How do I install the Simplify skill?

Run npx skillmds@latest add xyenon/simplify 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.

Is Simplify safe to use?

This skill has not completed SkillMD's automated safety review yet. SkillMD never runs a skill's scripts for you; review the SKILL.md before installing.

Which AI agents work with Simplify?

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 Simplify free to use?

Yes. Installing skills from SkillMD is free, and the skill stays under its author's original license.

Who published Simplify?

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

Simplify by xyenon — Agent Skill

Name: Simplify
Author: xyenon

Simplify

Simplify recently changed code while preserving behavior and limiting edits to Git-diff line ranges. Use when the user asks to simplify, clean up, improve readability, reduce complexity, remove redundancy, or run a /simplify-style pass. Supports --staged, --ref=REF, and explicit file paths.

xyenon 3b3407c 3 files · 9.1 KB Updated Sep 17, 2026

File contents

Simplify Changed Code

Invocation

When the user invokes this skill, parse optional arguments from the user text:

--staged: inspect only staged changes.
--ref=<ref>: diff against the given git ref. Default is HEAD.
Any other tokens that look like file paths: restrict the review to those paths.

For every invocation, resolve scripts/simplify_scope.py relative to this SKILL.md and run it with the parsed arguments. Do not assume a particular home directory or skill installation root. Run it from the target repository root, or pass --cwd <repo> when operating on a different repository.

The helper intentionally mirrors the upstream scope behavior:

It uses Git diffs, so untracked files are excluded from the scope.
If the selected diff has no eligible files, it falls back to HEAD~1.
Deleted files are excluded. Added files are reviewed in full; other files are limited to their changed lines in the current contents.

If the helper reports no changed files, relay that result and stop. Otherwise, follow its generated review prompt exactly. Read surrounding code only for context, and keep every edit within the reported line ranges.

Frequently asked questions