Refactor

Skill LaProgrammerie/ai-engineering-core/skills/refactor

Global Kiro steering + skills — portable AI engineering layer. Pairs with template-generic-project (spec → handoff → code).

Install

npx -y skills add LaProgrammerie/ai-engineering-core --skill refactor

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One thing to look at

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What its author says it does

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Safe refactoring in small verifiable steps; no scope creep outside handoff or explicit request.

SKILL.md

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Refactor (global)

Objective

Improve structure and readability without changing observable behaviour, in verifiable steps.

When to use

Hard-to-follow, duplicated, or overly coupled code
Before adding a feature on brittle structure

Expected inputs

Scope (files, module, or symptom)
Tests or verification commands (if none, say so)
Constraints (public API, backward compatibility, performance)

Scope discipline

Do not refactor outside the defined scope (handoff, spec slice, or explicit user request).
If broader cleanup is desirable, list it as follow-ups rather than doing it silently.

Steps

Clarify goal: readability, layering, targeted performance — do not mix goals in one step.
Phased plan if scope is large — propose before editing.
Small steps: one transformation at a time; run tests / checks after each step when possible.
Preserve public contracts unless a breaking change is explicitly requested (then document migration).
Remove dead code only when sure it is unused.

Output format

Ordered plan → changes made or proposed
Risks and rollback lever
Remaining work if partial

Gives 1 of the 12 instructions most refactoring skills give

Counted across 521 of the 525 authors here whose files we hold, read 2026-08-06

run tests after each changehere, and in 59 of 521, across 56 files
write tests before refactoringin 27 of 521, across 24 files
preserve external behaviorin 26 of 521, across 22 files
remove dead codein 25 of 521, across 24 files
make small incremental changesin 20 of 521, across 17 files
break the implementation into tiny commitsin 18 of 521, across 5 files
ask the user about alternative optionsin 17 of 521, across 4 files
create a GitHub issue with the planin 17 of 521, across 4 files
explore the repository to verify assertionsin 17 of 521, across 4 files
interview the user about the refactorin 16 of 521, across 3 files
check the codebase for test coveragein 16 of 521, across 3 files
refactor one thing at a timein 16 of 521, across 12 files

Said here and by no other author read

clarify one goal before editing
propose a phased plan for large scopes
document breaking changes when explicitly requested
list broader cleanup as follow-ups
provide an ordered plan of changes
identify risks and rollback lever

Grouped from the skills themselves: near-identical wordings counted once, and counted by distinct author, so one author publishing three of these counts once.