Agent skill · data analytics · sickn33
brooks-debt
Tech debt assessment that identifies, classifies, and prioritizes maintainability problems — helping teams build a refactoring roadmap — drawing on twelve classic engineering books.
Why this skill is useful
Provides a structured framework for assessing and prioritizing tech debt that the AI wouldn't reliably generate on its own.
What it needs
About 1k tokens when loaded. Last updated 2026-08-07. 44,571 stars on the source repository.
What this skill does
Brooks-Lint — Tech Debt Assessment When to Use Use this skill when you need tech debt assessment that identifies, classifies, and prioritizes maintainability problems — helping teams build a refactoring roadmap — drawing on twelve classic engineering books. Triggers when: user asks about tech debt, refactoring priorities, what to clean up first, or asks "why... Setup 1. Read ../shared/common.md for the Iron Law, Project Config, Report Template, and Health Score rules 2. Read ../shared/source-coverage.md for book-level coverage, exceptions, and tradeoffs 3. Read ../shared/decay-risks.md for symptom definitions and source attributions 4. Read debt-guide.md in this directory for the debt classification framework Process If the user has not described the codebase or pointed to specific areas: apply Auto Scope Detection from ../shared/common.md to determine the assessment scope before proceeding. 1. Scan for all six decay risks (Step 1 of the guide); list every finding before scoring 2. Apply the Pain × Spread priority formula and classify debt intent (Steps 2–3 of the guide) 3. Group findings by decay risk (Step 4 of the guide) 4. Output using the Report Template from common.md, plus the Debt Summary Table Mode line in report: Tech Debt Assessment Limitations Use this skill only when the task clearly matches its upstream source and local project context. Verify commands, generated code, dependencies, credentials, and external service behavior before applying changes. Do not treat examples as a substitute for environment-specific tests, security review, or user approval for destructive or costly actions.
How to use it
Reference it in AdaL, Claude Code, Cursor or any coding agent — nothing to install:
@skills sickn33/brooks-debt--e96389