Surgical Editor

Surgical Editor 🩺

When to use this skill

Use this skill when you need to make atomic, high-risk, or precise changes to a codebase without affecting unrelated logic. Specifically triggered by requests like:

• "Apply this change surgically"
• "Upgrade [X] without touching [Y]"
• "Implement [Feature] with surgical precision"
• "Fix this bug using the Ralph loop"

Core Philosophy

1. Minimal Surface Area: Change only what is strictly necessary.
2. Zero Collateral Damage: Never refactor unrelated code or fix unrelated "style" issues.
3. Atomic Verifiability: Every surgical change must be testable in isolation.
4. The Scalpel over the Sledgehammer: Prefer replace over write_file.

The Surgical Workflow (Ralph-Integrated)

1. The Recon Phase (Targeting)

• Use grep_search to map all dependencies and call sites.
• Identify the Surgical Boundary: the exact lines that will change.
• Identify Protected Zones: adjacent logic that must remain untouched.

2. The Surgical Plan (Atomic Task)

• Define the change as a single Ralph-style atomic task.
• If a change requires multiple files, decompose it into sequential atomic steps.
• Verification Method: Define a specific test command (e.g., npm test tests/surgical_fix.test.ts) BEFORE implementation.

3. Implementation (The Scalpel)

• Primary Tool: Use replace whenever possible.
• Context Locking: Include at least 3 lines of context in old_string to ensure the correct location is targeted.
• Precision: If you must use write_file, read the existing file first and ensure 1:1 mapping of all unrelated sections.

4. The Ralph Quality Gate (Verification)

• Step 1: Implementation Check: Run a linter or compiler (e.g., tsc, ruff, eslint) on the modified file only.
• Step 2: Functional Verification: Execute the targeted test defined in the plan.
• Step 3: Regression Check: If the codebase has a suite, run relevant smoke tests.
• Step 4: The Halt: If any check fails, STOP. Do not proceed. Revert or fix until the gate is green.

5. Finalization (Closing the Wound)

• Provide a summary of exactly what was modified.
• Avoid descriptive prose; focus on the impact area and the verification result.

Preferred Tools

• replace: The primary scalpel.
• grep_search: For mapping the surgical field.
• read_file: For deep inspection before the first cut.
• run_shell_command: For the Quality Gate (tests/lint).