improve-codebase-architecture

To identify refactoring opportunities in a tangled codebase, explore the domain glossary, architectural decisions, and source code to locate tightly coupled, shallow modules. This analysis highlights candidates for consolidating into deeper modules with stronger interfaces and better locality.

A shallow module has a simple interface hiding complex internal behavior, offering low leverage. You deepen it by consolidating tightly coupled modules into a single unit with a stronger, more comprehensive interface that hides internal complexity and increases testability.

Improving codebase testability through architecture refactoring involves exploring dependency seams and adapters to isolate behavior. By designing alternative interfaces and consolidating scattered logic into deeper modules, you establish stronger boundaries that make modules significantly easier to test.

Yes, accessing the repository's domain glossary and documented architectural decisions is required. These inputs ensure the architectural exploration respects existing domain language and avoids re-litigating prior decisions when designing alternative interfaces and refactoring modules.

The best way to design alternative interfaces for existing modules is to analyze dependency seams and testing strategies in parallel. This exploratory design process grills the module boundaries to ensure the new interface provides greater leverage and testability before committing to a refactor.

You should avoid refactoring tightly coupled modules when the architectural decisions documenting their current design are still valid and should not be re-litigated. The refactoring process explicitly requires ADR-aware exploration to respect these documented constraints.