Skills

Improve Architecture

Audit an area of the codebase and propose the smallest structural moves that improve it...

Install

npx skills add rohitg00/pro-workflow --skill improve-architecture -g -a claude-code -y
Repository
rohitg00/pro-workflow2.9k
Category
Engineering
Updated
1mo ago
License
See repository
Context cost
Lightabout 536 tokens
Runs scripts
No, instructions only

What it does

Audit an area of the codebase and propose the smallest structural moves that improve it - untangle boundaries, kill duplication, fix seams, break cycles. Produces a prioritized plan and decision records, not a rewrite. Use when a codebase feels tangled, hard to change, or is becoming a ball of mud, or when asked to improve or refactor architecture.

improve-architecture

Invest in the shape of the system a little at a time rather than paying for a rewrite later. This skill diagnoses and proposes; it does not rewrite on its own.

Method

  1. Map first. Get the current shape before judging it - entry points, modules, data flow, who calls whom. Reuse module-map for the one-screen view; do not skip to opinions.
  2. Find the strain. Look for the load-bearing problems, not style nits:
    • God modules that everything imports and nothing can change safely.
    • Leaky boundaries - a module reaching into another's internals instead of its surface.
    • Duplicated logic that drifts (the same rule implemented three ways).
    • Wrong seams - the code is split where it does not bend and fused where it does.
    • Cyclic dependencies.
    • A shape that fights the domain (see domain-modeling - boundaries in code should track boundaries in the language).
  3. Propose the smallest move. For each problem, the least change that relieves it: extract a boundary, collapse a duplicate, invert a dependency, move a seam. Prefer a sequence of safe steps over one big cut.
  4. Rank by leverage. Order the moves by pain relieved over effort. Say which are safe now and which need a test net first (pair with tdd).
  5. Record the big calls. For a structural change a future reader would question, write a decision record in docs/decisions/NNNN-slug.md: context, choice, alternatives rejected, why.

Guardrails

  • Diagnose, do not rewrite. The deliverable is a plan the user approves before any code moves.
  • No churn for taste. A move must relieve a named strain; "cleaner" is not a reason.
  • Three similar lines beat a premature abstraction - do not trade duplication for indirection unless the duplication actually drifts.
  • Keep behavior fixed. Structural moves are refactors; land them behind green tests.

Output

Read the whole SKILL.md on GitHub

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