Skimless MCP server

Skimless

English · Português

The reading order for pull requests that got too big.

Skimless turns a diff into a packet: what to read first, which files can wait, and which lines deserve a human. It runs on your machine. It does not call a model, post a comment, or phone home.

Zero runtime dependencies. Node.js 22 or newer. A CLI, a GitHub Action, a library, and an MCP server for AI agents. Packets in English and Portuguese.

npx skimless demo

skimless  Do not skim this one
14 files · +86 −8 · about 2 min. 5 high-priority findings.
First pass: index.ts, fixture.ts, verify.ts.

 1  src/api/index.ts                  Public export changed
 2  src/webhooks/fixture.ts           Secret-shaped string added
 3  src/webhooks/verify.ts            Signature compared with ==
 4  .github/workflows/release.yml     Workflow grants write permissions
 5  src/billing/invoice.ts            Billing path changed
 6  test/webhooks/verify.test.ts      Test file deleted
 7  migrations/2026_09_23_api_keys.sql
 8  src/billing/charge.ts
 9  package.json                      Dependency manifest changed
10  Dockerfile
11  test/billing/charge.test.ts       Can wait
12  docs/webhooks.md                  Can wait
13  package-lock.json                 Can wait
14  src/generated/types.ts            Can wait

The sample verify.ts calls timingSafeEqual on a buffer compared with itself. Skimless has no rule for that. It puts the file third, under the live-shaped key, so a person sees it. That is the product: a path through the diff, not a verdict.

English packet · Pacote em português · A real diff: Express 4.21.2 → 5.0.0

Why this exists

Pull requests written with an agent get big. The reviewer opens the first file, gets tired, and approves the lockfile with the same glance they would give a migration. Skimless tells you where skimming is safe and where it is not: the public API first, the sharp edges next, the noise at the end. The score is a reading priority. A quiet packet does not prove the diff is safe.

Run it

npx skimless demo
npx skimless demo --lang pt --format html --out skimless.html
npx skimless review --base origin/main --format all --out skimless --fail-on high

Or install it once with npm install -g skimless and call skimless.

--format all writes skimless.html, skimless.md, and skimless.json. Secret-shaped strings are redacted unless you pass --no-redact. --fail-on defaults to none locally. In CI, use high.

On a generated 2,000-file diff, a review packet comes back in about 100 ms on a laptop. npm run bench prints the number for your machine.

import { redactPacket, reviewDiff } from "skimless";

const packet = redactPacket(reviewDiff(patch, { order: "story", lang: "pt", budgetMinutes: 25 }));
packet.readingOrder.forEach((stop) => console.log(stop.path, stop.reason));

What the packet is

Shortened. The full README is on GitHub.