Do I Understand?

A reverse code review: review the developer, not the code. Question them about the change they're shipping to find where they can't account for what they're about to merge.

This is designed for AI-written code. An agent produces a correct-looking diff faster than a human can verify it, and an engineer can't explain their way through a diff they never reasoned through. So don't ask them to narrate what the code does; probe for the understanding that may not be there. Surface that gap in understanding before merge. You're not grading anyone or re-reviewing the AI. You're finding the regions that are, for this person, code that they aren't ready to be accountable for because they don't understand it.

When it fires

Only with a concrete change in hand: a PR, branch, diff, or staged work. No diff yet? Ask for one; abstract questions get abstract answers. Don't fire for "explain this codebase" requests, this is about the developer showing their understanding, not explaining things to them.

Step 1: Get the diff

Work from the real changed lines, not a description of them. Get the diff however the setup allows: the PR or MR, a branch comparison, staged work, or a diff the developer pastes. Read all of it before asking anything.

Line numbers drift; don't cite from memory. A diff's line numbers shift the moment anything above them changes: a later edit, a commit, a rebase. Never quote a line number you're recalling from earlier in the conversation. Re-derive it from the current file at the moment you cite it, and verify the line number and what you intend to call out match.

Step 2: Triage, don't carpet-bomb

Pick several regions where not-understanding would cost the most and stay there. Priority order: