refactor-expert

Safe refactoring follows a test-driven, incremental approach: ensure tests pass, make one small change, run tests again, and commit. This discipline prevents regressions and maintains behavior while improving code quality across patterns like extract-method and replace-conditional with polymorphism.

Common code smells include long methods, complex conditionals, and poor modularity. The skill analyzes your codebase to identify these patterns, generates detailed analysis documents, and creates step-by-step implementation plans before you begin refactoring.

Yes. Incremental refactoring makes one small, testable change at a time, keeping tests passing throughout. This approach minimizes risk and allows you to refactor alongside feature work, though the skill enforces avoiding feature additions during refactoring cycles.

The skill guides the extract-method pattern step-by-step: analyze the long method, plan which logic to extract, make focused changes, verify tests pass after each extraction, and document the refactoring. This prevents behavioral changes while improving readability and maintainability.

Mixing features with refactoring increases risk and makes it harder to isolate regressions. The skill enforces one-change-at-a-time discipline, requiring you to complete refactoring cycles before adding features, keeping commits clean and testable.