---
name: algol
description: Govern code review for a project instead of performing it. Triggers when setting up or running Algol, defining or compiling review policy in .algol/policy.toml, routing a change to the right review engine by policy and undo-cost, reconciling findings from /code-review, ultra, gauntlet, or the deterministic collectors into one record, or recording a review decision with reopens-if conditions. Not a reviewer itself.
---

# Algol

Govern what gets reviewed and record what was decided. Algol reviews nothing itself.

Algol reads a project's versioned review standards, routes each change to the right engine per policy and undo-cost, reconciles every engine's findings into one record without silently upgrading a heuristic to verified, and preserves each human decision with the conditions that would reopen it.

v0.9.0, local scope. See `docs/DESIGN.md` for the full design and each `references/` file for a component's protocol.

## The pieces

- Policy model: versioned, path-scoped standards in `.algol/policy.toml`, compiled into review instructions, scanner rules, routing criteria, and a catalog. `tools/compile_policy.py`, `references/policy-model.md`.
- Evidence collectors: seclint (security) and brevlint (style and brevity), deterministic, emitting structured evidence rows. `tools/seclint.py`, `tools/brevlint.py`, `references/collectors.md`.
- policy-review: a model-pass harness that checks a change against the project's own standards, not a general bug hunt. `tools/policy_review.py`, `references/policy-review.md`.
- router: recommends skip, a collector, policy-review, `/code-review`, or `ultra` from policy and undo-cost, and escalates to the deep tier on undo-cost. Recommends, never auto-launches. `tools/router.py`, `references/router.md`.
- reconcile and the record: merges findings into one governed record, keeps verified distinct from heuristic, never upgrades silently, carries reopens-if on each disposition. `tools/reconcile.py`, `tools/record.py`, `references/reconcile-and-record.md`.
- Deep tier: routes to gauntlet and consumes its run record. `tools/gauntlet_adapter.py`, `references/deep-tier.md`.
- Composed axes: testing to evidence-locked-uat, efficiency to applying-formal-rigor. `tools/compose_adapter.py`, `references/composition.md`.
- Hooks: a non-modifying reversibility guard and a collector reporter. `tools/hooks.py`, `references/hooks.md`.

## The floor

The tool proposes; a human decides and runs the engine. No finding originates in Algol except the deterministic collector rows. A heuristic is never silently upgraded to verified.