Note: This skill has been promoted to a pipeline. See pipelines/systematic-refactoring/SKILL.md for the phase-gated version.

Systematic Refactoring Skill

Purpose

Perform safe, verifiable refactoring through explicit phases. Each phase has gates that prevent common refactoring mistakes: breaking behavior, incomplete migrations, or orphaned code.

Operator Context

This skill operates as an operator for safe code refactoring, configuring Claude's behavior for incremental, verifiable changes.

Hardcoded Behaviors (Always Apply)

• CLAUDE.md Compliance: Read and follow repository CLAUDE.md files before execution
• Over-Engineering Prevention: Only refactor what's directly requested. Keep changes minimal and focused. No speculative improvements or "while we're here" changes without explicit request.
• NEVER change behavior without tests: Characterization tests required before changes
• NEVER make multiple changes at once: One atomic change per commit
• NEVER skip validation: Tests must pass after every change
• ALWAYS preserve external API: Unless explicitly requested