How do I install the Anti Patterns skill?

Run npx skillmds@latest add neuralblitz/anti-patterns-2 in your terminal (requires Node.js), paste this page's agent-chat prompt into Claude, Cursor, or any MCP-connected agent, or download the SKILL.md file and copy it into your agent's skills directory.

What does the Anti Patterns skill do?

Common software anti-patterns, code smells, and how to avoid them It is listed under Coding & Dev Tools on SkillMD.

Is Anti Patterns safe to use?

This skill has not completed SkillMD's automated safety review yet. Independent scanners report: SkillSpector: PASS, Skill Scanner: PASS. SkillMD never runs a skill's scripts for you; review the SKILL.md before installing.

Which AI agents work with Anti Patterns?

This skill is tagged as working with Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex. SKILL.md is an open format, so most agents that read a skills directory can load it too.

Is Anti Patterns free to use?

Yes. Installing skills from SkillMD is free. This skill is licensed under MIT.

Who published Anti Patterns?

NeuralBlitz (@neuralblitz) published this skill. Their other Agent Skills are listed on their SkillMD profile.

Anti Patterns by neuralblitz — Agent Skill

Name: Anti Patterns
Author: NeuralBlitz

File contents

What I do

Identify code anti-patterns in existing code
Suggest refactoring solutions
Avoid common mistakes in design and implementation
Improve code quality and maintainability
Recognize technical debt indicators

When to use me

When reviewing code, improving designs, or fixing maintainability issues.

Code Anti-Patterns

Object-Oriented

God Object: Single class doing too much
Spaghetti Code: Unstructured, tangled control flow
Magic Numbers: Hard-coded values without constants
Feature Envy: Excessive use of another class's data
Data Clumps: Groups of variables passed together
Refused Bequest: Not using inherited methods
Switch Statements: Complex conditionals instead of polymorphism
Parallel Inheritance: Duplicate class hierarchies

Design Anti-Patterns

Singleton Abuse: Overuse of singletons
Dependency Hell: Complex dependency chains
Circular Dependencies: A→B→C→A
Interface Bloat: Overly complex interfaces
Leaky Abstractions: Exposing internal details
Golden Hammer: Using one solution for everything
Reinvention: Not using built-in features
Analysis Paralysis: Over-planning

Database Anti-Patterns

Database as IPC: Using DB for communication
God Table: One table for everything
EAV: Entity-Attribute-Value pattern
Naive Enum: Storing enums as strings without constraints
Missing Indexes: Slow queries due to full table scans
N+1 Queries: Loading related data inefficiently

Concurrency

Race Conditions: Uncoordinated concurrent access
Deadlock: Circular wait dependencies
Blocking Operations: Synchronous calls in async code
Shared Mutex: Global locks causing contention

Testing

Testing the Implementation: Instead of behavior
Happy Path Only: Only testing success cases
Manual Testing: No automated tests
Tight Coupling: Tests depend on implementation details

Code Smells

Long methods
Large classes
Duplicate code
Long parameter lists
Primitive obsession
Data classes
Comments explaining bad code

Refactoring Strategies

Extract Method
Move Method
Replace Conditional with Polymorphism
Introduce Parameter Object
Replace Magic Numbers
Extract Class
Inline Class
Introduce Null Object

---name: anti-patterns-2description: Common software anti-patterns, code smells, and how to avoid themlicense: MIT---## What I do- Identify code anti-patterns in existing code- Suggest refactoring solutions- Avoid common mistakes in design and implementation- Improve code quality and maintainability- Recognize technical debt indicators## When to use meWhen reviewing code, improving designs, or fixing maintainability issues.## Code Anti-Patterns### Object-Oriented- **God Object**: Single class doing too much- **Spaghetti Code**: Unstructured, tangled control flow- **Magic Numbers**: Hard-coded values without constants- **Feature Envy**: Excessive use of another class's data- **Data Clumps**: Groups of variables passed together- **Refused Bequest**: Not using inherited methods- **Switch Statements**: Complex conditionals instead of polymorphism- **Parallel Inheritance**: Duplicate class hierarchies### Design Anti-Patterns- **Singleton Abuse**: Overuse of singletons- **Dependency Hell**: Complex dependency chains- **Circular Dependencies**: A→B→C→A- **Interface Bloat**: Overly complex interfaces- **Leaky Abstractions**: Exposing internal details- **Golden Hammer**: Using one solution for everything- **Reinvention**: Not using built-in features- **Analysis Paralysis**: Over-planning### Database Anti-Patterns- **Database as IPC**: Using DB for communication- **God Table**: One table for everything- **EAV**: Entity-Attribute-Value pattern- **Naive Enum**: Storing enums as strings without constraints- **Missing Indexes**: Slow queries due to full table scans- **N+1 Queries**: Loading related data inefficiently### Concurrency- **Race Conditions**: Uncoordinated concurrent access- **Deadlock**: Circular wait dependencies- **Blocking Operations**: Synchronous calls in async code- **Shared Mutex**: Global locks causing contention### Testing- **Testing the Implementation**: Instead of behavior- **Happy Path Only**: Only testing success cases- **Manual Testing**: No automated tests- **Tight Coupling**: Tests depend on implementation details## Code Smells- Long methods- Large classes- Duplicate code- Long parameter lists- Primitive obsession- Data classes- Comments explaining bad code## Refactoring Strategies- Extract Method- Move Method- Replace Conditional with Polymorphism- Introduce Parameter Object- Replace Magic Numbers- Extract Class- Inline Class- Introduce Null Object

Frequently asked questions

Anti Patterns