---
name: critique
description: >
  Apply structured critique to any artifact — plans, designs, specs, code, or
  documentation. Used by specialist agents during review steps and by the lead
  to validate work before phase transitions. Automatically invoked when reviewing
  phase outputs.
autoInvoke: true
---

# Critique Skill

Apply honest, structured critique to the artifact being reviewed. The goal is to find problems before they compound — not to be nice.

## Critique Framework

For any artifact, evaluate against these dimensions:

### 1. Completeness
- Does it cover everything it should?
- Are there gaps, missing sections, or undefined behaviors?
- Would someone starting from scratch have enough information to proceed?

### 2. Correctness
- Are the claims accurate?
- Do the examples actually work?
- Are there logical contradictions?
- Do the numbers add up?

### 3. Clarity
- Can someone unfamiliar with the context understand this?
- Are there ambiguous terms or undefined jargon?
- Is the structure logical and navigable?

### 4. Feasibility
- Can this actually be built as described?
- Are the estimates realistic?
- Are there hidden dependencies or assumptions?
- What's the hardest part and has it been adequately addressed?

### 5. Risk
- What could go wrong?
- What's the blast radius of a failure?
- Are there single points of failure?
- Has security been considered?

### 6. Standards Compliance
- Does it follow the project's coding/design standards?
- Are the right tools and languages being used per CLAUDE.md?
- Is it modular and extractable?
- Does it include tests and documentation?

## Output Format

```markdown
## Critique: [Artifact Name]
### Reviewer: [agent name]
### Date: [date]

### Overall Assessment
[1-2 sentences: overall quality and readiness]

### Strengths
- [What's good about this]

### Issues
#### Critical (must fix before proceeding)
- [Issue and why it matters]

#### Important (should fix)
- [Issue and recommendation]

#### Minor (nice to have)
- [Suggestion]

### Questions
- [Things that are unclear and need answers]

### Verdict: APPROVE / REVISE / RETHINK
```

## Rules

- Be specific. "This is unclear" is not useful. "The error handling for API timeouts is undefined — what happens when the external service doesn't respond within 5s?" is useful.
- Cite the exact section, line, or component you're critiquing.
- Always include at least one strength — find something genuinely good.
- REVISE means fixable with targeted changes. RETHINK means the approach may need fundamental reconsideration.
- If you don't have enough context to critique properly, say so — don't fake a review.
