custom_github_copilot_agent_builder code-review-generic.instructions.md

A reusable checklist for reviewing code, covering security, correctness, breaking changes, data loss, tests, code quality, performance, and architecture. It is intended for use with GitHub Copilot and can be adapted to different projects and review languages.

In plain words
What is it for?
Use it to review pull requests, check new code for security and logic problems, find missing tests, and identify performance or design concerns.
Why use it?
It helps reviewers spot serious risks consistently instead of focusing only on style. Issues are grouped by urgency so blocking problems are handled first.

Instructions file for GitHub Copilot

Install

Getting it into your agent

One page per mod, every tool's command on it. A separate URL per tool would split the same page into five that compete with each other.

agentmods
npx agentmods add instructions/dhar174/custom_github_copilot_agent_builder/code-review-generic
Clone the repo
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/dhar174/custom_github_copilot_agent_builder

Made for: GitHub Copilot.

Per session 3,268 This file is loaded in full into every session.
When invoked 3,268 The same file — it is already loaded in full.
Security scan A 0 findings. Scan, not verified.
Origin 100% copy Near-identical to another mod in the catalogue.
Token cost

What it costs to keep this loaded

Counted locally with the o200k_base tokenizer, which is exact for GPT models; Claude uses its own tokenizer and its counts differ. Treat this as one consistent yardstick across the catalogue rather than a bill. Prices are per million input tokens.

ModelPer sessionOnce invoked
Fable 5 $0.03268 $0.03268
Opus 5 $0.01634 $0.01634
Sonnet 5 $0.00654 $0.00654
Haiku 4.5 $0.00327 $0.00327

Measured yesterday against content hash 2c0be4abc378, method: parsed. Prices are Anthropic first-party input rates as of 2026-08-30, from the pricing page.

Security

Grade A, and why

custom_github_copilot_agent_builder code-review-generic.instructions.md scanned grade A with 0 findings against 26 rules in 11 categories — prompt injection, anti-refusal, data exfiltration, privilege escalation, supply chain, agent snooping, system-prompt leakage, SSRF and excessive agency — measured yesterday.

A static scan of the body, not an audit. Every finding is printed with the line that produced it so you can judge whether it matters here. A mod is markdown that instructs an agent; that is exactly why what it instructs is worth reading.

Nothing flagged

None of the 26 patterns this scan looks for appear in this file: no shell pipes, no recursive deletes, no credential paths, no hidden text, no instruction-override or anti-refusal phrasing, no agent-config snooping. That is not a guarantee, it is the absence of the things that are checkable.

Origin

This is a copy

100% identical to gitlab-mcp-server code-review-generic.instructions.md — 31 lines differ, which has more behind it and is treated as the original. This page carries a canonical link to it rather than competing with it.

.github/instructions/code-review-generic.instructions.md · 419 lines

How it starts

The opening of the file, as written. The whole thing — 419 lines — stays where its author put it; the contents beside it link to each section on GitHub.

Generic Code Review Instructions

Comprehensive code review guidelines for GitHub Copilot that can be adapted to any project. These instructions follow best practices from prompt engineering and provide a structured approach to code quality, security, testing, and architecture review.

Review Language

When performing a code review, respond in English (or specify your preferred language).

Customization Tip: Change to your preferred language by replacing "English" with "Portuguese (Brazilian)", "Spanish", "French", etc.

Review Priorities

When performing a code review, prioritize issues in the following order:

🔴 CRITICAL (Block merge)

  • Security: Vulnerabilities, exposed secrets, authentication/authorization issues
  • Correctness: Logic errors, data corruption risks, race conditions
  • Breaking Changes: API contract changes without versioning
  • Data Loss: Risk of data loss or corruption

🟡 IMPORTANT (Requires discussion)

  • Code Quality: Severe violations of SOLID principles, excessive duplication
  • Test Coverage: Missing tests for critical paths or new functionality
  • Performance: Obvious performance bottlenecks (N+1 queries, memory leaks)
  • Architecture: Significant deviations from established patterns

🟢 SUGGESTION (Non-blocking improvements)

  • Readability: Poor naming, complex logic that could be simplified
  • Optimization: Performance improvements without functional impact
  • Best Practices: Minor deviations from conventions
  • Documentation: Missing or incomplete comments/documentation

General Review Principles

When performing a code review, follow these principles:

  1. Be specific: Reference exact lines, files, and provide concrete examples
  2. Provide context: Explain WHY something is an issue and the potential impact
  3. Suggest solutions: Show corrected code when applicable, not just what's wrong
  4. Be constructive: Focus on improving the code, not criticizing the author
  5. Recognize good practices: Acknowledge well-written code and smart solutions
  6. Be pragmatic: Not every suggestion needs immediate implementation
  7. Group related comments: Avoid multiple comments about the same topic

Read the full file on GitHub · 419 lines

Changes

What this file has done since we first saw it

Hashed on every crawl. A supply-chain change to an agent config is a question of when, not whether, so the history is kept rather than the latest state alone.

  1. yesterday First seen · 419 lines · 3,268 tokens per session scan A 2c0be4abc378

Subscribe to this mod's changes

custom_github_copilot_agent_builder code-review-generic.instructions.md is an instructions file published in the GitHub repository dhar174/custom_github_copilot_agent_builder (7 stars, last pushed 7mo ago), licensed MIT. It adds 3,268 tokens to every session, about $0.0163 per session on Opus 5. A static security scan graded it A with 0 findings. It is 100% identical to gitlab-mcp-server code-review-generic.instructions.md, differing in 31 lines, and is treated as a copy.

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