. We haven't verified who controls this account.

Install target

Live repository

Not pinned. Installing fetches whatever the repository holds at the time you run the command.

No human has reviewed this code. The checks below are a static scan of the files at one commit — nobody has run this skill or judged whether it works. A skill runs with whatever access you give your agent, so read the source before you install it.

Automated safety checks

scanned

This skill passed all 6 checks. We read its files at one commit and looked for the things that make a skill dangerous to run — not for whether it works.

  • Declares what it does: passed

    SKILL.md parses and declares a name and a description.

    SKILL.md exists, its frontmatter parses, and it declares a name and a description.

  • No undeclared network calls: passed

    Makes no network calls.

    Every host the skill dials — from its scripts, its config endpoints or the commands it tells the agent to run — is either well-known package and API infrastructure or declared in its own frontmatter. Links in documentation are not counted.

  • No obfuscated payloads: passed

    No encoded or obfuscated payloads.

    No base64, hex or compressed blob is decoded and then executed, and no encoded shell commands.

  • No credential access: passed

    Reads no keys, tokens, keychains or credential files.

    Neither the code nor the SKILL.md instructions read SSH keys, cloud credentials, keychains, token stores, browser cookie databases or dotfiles that hold secrets.

  • No pipe-to-shell installers: passed

    No pipe-to-shell or download-and-run installers.

    No `curl … | sh` pattern, in the code or in the instructions, that runs code fetched at run time.

  • Pinned to a commit: passed

    Scanned rysweet/amplihack at 84424457d5.

    The exact upstream commit SHA that was scanned is recorded, so the result refers to specific bytes.

Commit
84424457d5
Manifest
.claude/skills/socratic-review/SKILL.md
Scanned
1 file, 294 lines
This is a static scan, not a review. It reads the skill's files; it does not run them, and it cannot tell you whether the skill is any good or whether the code does what its description says. A skill runs with whatever access you give your agent.
What each check looks for →

About this skill

What it does

The Socratic Review skill facilitates a unique code review process where, instead of directly pointing out errors, the AI agent asks probing questions to guide the developer in identifying issues and articulating their reasoning. This approach aims for deeper understanding and ownership of insights by the developer, rather than simply achieving compliance with coding standards. The tool analyzes code and poses targeted questions across design, edge cases, clarity, philosophy, failure modes, and testing.

When to use it

  • When you desire a deep understanding of the code beyond just fixing errors.
  • To encourage developers to own their insights and learning.
  • When design decisions require clear articulation and documentation.
  • To uncover hidden assumptions within the codebase.
  • During mentoring or onboarding processes for new team members.

Key capabilities

  • Socratic Questioning: Poses targeted questions to guide code review, rather than providing direct feedback.
  • Context Analysis: Analyzes code complexity and patterns to identify areas needing deeper investigation.
  • Categorized Questions: Asks questions categorized as Design, Edge Cases, Clarity, Philosophy, Failure Modes, and Testing.
  • Depth Levels: Offers three review depths: Quick (3-5 questions), Standard (7-10 questions), and Deep (15-20 questions).
  • Focus on Specific Code Elements: Allows focusing the review on specific functions or classes.
  • Non-Interactive Mode: Provides a non-interactive mode for automated code review processes, synthesizing results without user interaction.
  • Output Options: Supports structured JSON output and writing insights to a DECISIONS.md file.

Example prompts

  • /socratic-review src/auth/ (Reviews the entire src/auth/ directory)
  • /socratic-review path/to/file.py --depth = quick (Performs a quick review of path/to/file.py)
  • /socratic-review path/to/file.py --focus = "calculate_total" (Reviews only the calculate_total function in path/to/file.py)

Tips & gotchas

  • This skill is designed for learning and understanding, not for rapid feedback or generating formal documentation.
  • The review depth significantly impacts the time required; a "deep" review can take considerable time.
  • For automated CI pipelines, use the --non-interactive flag to avoid requiring manual interaction.