The five review bars

---
name: review-bars
description: "Applies “The five review bars” as a repeatable product-quality gate. Use during quality work when speed, trust, restraint, scale, voice — ask all five before approving."
---

# The five review bars

Apply this skill during **Quality** work. It supports Any stack.

Speed, trust, restraint, scale, voice — ask all five before approving.

## Instructions

Review code and product against five bars, in this order: (1) Speed — does every interaction respond within 100ms with visible state? (2) Trust — are numbers exact, claims backed, empty/loading/error/after-success states present? (3) Restraint — what was removed; does every element serve the one claim of the surface? (4) Scale — does this survive 10× data without a rewrite? (5) Voice — does the copy sound human and specific? Reject with the bar named and a concrete fix, not a vibe. Approve only when you would put your own name on it.

## Detect the problem

- LGTM within a minute
- Feedback about vibes with no bar named
- Approving what you wouldn't sign

## Hold the gate

Do not declare this phase complete until every item passes:

- [ ] Linear bar: every interaction responds < 100ms, zero dead clicks
- [ ] Stripe bar: every number exact, every claim backed, every edge state designed
- [ ] Apple bar: something was removed; what remains is intentional
- [ ] Vercel bar: survives 10× the data without a rewrite
- [ ] Notion bar: the words sound like a person you'd hire

## Verify the result

Every review comment names its bar; approval states all five were checked.