candid

Candid

A Claude Code plugin for configurable code reviews that combine thoroughness with actionable feedback. Based on Kim Scott's Radical Candor framework: Care Personally + Challenge Directly.

Overview

Candid provides AI-powered code reviews that catch issues before production while teaching you better patterns. Choose between Harsh (brutal honesty) or Constructive (caring + challenging) tone. Define project-specific standards in Technical.md that get enforced automatically. Every issue comes with concrete fixes rated by confidence level.

Core Workflow

The review process follows these steps:

1. Run /candid-review on your changes
2. Select your preferred tone (Harsh or Constructive)
3. Candid reviews with full architectural context
4. Get categorized issues with actionable fixes
5. Select which issues to track as todos
6. Apply fixes and optionally auto-commit

Key Features

• Configurable Tone - Harsh (brutal honesty) or Constructive (caring + challenging)
• Technical.md Support - Define and enforce project-specific coding standards
• Focus Modes - Target reviews on security, performance, architecture, or edge cases
• Actionable Fixes - Every issue includes concrete code with confidence ratings
• Re-Review - Track progress on fixes across review sessions
• Auto-Commit - Automatically commit applied fixes with detailed messages
• Todo Integration - Convert issues to tracked todos with multi-select
• Issue Categorization - Organized by severity (Critical → Architectural)
• Context Optimization - Audit and optimize token usage for leaner, deeper reviews

Installation

npx skills add https://github.com/ron-myers/candid

Then restart Claude Code.

Quick Start

Basic review:

/candid-review

With tone preset:

/candid-review --harsh
/candid-review --constructive

Focus on specific aspects:

/candid-review --focus security
/candid-review --focus performance

Auto-commit applied fixes:

/candid-review --auto-commit

Documentation

Full documentation at www.candid.tools:

• Getting Started - Installation and first review
• Core Features - Tone selection, focus modes, Technical.md
• Team Setup - Rolling out to your team
• Custom Standards - Writing effective Technical.md rules
• Complete Reference - All configuration options and flags
• FAQ & Troubleshooting - Common issues and solutions

Technical.md

Define project-specific standards that Candid enforces during reviews. Violations appear as 📜 Standards Violation in your review.

Quick setup:

/candid-init                    # Auto-generate from codebase (thorough analysis)
/candid-init react              # React-specific standards
/candid-init minimal            # Minimal starter
/candid-init --effort quick     # Fast analysis (~30 sec)
/candid-init --effort thorough  # Deep analysis (~3-5 min, default)

Or copy a template:

cp templates/Technical-minimal.md ./Technical.md
cp templates/Technical-react.md ./Technical.md
cp templates/Technical-node.md ./Technical.md

Keep it focused: under 500 lines, verifiable rules only. Skip what your linter handles. See the Custom Standards guide for detailed guidance.

Configuration

Persist your tone preference and other settings in config files:

User-wide default:

mkdir -p ~/.candid
echo '{"tone": "harsh"}' > ~/.candid/config.json

Project-specific:

mkdir -p .candid
echo '{"tone": "constructive", "autoCommit": true}' > .candid/config.json

See the Config Reference for all options including exclude patterns, focus areas, and mergeTargetBranches.

Philosophy

This plugin is built on the Radical Candor principle that the best feedback:

1. Cares Personally - Shows understanding of context and difficulty
2. Challenges Directly - Doesn't hedge or soften real issues

Whether you choose Harsh or Constructive tone, every review aims to find real issues before production, provide immediately applicable fixes, help you track what needs doing, and teach patterns that prevent future problems.

Updating

claude plugin update candid@candid

Then restart Claude Code. See CHANGELOG.md for version history.

Links