Skills code-refinement

install
source · Clone the upstream repo
git clone https://github.com/openclaw/skills
Claude Code · Install into ~/.claude/skills/
T=$(mktemp -d) && git clone --depth=1 https://github.com/openclaw/skills "$T" && mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills && cp -r "$T/skills/athola/nm-pensive-code-refinement" ~/.claude/skills/clawdbot-skills-code-refinement && rm -rf "$T"
manifest: skills/athola/nm-pensive-code-refinement/SKILL.md
source content

Night Market Skill — ported from claude-night-market/pensive. For the full experience with agents, hooks, and commands, install the Claude Code plugin.

Table of Contents

Code Refinement Workflow

Analyze and improve living code quality across six dimensions.

Quick Start

/refine-code
/refine-code --level 2 --focus duplication
/refine-code --level 3 --report refinement-plan.md

When To Use

  • After rapid AI-assisted development sprints
  • Before major releases (quality gate)
  • When code "works but smells"
  • Refactoring existing modules for clarity
  • Reducing technical debt in living code

When NOT To Use

  • Removing dead/unused code (use conserve:bloat-detector)
  • Removing dead/unused code (use conserve:bloat-detector)

Analysis Dimensions

#DimensionModuleWhat It Catches
1Duplication & Redundancy
duplication-analysis
Near-identical blocks, similar functions, copy-paste
2Algorithmic Efficiency
algorithm-efficiency
O(n^2) where O(n) works, unnecessary iterations
3Clean Code Violations
clean-code-checks
Long methods, deep nesting, poor naming, magic values
4Architectural Fit
architectural-fit
Paradigm mismatches, coupling violations, leaky abstractions
5Anti-Slop Patterns
clean-code-checks
Premature abstraction, enterprise cosplay, hollow patterns
6Error Handling
clean-code-checks
Bare excepts, swallowed errors, happy-path-only

Progressive Loading

Load modules based on refinement focus:

  • modules/duplication-analysis.md
    (~400 tokens): Duplication detection and consolidation
  • modules/algorithm-efficiency.md
    (~400 tokens): Complexity analysis and optimization
  • modules/clean-code-checks.md
    (~450 tokens): Clean code, anti-slop, error handling
  • modules/architectural-fit.md
    (~400 tokens): Paradigm alignment and coupling

Load all for comprehensive refinement. For focused work, load only relevant modules.

Required TodoWrite Items

  1. refine:context-established
    — Scope, language, framework detection
  2. refine:scan-complete
    — Findings across all dimensions
  3. refine:prioritized
    — Findings ranked by impact and effort
  4. refine:plan-generated
    — Concrete refactoring plan with before/after
  5. refine:evidence-captured
    — Evidence appendix per
    imbue:proof-of-work

Workflow

Step 1: Establish Context (
refine:context-established
)

Detect project characteristics:

# Language detection
find . -not -path "*/.venv/*" -not -path "*/__pycache__/*" \
  -not -path "*/node_modules/*" -not -path "*/.git/*" \
  \( -name "*.py" -o -name "*.ts" -o -name "*.rs" -o -name "*.go" \) \
  | head -20

# Framework detection
ls package.json pyproject.toml Cargo.toml go.mod 2>/dev/null

# Size assessment
find . -not -path "*/.venv/*" -not -path "*/__pycache__/*" \
  -not -path "*/node_modules/*" -not -path "*/.git/*" \
  \( -name "*.py" -o -name "*.ts" -o -name "*.rs" \) \
  | xargs wc -l 2>/dev/null | tail -1

Step 2: Dimensional Scan (
refine:scan-complete
)

Load relevant modules and execute analysis per tier level.

Step 3: Prioritize (
refine:prioritized
)

Rank findings by:

  • Impact: How much quality improves (HIGH/MEDIUM/LOW)
  • Effort: Lines changed, files touched (SMALL/MEDIUM/LARGE)
  • Risk: Likelihood of introducing bugs (LOW/MEDIUM/HIGH)

Priority = HIGH impact + SMALL effort + LOW risk first.

Step 4: Generate Plan (
refine:plan-generated
)

For each finding, produce:

  • File path and line range
  • Current code snippet
  • Proposed improvement
  • Rationale (which principle/dimension)
  • Estimated effort

Step 5: Evidence Capture (
refine:evidence-captured
)

Document with

imbue:proof-of-work
(if available):

  • [E1]
    ,
    [E2]
    references for each finding
  • Metrics before/after where measurable
  • Principle violations cited

Fallback: If

imbue
is not installed, capture evidence inline in the report using the same
[E1]
reference format without TodoWrite integration.

Tiered Analysis

TierTimeScope
1: Quick (default)2-5 minComplexity hotspots, obvious duplication, naming, magic values
2: Targeted10-20 minAlgorithm analysis, full duplication scan, architectural alignment
3: Deep30-60 minAll above + cross-module coupling, paradigm fitness, comprehensive plan

Cross-Plugin Dependencies

DependencyRequired?Fallback
pensive:shared
YesCore review patterns
imbue:proof-of-work
OptionalInline evidence in report
conserve:code-quality-principles
OptionalBuilt-in KISS/YAGNI/SOLID checks
archetypes:architecture-paradigms
OptionalPrinciple-based checks only (no paradigm detection)

Supporting Modules

When optional plugins are not installed, the skill degrades gracefully:

  • Without
    imbue
    : Evidence captured inline, no TodoWrite proof-of-work
  • Without
    conserve
    : Uses built-in clean code checks (subset)
  • Without
    archetypes
    : Skips paradigm-specific alignment, uses coupling/cohesion principles only