# What Is the interface-review Skill? Purpose and Architecture Explained

> Discover the interface-review skill's purpose and architecture. Analyze code changes, resolve scope, and expand blast radius for interface-focused insights. Learn more!

- Repository: [Jakub Krehel/skills](https://github.com/jakubkrehel/skills)
- Tags: architecture
- Published: 2026-09-12

---

**The `interface-review` skill is a user-invoked entry point that examines code changes (pull requests, branches, or commit ranges) and produces an interface-focused analysis by resolving scope, expanding the blast radius, and classifying findings before delegating severity logic to `better-interface`.**

The `interface-review` skill in the `jakubkrehel/skills` repository provides targeted, change-centric auditing for UI surfaces. Unlike full repository scans, this skill focuses specifically on how code changes impact interface elements, making it ideal for reviewing pull requests and feature branches before they merge.

## Core Purpose of the interface-review Skill

The primary purpose of `interface-review` is to act as a **user-invoked review entry point** that examines a specific code change rather than performing a complete repository audit. According to [`skills/interface-review/SKILL.md`](https://github.com/jakubkrehel/skills/blob/main/skills/interface-review/SKILL.md), the skill handles pull requests, branches, commit ranges, and uncommitted work to identify interface-related impacts. It specializes in analyzing the **interface blast radius**—identifying which UI surfaces changed files affect and limiting the review to relevant consumers.

## How the interface-review Workflow Processes Code Changes

### Resolving the Change Scope

First, the skill determines which commits or references constitute the change. As specified in [`skills/interface-review/SKILL.md`](https://github.com/jakubkrehel/skills/blob/main/skills/interface-review/SKILL.md) lines 23-25, this resolution step handles various targets including PR numbers, branch names, and commit ranges to establish a concrete boundary for analysis.

### Expanding the Blast Radius

The skill identifies UI surfaces affected by changed files. Lines 51-57 of [`SKILL.md`](https://github.com/jakubkrehel/skills/blob/main/SKILL.md) describe how `interface-review` maps file changes to their consumer surfaces, bounding the review to only relevant interface components rather than scanning the entire codebase.

### Analyzing Diffs and Detecting Regressions

The tool reads the diff and analyzes both added (`+`) and removed (`-`) lines, treating removals as potential regressions. The [`skills/interface-review/removed-signals.md`](https://github.com/jakubkrehel/skills/blob/main/skills/interface-review/removed-signals.md) file defines specific signals used to detect when deleted code lines introduce interface regressions that could break existing functionality.

### Classifying Findings

Every finding receives a classification: `Introduced`, `Regression`, or `Pre-existing`. Lines 65-71 of [`SKILL.md`](https://github.com/jakubkrehel/skills/blob/main/SKILL.md) detail this triage system that determines whether a finding stems from the current change, represents a regression from removed code, or existed previously in the codebase.

### Delegating to better-interface

Finally, the skill passes the scoped change, affected surfaces, and finding statuses to `better-interface`. Lines 94-98 of [`SKILL.md`](https://github.com/jakubkrehel/skills/blob/main/SKILL.md) specify this handoff, where the orchestration layer applies severity rankings, consolidation, caps, and final verdicts using the full suite of domain heuristics.

## Running interface-review Commands

You invoke the skill through the command-line interface with specific targets:

Review a pull request:

```bash
/interface-review pr 482

```

This resolves PR #482, expands its surface impact, classifies findings, and hands results to `better-interface`.

Review a feature branch:

```bash
/interface-review branch feature/login-ui

```

If the branch contains uncommitted changes, the skill considers those first; otherwise, it resolves the branch's merge-base against the default branch.

Review a specific commit range:

```bash
/interface-review range a1b2c3d..e4f5g6h

```

This reads the diff between the two commits, expands consumer surfaces, and reports only interface-related findings from that specific range.

## Architecture and Integration with better-interface

The `interface-review` skill owns **scope resolution** and **blast radius calculation** but delegates domain-specific severity and verdict logic to `better-interface`. As documented in [`AGENTS.md`](https://github.com/jakubkrehel/skills/blob/main/AGENTS.md) lines 59-77, this creates a one-way dependency: `interface-review` passes classified findings to `better-interface`, which then routes issues to specialized domain skills (accessibility, colors, typography, etc.).

This architecture ensures that change-focused reviews remain lightweight while still benefiting from comprehensive interface heuristics. The separation of concerns allows `interface-review` to focus strictly on what changed and where, while `better-interface` determines how severe those changes are according to domain-specific rules.

## Summary

- The `interface-review` skill provides targeted, change-centric interface auditing for pull requests, branches, and commit ranges in the `jakubkrehel/skills` repository.
- It resolves change scope, expands the UI blast radius, and classifies findings as `Introduced`, `Regression`, or `Pre-existing` according to [`skills/interface-review/SKILL.md`](https://github.com/jakubkrehel/skills/blob/main/skills/interface-review/SKILL.md).
- The skill delegates severity, consolidation, and verdict logic to `better-interface`, maintaining a modular architecture defined in [`AGENTS.md`](https://github.com/jakubkrehel/skills/blob/main/AGENTS.md) that keeps change detection separate from domain analysis.

## Frequently Asked Questions

### What types of code changes can interface-review analyze?

The skill handles pull requests (by number), branches (local or remote), specific commit ranges (using `..` syntax), and uncommitted working tree changes. This flexibility allows developers to review exactly the scope they need without running full repository audits.

### How does interface-review detect regressions?

The skill treats removed lines (`-` in diffs) as potential regressions. According to [`skills/interface-review/removed-signals.md`](https://github.com/jakubkrehel/skills/blob/main/skills/interface-review/removed-signals.md), it analyzes deletion patterns to identify when interface functionality is removed, classifying these as `Regression` findings rather than introduced issues.

### What is the relationship between interface-review and better-interface?

`interface-review` owns **scope resolution** and the initial **blast radius** calculation, while `better-interface` owns **severity**, **consolidation**, and **verdict** logic. The former hands off classified findings to the latter, creating a pipeline where change detection stays separate from domain-specific analysis.

### Where is the interface-review skill defined in the repository?

The core specification lives in [`skills/interface-review/SKILL.md`](https://github.com/jakubkrehel/skills/blob/main/skills/interface-review/SKILL.md), with scope resolution details in [`skills/interface-review/scope-resolution.md`](https://github.com/jakubkrehel/skills/blob/main/skills/interface-review/scope-resolution.md) and regression detection in [`skills/interface-review/removed-signals.md`](https://github.com/jakubkrehel/skills/blob/main/skills/interface-review/removed-signals.md). The orchestration target `better-interface` is defined in [`skills/better-interface/SKILL.md`](https://github.com/jakubkrehel/skills/blob/main/skills/better-interface/SKILL.md), while [`AGENTS.md`](https://github.com/jakubkrehel/skills/blob/main/AGENTS.md) documents the high-level skill relationships.