Individual skill

simplifying-code

Simplifies, polishes, and declutters code without changing behavior. Use when asked to "simplify code", "clean up code", "polish code", "refactor", "declutter", "reduce complexity", "remove dead code", "remove AI slop", "improve readability", or "tighten up this file".

distillery/generated-skills/simplifying-code/SKILL.md

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Last checked: Nov 7, 2026

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Repository stars (not skill ratings): 36
Repository last updated: Nov 9, 2026
License: MIT

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claude-code Repository topic
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# Simplifying Code

## Principles

| Principle | Rule |
|-----------|------|
| **Preserve behavior** | Output must do exactly what the input did — no silent feature additions or removals. Specifically preserve: async/sync boundaries, error propagation paths, and logging side effects |
| **Explicit over clever** | Prefer explicit variables over nested expressions. Readable beats compact |
| **Simplicity over cleanliness** | Prefer straightforward code over pattern-heavy "clean" code. Three similar lines beat a premature abstraction |
| **Surgical changes** | Touch only what needs simplifying. Match existing style, naming conventions, and formatting of the surrounding code |
| **Surface assumptions** | Before changing a block, identify what imports it, what it imports, and what tests cover it. Edit dependents in the same pass |

## Process