code-simplification

An agent skill by addyosmani, from addyosmani/agent-skills. Tags: debugging, developer-tools.

What it does

Simplifies code for clarity. Use when refactoring code for clarity without changing behavior. Use when code works but is harder to read, maintain, or extend than it should be. Use when reviewing code that has accumulated unnecessary complexity.

Install

With the skills CLI, which installs into Claude Code, Codex, Cursor and other agents:

npx skills add addyosmani/agent-skills --skill code-simplification

Or copy the skill folder into Claude Code's skills directory by hand (~/.claude/skills for every project, or .claude/skills inside one):

git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/addyosmani/agent-skills
cp -r agent-skills/skills/code-simplification ~/.claude/skills/code-simplification

Safety box score

Grade A, minimal risk: 7 of 100 risk points, rated 2026-09-29. The grade rates what the skill and its scripts can reach on the machine of whoever installs it, across eight categories from shell execution to secrets access. How the score works.

This is a documentation-only refactoring skill for simplifying code in the current project; it does not ship scripts or ask for external services. The main effect is agent-driven source edits plus test runs, so the risk is limited to ordinary refactor regressions if behavior is misunderstood.

Category levels, from 0 (none) to 3 (high)
Category	Level	Why
Code & shell execution	1 (low)	It tells the agent to 'Run the test suite' and check build/lint after each change, but it contains no native executable code or bundled script.
Network access	0 (none)	No downloading, API calls, or remote data transfer is described; the only external reference is a link in the prose.
Filesystem reach	1 (low)	The skill is about editing project source files and says to keep the scope to 'recently modified code,' but it does not direct writes outside the working tree.
Secrets & credentials	0 (none)	It does not ask for tokens, passwords, `.env` files, browser sessions, or other credentials.
Privilege & persistence	0 (none)	There is no sudo, service installation, shell startup modification, or other privilege-changing action.
Instruction hijack surface	0 (none)	It does not instruct the agent to ignore higher-priority rules, hide actions, or follow remote instructions; the process guidance is ordinary refactoring advice.
Irreversible actions	0 (none)	It is limited to refactoring and verification; it does not deploy, publish, send messages, or delete anything.
Transparency	0 (none)	All shipped content is readable markdown; there are no binaries, encoded payloads, or unpinned installers.

Before installing

Confirm you are comfortable with an agent making source edits in your repo and running the test suite locally.
Make sure the project has a conventions file such as `CLAUDE.md` or equivalent for the skill to follow.
Use a clean branch or scratch checkout so refactor-only diffs are easy to review and revert.

Rated 2026-09-29 by an automated review of 1 file from the skill's repository.

Source

Repository: addyosmani/agent-skills (all skills from this repository)
Path: skills/code-simplification/SKILL.md
Branch: main
Updated: 2026-09-19

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