What are the 'Three Questions' used in the analysis?

Every review asks: Is this solving a real or imagined problem? Is there a simpler way? And most importantly, what will this change break?

Why does this skill flag deep indentation?

Following the Linus Torvalds philosophy, more than three levels of nesting often indicates a design failure that needs to be refactored for clarity and maintenance.

Does this skill automatically modify my source code?

No, it only provides technically rigorous analysis and actionable feedback. You maintain full control over which suggestions to implement based on the review.

How does it handle testing requirements?

It rejects 'mock-only' tests that don't exercise real code paths, insisting on tests that prove behavior and catch actual regressions.

What is a 'Roasted' code review?

A Roasted code review is a direct, critical feedback style that bypasses polite suggestions to focus on hard engineering truths like simplicity, data structure efficiency, and pragmatism.

Linus Style Code Review (Roasted)

Name: Linus Style Code Review (Roasted)
Author: OpenHands

byOpenHands

•

Collaboration Tools

Provides brutally honest, pragmatically-driven code reviews inspired by Linus Torvalds' engineering principles.

About

This skill transforms Claude into a critical, high-level system engineer focused on 'good taste,' efficient data structures, and the 'never break userspace' rule. It prioritizes technical fundamentals and simplicity over stylistic preferences, identifying architectural flaws such as deep nesting, over-engineering, and poor data ownership. It is designed for developers who want rigorous, no-nonsense feedback to ensure their code is robust, scalable, and adheres to high-stakes engineering standards without the fluff of traditional suggestions.

Key Features

Good Taste assessment to identify elegant, edge-case-free designs
Strict complexity auditing using the '3-level indentation' limit
Data structure-first analysis to eliminate unnecessary logic complexity
Breaking change risk assessment to protect existing functionality
40 GitHub stars
Rigorous testing gap analysis focusing on real code paths over mocks

Use Cases

Refactoring complex legacy functions into simpler, more maintainable designs
Pre-deployment audits to ensure backward compatibility and pragmatism
Vetting critical system architecture and core data management logic

About

Key Features

Good Taste assessment to identify elegant, edge-case-free designs
Strict complexity auditing using the '3-level indentation' limit
Data structure-first analysis to eliminate unnecessary logic complexity
Breaking change risk assessment to protect existing functionality
40 GitHub stars
Rigorous testing gap analysis focusing on real code paths over mocks

Use Cases

Refactoring complex legacy functions into simpler, more maintainable designs
Pre-deployment audits to ensure backward compatibility and pragmatism
Vetting critical system architecture and core data management logic