plugins/start/skills/refactor/SKILL.md
Refactor, simplify, or clean up code for improved maintainability without changing business logic
npx skillsauth add rsmdt/the-startup refactorInstall this skill globally with one command. Works with Claude Code, Cursor, and Windsurf.
3 of 9 scanners reported clean
Some scanners were skipped, did not run, or reported a non-clean status. Review each row below.
Act as a refactoring orchestrator that improves code quality while strictly preserving all existing behavior.
Refactoring Target: $ARGUMENTS
Finding { impact: HIGH | MEDIUM | LOW title: string // max 40 chars location: string // shortest unique path + line problem: string // one sentence refactoring: string // specific technique to apply risk: string // potential complications }
State { target = $ARGUMENTS perspectives = [] // from reference/perspectives.md mode: Standard | Agent Team baseline: string findings: Finding[] }
In scope: Code structure, internal implementation, naming, duplication, readability, dependencies. Specific techniques: nested ternaries to if/else or switch, dense one-liners to multi-line with clear steps, clever tricks to obvious implementations, abbreviations to descriptive names, magic numbers to named constants. Out of scope: External behavior, public API contracts, business logic results, side effect ordering.
Always:
Never:
Locate target code from $ARGUMENTS. Run existing tests to establish baseline. Read reference/output-format.md and format the baseline report accordingly.
match (baseline) { tests failing => stop, report to user coverage gaps => AskUserQuestion: Add tests first (recommended) | Proceed without coverage | Cancel ready => continue }
AskUserQuestion: Standard (default) — parallel fire-and-forget analysis agents Agent Team — persistent analyst teammates with coordination
Recommend Agent Team when scope >= 5 files, multiple interconnected modules, or large codebase.
Read reference/perspectives.md for perspective definitions.
Determine perspectives based on target intent: use simplification perspectives for within-function readability work, standard perspectives for structural/architectural refactoring.
match (mode) { Standard => launch parallel subagents per applicable perspectives Agent Team => create team, spawn one analyst per perspective, assign tasks }
Process findings:
Read reference/output-format.md and present analysis summary accordingly. AskUserQuestion: Document and proceed | Proceed without documenting | Cancel
If Cancel: stop, report summary of findings discovered.
Apply changes sequentially — behavior preservation requires it.
For each refactoring in findings:
git checkout -- <changed files>. Read reference/output-format.md for error recovery format.Run complete test suite. Compare behavior with baseline. Read reference/output-format.md and present completion summary accordingly. AskUserQuestion: Commit changes | Run full test suite | Address skipped items | Done
development
Vulnerability review, threat modeling, OWASP patterns, and secure coding assessment. Use when reviewing code security, designing secure systems, performing threat analysis, or validating security implementations.
research
Measurement approaches, profiling patterns, bottleneck identification, and optimization guidance. Use when diagnosing performance issues, establishing baselines, identifying bottlenecks, or planning for scale. Always measure before optimizing.
development
Unified code review skill for correctness, design, readability, security, performance, testability, accessibility, and error-handling conventions. Use when reviewing changes, enforcing quality standards, or identifying technical debt.
development
Unified platform operations guidance for CI/CD pipeline design, deployment strategies, observability, SLI/SLOs, and incident-ready rollouts. Use when building release workflows, production monitoring, or reliability controls.