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Code Simplification
Adapted from addyosmani/agent-skills (MIT), commit 82ceff41ed4d3c644e3dcca8a0514390b2911223.
Overview
Simplify code by reducing complexity while preserving exact behavior. The goal is not fewer lines; it is faster comprehension, safer maintenance, and easier review.
When to Use
- After a feature works but feels heavier than necessary
- During review when readability or duplication issues show up
- When code has deep nesting, unclear names, or scattered logic
- After a rushed implementation that now needs cleanup
Core Rules
Preserve Behavior Exactly
Do not change outputs, side effects, ordering, or error behavior. If you are not sure a simplification is behavior-preserving, stop and gather more context first.
Follow Project Conventions
Simplification should make code more consistent with the repository, not more consistent with personal taste.
Prefer Clarity Over Cleverness
Avoid dense ternaries, over-generalized abstractions, and compressed logic that requires a second reading.
Scope to What Changed
Default to simplifying the code you are already touching. Avoid unrelated cleanup unless explicitly asked.
Simplification Process
Step 1: Understand Before Changing
Apply Chesterton's Fence.
- What is this code responsible for?
- Why might it have been written this way?
- What tests define its current behavior?
Step 2: Identify the Simplification
Look for:
- deep nesting
- long functions with mixed responsibilities
- duplicate logic
- generic or misleading names
- wrappers or abstractions that add no value
Step 3: Apply Small Changes
Make one simplification at a time and verify after each one.
- simplify the control flow
- extract a well-named helper
- inline an unnecessary wrapper
- remove dead code only when you understand it
Step 4: Re-evaluate the Whole
After the refactor, ask whether a new teammate would understand the new version faster than the old one.
Common Rationalizations
| Rationalization | Reality |
|---|---|
| "Fewer lines is always simpler" | A dense one-liner can be harder to understand than a clear five-line block. |
| "I will simplify this unrelated code while I am here" | Drive-by refactors create noisy diffs and hidden regression risk. |
| "This abstraction might be useful later" | Speculative abstractions are complexity without current value. |
Red Flags
- Tests need to change just to preserve the simplification
- Error handling disappears because it looks noisy
- Renames follow personal taste instead of repo conventions
- The simplified version is harder to review than the original
Verification
- Existing tests still pass without semantic changes
- Build succeeds
- No error handling was weakened
- Diff stays focused on the targeted simplification
Anti-Rationalization Table
| Excuse | Counter |
|---|---|
| "Fewer lines is always simpler" | A dense one-liner can be harder to understand than a clear five-line block. |
| "I'll simplify this unrelated code while I'm here" | Drive-by refactors create noisy diffs and hidden regression risk. |
| "This abstraction might be useful later" | Speculative abstractions are complexity without current value. |
| "The code works, why touch it" | Working code that is hard to understand is a maintenance liability. |
| "I'll add tests after simplifying" | Simplification without tests risks silently changing behavior. Tests first. |