Rust Code Review Skill

Review Rust code changes following the project's Rust Code Review Guide.

When to Use

Use this skill when:

•Reviewing Rust code changes or pull requests
•Checking Rust-specific patterns (ownership, lifetimes, traits)
•Reviewing unsafe code blocks
•Evaluating Rust API design and idioms

Prerequisites

This skill extends the general code review process. For general review principles, see:

•.aiassisted/guidelines/engineering/code-review-process.md

Instructions

Step 1: Load the Guidelines

Read the Rust-specific review guide:

•Primary: .aiassisted/guidelines/rust/rust-code-review-guide.md

Step 2: Verify Compilation

All code must compile with zero warnings:

bash

cargo check 2>&1 | grep -c warning  # Must be 0
cargo clippy 2>&1 | grep -c warning  # Must be 0

Check for lint overrides - any #[allow(...)] must have documented reason. Prefer #[expect(...)] with reason.

Step 3: Review Checklist

Safety and Soundness

• Is unsafe actually necessary? (FFI, performance with benchmarks, novel abstractions)
• Safety invariants documented in // SAFETY: comments
• No undefined behavior risks
• Send/Sync implementations are correct

Error Handling

• Libraries use canonical error structs (not anyhow/eyre)
• Errors implement std::error::Error, Debug, Display
• Panics only for programming errors, not recoverable errors
• unwrap()/expect() have clear justification

Ownership and Lifetimes

• Ownership transfers are intentional
• No unnecessary cloning
• References used where ownership not needed
• Lifetimes as simple as possible

API Design

• Public types implement common traits (Debug, Clone, PartialEq, etc.)
• Sensitive types have redacted Debug
• Follow as_/to_/into_ conventions
• Getters have no get_ prefix
• No smart pointers in public APIs unless fundamental

Performance

• No unnecessary allocations in hot paths
• String vs &str, Vec<T> vs &[T] used appropriately
• Arc only when concurrent shared ownership required

Testing

• Unit tests for success and error paths
• Edge cases covered (empty, boundaries, Unicode)
• Test names: test_<function>_<scenario>

Documentation

• All public items have doc comments
• # Errors section for Result functions
• # Panics section if function can panic
• # Safety section for unsafe functions

Step 4: Load Pattern-Specific Guidelines

Based on code patterns, load additional guidelines from .aiassisted/guidelines/rust/:

Code Pattern	Guideline File
Builder pattern	`rust-builder-pattern-guide.md`
Trait objects, generics	`rust-dispatch-guide.md`
`Box`, `Rc`, `Arc`, `RefCell`	`rust-smart-pointers-guide.md`
Enums with data, sum types	`rust-adt-implementation-guide.md`
Factory/creation patterns	`rust-factory-pattern-guide.md`
Typestate machines	`rust-typestate-pattern-guide.md`
`Cargo.toml` changes	`rust-dependency-management-guide.md`
Module reorganization	`rust-main-lib-crate-structure-guide.md`

Step 5: Provide Feedback

Format your review:

Strengths

•What follows guidelines well
•Good patterns and idioms

Issues

•File and line number
•Guideline violated (cite specific file/section)
•Recommended fix

Suggestions

•Optional improvements (use Nit: or Optional: labels)

Example Comments

code

Nit: Consider using `&str` instead of `String` here since the function
doesn't need ownership.

---

This `unwrap()` could panic if the config file is missing. Consider
returning a `Result` or using `expect()` with a descriptive message.

---

The `Arc` here adds unnecessary overhead since this code runs sequentially.
A reference would suffice. See rust-smart-pointers-guide.md for guidance.

---

FYI: The builder pattern guide recommends consuming builders for this
use case. Not blocking, but worth considering for consistency.

Core Principle

Approve a change once it definitely improves the overall code health of the Rust codebase, even if it is not perfect.

Apply general code review principles with additional attention to Rust's unique characteristics: ownership, lifetimes, safety, and idiomatic patterns.

References

•Primary: .aiassisted/guidelines/rust/rust-code-review-guide.md
•Prerequisite: .aiassisted/guidelines/engineering/code-review-process.md
•Pattern guides: .aiassisted/guidelines/rust/*.md

Always load and follow the guidelines as the authoritative source.