A bit of a side-thought with a similar root purpose as your title (cognitive load).

I run a pre-pass on chunky diffs so I can start. It separates copies of an existing pattern from anything that is actually a decision, describes each piece in plain terms, and only then adds a short flag. I am the reviewer. The pass is an assistant mapping for me.

It would not draw that map while the LLM introduced itself as assisting with a code review. The instructions already said to explain first and keep any opinion to a sentence. It wrote a review anyway, aimed at the line it wanted to criticize. I changed the introduction to a factual annotation of what changed, and I took “review” and “opinion” out of that frame. The instructions underneath stayed. First run after worked (and every one).

That opening “review” is the frame I had to delete before the rest of the instructions meant anything. DId you encounter a similar effect? Do you use a separate session or follow up on the same agent (and context) which codes?

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