Agent skill · elithrar
simplify
Audits a codebase for unnecessary complexity -- premature abstractions, deep nesting, inconsistent patterns, and indirection that hurts readability. Use when asked to simplify code, audit complexity, reduce cognitive load, or review maintainability. Triggers: simplify, complexity audit, too complex, hard to read, maintainability review.
What it needs
About 3k tokens when loaded.
What this skill does
Complexity Audit Identify concrete, fixable complexity issues in a codebase. Focus on changes that reduce the cost of reading, modifying, and debugging code -- not style preferences or nitpicks. Routing Use code-reviewer for correctness, security, and behavioral bugs in a diff. Use this skill when the user asks to simplify code, audit maintainability, reduce cognitive load, or identify unnecessary complexity. Workflow 1. Read project documentation (README, AGENTS.md, architecture docs) to understand intended patterns and conventions 2. Identify the largest and most-modified source files as starting points 3. Use git churn when available: 4. Search for patterns in each category below, working outward from hot paths 5. Produce findings per the output format Patterns Abstraction Premature wrappers, base classes, or indirection layers serving only one caller Helper functions under ~5 lines used once -- inline when the logic reads clearly at the call site Import chains where duplicating a few lines would be simpler than the dependency "Utility" modules that are grab-bags of unrelated functions Control Flow Nested conditionals (3+ levels) that could use early returns or guard clauses Complex conditional chains replaceable with lookup tables or exhaustive matching Try/catch blocks that swallow errors or catch too broadly Consistency Conflicting retry, timeout, or error handling strategies for the same kind of I/O Repeated hard-coded strings that belong in a constant Multiple patterns for the same operation (e.g., two different HTTP request helpers) Mixed abstraction levels in the same function Rules Read actual source files before making claims. Every finding must cite a specific file path and line range. If a pattern has a documented reason (code comment, AGENTS.md, architecture doc), note the justification and assess whether it's still valid -- do not blindly flag it. Only report findings where the suggested fix genuinely reduces complexity. …
How to use it
Reference it in AdaL, Claude Code, Cursor or any coding agent — nothing to install:
@skills elithrar/simplify