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holocron/plugins/bin/skills/improve-codebase-architecture/README.md
Defame1297 e869912374 docs(bin): give every bin skill a README
The bin skills were the only plugin without per-skill READMEs, so a reader
had to open SKILL.md — an agent-facing contract, not an explainer — to learn
what a skill does and when it fires. Each README states purpose, triggers and
boundaries for a human audience, leaving SKILL.md free to stay terse.
2026-08-31 08:02:09 +00:00

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# improve-codebase-architecture
Surface architectural friction and propose deepening opportunities — refactors that turn shallow modules into deep ones.
## What it does
Looks for places where a codebase is hard to understand, hard to test, or hard for an agent to navigate, and proposes refactors that concentrate behaviour behind smaller interfaces. It runs in three stages:
1. **Explore.** Reads the domain glossary and any ADRs in the area first, then walks the codebase with an `Explore` sub-agent — organically, noting friction rather than applying fixed heuristics. The **deletion test** is the filter: imagine deleting the module; if complexity vanishes it was a pass-through, if complexity reappears across N callers it was earning its keep.
2. **Present candidates.** A numbered list, each with files, problem, solution and benefits — benefits stated in terms of *locality* and *leverage* and of how tests would improve. No interfaces are proposed yet; the user picks one.
3. **Grilling loop.** Walks the design tree for the chosen candidate, with documentation side effects landing inline as decisions crystallise.
The skill is opinionated about vocabulary, and that is the point: **module, interface, implementation, depth, seam, adapter, leverage, locality**, used exactly, with no drift into "component", "service", "API" or "boundary". Domain nouns come from `CONTEXT.md`, architecture nouns from `LANGUAGE.md` — so a proposal reads as "the Order intake module", never "the FooBarHandler".
ADRs are treated as decisions not to be re-litigated. A candidate that contradicts one is surfaced only when the friction is real enough to warrant reopening it, and is marked as such.
## Composition
`diagnose` hands off here when a bug's post-mortem concludes that no correct test seam exists, or that callers are tangled — the recommendation is made after the fix is in, not before. The grilling loop follows `grill-with-docs`'s discipline for `CONTEXT.md` entries and ADR offers, and `SKILL.md` names that skill's format documents directly.
## Usage
```text
/improve-codebase-architecture
```
Point at a codebase or an area of one. Expect a numbered candidate list and a "which of these would you like to explore?" before any interface design happens.
## Files
| File | Purpose |
|------|---------|
| `SKILL.md` | Condensed glossary, key principles, and the three-stage process |
| `LANGUAGE.md` | Skill-root document, cited throughout `SKILL.md`: full definitions of every term, the words each one replaces, and the full principle list |
| `INTERFACE-DESIGN.md` | Skill-root document, read at stage 3 when the user wants alternative interfaces explored: the parallel sub-agent "Design It Twice" pattern, framing the problem space, and the per-agent design constraints |
| `DEEPENING.md` | Skill-root document, cited from `INTERFACE-DESIGN.md`: how to deepen a cluster of shallow modules safely, the four dependency categories (in-process, local-substitutable, remote-but-owned, true external), seam discipline, and the replace-don't-layer testing strategy |