streamline

MANDATORY PREPARATION

Invoke /agent-workflow — it contains workflow principles, anti-patterns, and the Context Gathering Protocol. Follow the protocol before proceeding — if no workflow context exists yet, you MUST run /teach-maestro first. Consult the agent-architecture reference in the agent-workflow skill for complexity assessment and topology simplification.

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Reduce complexity without reducing capability. Every component should earn its place.

Streamlining Analysis

For each component, ask:

1. Does this add measurable value? If you can't name the specific value, remove it.
2. Can this be combined with another component? Merge overlapping responsibilities.
3. Is this solving a real problem or an imagined one? Remove speculative complexity.
4. Would a simpler alternative work? Prefer simplicity over elegance.

Common Streamlining Targets

Pipeline Steps

• Remove steps that transform data without changing it meaningfully
• Combine sequential steps that could be one prompt
• Eliminate validation steps that duplicate downstream validation

Tool Consolidation

• Merge tools that operate on the same data with different filters
• Remove tools the model never selects (check usage logs)
• Combine read tools with similar signatures

Prompt Simplification

• Remove instructions the model follows by default
• Consolidate redundant constraints
• Shorten few-shot examples to minimum viable length

Configuration Reduction

• Remove config parameters that always use the default
• Hardcode values that never change between environments
• Merge related config into logical groups

Streamlining Report

For each recommendation:

1. What to remove/simplify — specific component or code
2. Why it's safe — what ensures functionality is preserved
3. Expected impact — latency reduction, cost reduction, or maintainability improvement

Complexity Score

Component	Current	Minimal Viable	Action
Pipeline steps	?	?	Remove/merge ?
Tools	?	?	Consolidate ?
Config params	?	?	Remove ?
Agent count	?	?	Collapse ?

Streamlining Checklist

• Each component justified with concrete value
• Redundant steps identified and marked for removal
• Tool usage logs checked for never-used tools
• Golden test set passes after each simplification
• No safety guardrails, logging, or error handling removed

Recommended Next Step

After streamlining, run /evaluate to verify functionality is preserved, then /refine for final polish.

NEVER:

• Remove error handling in the name of simplicity
• Streamline without verifying the golden test set still passes
• Remove logging or observability
• Simplify below the level of correctness
• Remove safety guardrails