Individual skill
understanding-hot-reload-limits
Use this skill to teach Claude exactly which Kotlin and Compose changes hot-reload under Compose HotSwan and which trigger a full incremental rebuild fallback. Root cause is Android Runtime (ART) class schema immutability; only method bodies are mutable at runtime, so any change to fields, signatures, constructors, interfaces, inline functions, or new resource ids forces a rebuild. Covers the supported-changes table, the rebuild-forcing list, the diff-then-batch workflow that keeps a hot-reload session inside the fast path, and the inline-function and new-resource-id pitfalls. Trigger when the user asks "why did this rebuild?", "why isn't this hot reloading?", wants to learn HotSwan's boundaries before adopting it, or when reviewing a refactor that risks pushing a hot-reload session into a full rebuild.
hot-reload/understanding-hot-reload-limits/SKILL.md
Source commit 1b32f81724c0d71fe9ef093ca44697f559fdab6e
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- Matches the observed repository HEAD
- Yes
- Scanner rules are current
- Yes
- Repository scan complete
- No
- Skill scan complete
- Yes
- Observed behavior
- Instructions only
- Last checked
- Nov 6, 2026
These are observations at the recorded commit, not a guarantee of safety. Review the source before running it.
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Repository context
- Repository stars (not skill ratings)
- 525
- Repository last updated
- Jun 16, 2026
- License
- Apache-2.0
Observed agent integration: No specific integration evidence. Standard SKILL.md installation does not imply verified compatibility.
- agent-skills Repository topic
- android Repository topic
- claude Repository topic
- claude-code Repository topic
- compose Repository topic
- jetpack-compose Repository topic
- kotlin Repository topic
- llm-tools Repository topic
- recomposition Repository topic
- skydoves Repository topic
- engineering Derived category
- operations Derived category
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SKILL.mdcore · 10,558 bytes
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# Understanding Hot Reload Limits: stay inside the fast path
Android Runtime (ART) enforces strict rules for class redefinition: a redefined class must have an identical schema (fields, method signatures, interfaces) as the previous version. Only method bodies are mutable at runtime. HotSwan automatically detects schema changes and falls back to a full incremental build, so failures are not silent. Knowing the boundary in advance is what keeps an iteration loop sub-second instead of multi-second.
## When to use this skill
- The developer asks "why did this trigger a full rebuild?", "why isn't this hot reloading?", or "what does HotSwan support?".
- A PR review surfaces a refactor (parameter change, constructor change, interface extraction, new resource id) that would push a hot-reload session into a rebuild.
- The developer is planning a session and wants to order edits so the slow ones happen at the end.
- The developer reports an `inline fun` change that "didn't reload" and is debugging.
## When NOT to use this skill
- Setup or first-run troubleshooting. See `../setting-up-compose-hotswan/SKILL.md`.