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The Craft of Code Review
The hands-on series: how to review large pull requests without drowning, what to look for in migrations, APIs, frontend changes, tests and refactors, and how to write feedback that gets acted on instead of resented.
June 10, 2026Why are pull requests so hard to review?Pull request review is slow because reading code is harder than writing it, and the tools make it worse. The four real causes, and what actually helps.June 12, 2026How to review large pull requests without losing your mindA practical, step-by-step method for reviewing large pull requests: triage the files that matter, review in passes, and keep your place in a 40-file diff.June 14, 2026How big should a pull request be?The research-backed answer on pull request size: under ~400 changed lines, smaller is better. Where the number comes from, when to break it, how to split.June 28, 2026Author self-review: the cheapest code review you’re not doingSelf-review your pull request before requesting eyes: catch the cheap defects at the cheapest point and halve reviewer round-trips. A five-minute pass.June 30, 2026Nitpicks are killing your code reviewCode review nitpicking crowds out logic review, demoralizes authors, and slows merges. Automate the nits, label the rest, save attention for what matters.July 2, 2026Re-reviewing a PR after changes: the interdiff problemHow to review changes since your last review: the interdiff problem, force-push pain, git range-diff, and commit-scoped diffs that keep threads intact.
Coming July 6, 2026Atomic commits make reviewable PRs
Coming July 22, 2026Risk based code review: tier your rigor by blast radius
Coming August 5, 2026A code review checklist that fits in your head: three passes, seven questions
Coming August 7, 2026A security code review checklist for auth, payments, and input handling
Coming August 9, 2026How to review database migrations
Coming August 11, 2026How to review API changes without breaking clients
Coming August 13, 2026How to review frontend pull requests beyond looks fine
Coming August 15, 2026How to review test code so that green means something
Coming August 17, 2026How to review a refactor when the claim is no behavior change
Coming August 19, 2026How to review dependency updates without reflex-merging
Coming August 21, 2026How to review infrastructure as code and config changes
Coming August 23, 2026Code review comments that land: examples, rewrites, and severity
Coming August 25, 2026When to request changes in a code review, and when to approve with comments
Coming August 27, 2026How to do your first code review without pretending to know everything