# fix(review): restore the judge's 20m effective bound + stale help (trail findings)

`50698ad`→[main](/content/gh/entireio/cli/commits/main/index.html)· peyton-alt·1w ago·3 files·+18 added/-11 removed

Trail findings on this branch caught two regressions the reviews missed:

- The judge's effective no-flag bound silently dropped 20m -> 5m: on main the --timeout flag default (20m) always flowed into SynthesisSink.ProviderTimeout, so the 5m defaultSynthesisProviderTimeout was nearly dead code on this path; with the flag default now 0, the 5m fallback became live and tightened the judge 4x — against this PR's own thesis, and a judge timeout discards the whole multi-reviewer run with no verdict. The synthesis default is now 20m, preserving the prior effective bound while keeping the judge always bounded.

- The command's Long help still promised 'default 20m; 0 disables both bounds' — both claims stale. Rewritten to the new contract: no reviewer default, judge separately bounded and never uncapped.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

## Sessions

01KX0PWPRKDPWNYPN3PWMT2YQBView transcript

[?\ test(review): pin that codex $name skills survive the legacy repair + native invocationClaude Code·19 steps](/content/gh/entireio/cli/session/99f0d90a-6e31-4c60-ba62-aa2dccd29033#timeline-01KX0PWPRKDPWNYPN3PWMT2YQB/index.html)

## Changes

3

- cmd/entire/cli/review
  
  - Mcmd.go+7/-5
  
  - Msynthesis_sink.go+6/-2
  
  - Msynthesis_sink_test.go+5/-4

```
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--models       list the models each agent advertises (optionally --agent NAME)
--profile NAME select a profile (also accepted as positional arg)
--prompt TEXT  add one-off per-run instructions for this invocation
--timeout DUR  max time each reviewer may run before it's cancelled and marked
             failed; also bounds the consolidating judge, whose timeout or
             error fails the review with no verdict (default 20m; 0 disables
             both bounds). A timed-out reviewer's siblings and the judge
             still proceed.
--timeout DUR  optional hard cap on each reviewer before it's cancelled and
             marked failed. No default — reviewers run until they finish,
             like a directly-invoked skill. A positive value also bounds
             the consolidating judge, which otherwise keeps its own 20m
             default (the judge is never unbounded; its timeout or error
             fails the review with no verdict). A timed-out reviewer's
             siblings and the judge still proceed.
--base REF     scope against REF instead of mainline. Useful for stacked
             PRs where the base is the parent feature branch, not main.
             Default: first existing of origin/HEAD, origin/main,
```

Mcmd/entire/cli/review/cmd.go+7/-5

```
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// defaultSynthesisProviderTimeout bounds the judge's single consolidation call
// when SynthesisSink.ProviderTimeout is unset. The judge reads every reviewer's
// report and writes the combined verdict in one text-generation call, which
// regularly needs more than the original 2m, so the default is 5m.
const defaultSynthesisProviderTimeout = 5 * time.Minute
// regularly needs more than the original 2m. 20m matches the judge's previous
// effective bound: before the reviewer default was dropped, the --timeout flag
// default (20m) always flowed into ProviderTimeout on the no-flag path, so
// keeping 5m here would have silently tightened the judge 4x — and a judge
// timeout discards an entire multi-reviewer run with no verdict.
const defaultSynthesisProviderTimeout = 20 * time.Minute

// AgentEvent is a no-op; SynthesisSink only acts in RunFinished.
func (SynthesisSink) AgentEvent(_ string, _ reviewtypes.Event) {}
```

Mcmd/entire/cli/review/synthesis_sink.go+6/-2

```
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// TestSynthesisSink_DefaultProviderTimeoutValue pins the judge's default
// deadline (~5m) when ProviderTimeout is unset, so an accidental change to
// deadline (~20m, the flag default's previous effective bound) when
// ProviderTimeout is unset, so an accidental change to
// defaultSynthesisProviderTimeout is caught rather than passing silently.
func TestSynthesisSink_DefaultProviderTimeoutValue(t *testing.T) {
	t.Parallel()
7 unmodified lines

if !provider.hadDeadline {
		t.Fatal("unset ProviderTimeout must apply the default deadline")
	}
	// The default is 5m; allow generous slack for scheduling between context
	// The default is 20m; allow generous slack for scheduling between context
	// creation and the provider reading the deadline.
	if provider.remaining < 4*time.Minute || provider.remaining > 5*time.Minute {
		t.Fatalf("default deadline remaining = %v, want ~5m", provider.remaining)
	}
	if provider.remaining < 19*time.Minute || provider.remaining > 20*time.Minute {
		t.Fatalf("default deadline remaining = %v, want ~20m", provider.remaining)
	}
}
```

Mcmd/entire/cli/review/synthesis_sink_test.go+5/-4