Community Code Simplification Best Practices

Comprehensive code simplification guide for AI agents and LLMs. Contains 47 rules across 8 categories, prioritized by impact from critical (context discovery, behavior preservation) to incremental (language idioms). Each rule includes detailed explanations, real-world examples comparing incorrect vs. correct implementations, and specific impact metrics.

Core Principles

1. Context First: Understand project conventions before making any changes
2. Behavior Preservation: Change how code is written, never what it does
3. Scope Discipline: Focus on recently modified code, keep diffs small
4. Clarity Over Brevity: Explicit, readable code beats clever one-liners

When to Apply

Reference these guidelines when:

• Simplifying or cleaning up recently modified code
• Reducing nesting, complexity, or duplication
• Improving naming and readability
• Applying language-specific idiomatic patterns
• Reviewing code for maintainability issues

Rule Categories by Priority

ctx-

behave-

scope-

flow-

name-

dup-

dead-

idiom-

Quick Reference

1. Context Discovery (CRITICAL)

• ctx-read-claude-md

  - Always read CLAUDE.md before simplifying

• ctx-detect-lint-config

  - Check for linting and formatting configs

• ctx-follow-existing-patterns

  - Match existing code style in file and project

• ctx-project-over-generic

  - Project conventions override generic best practices

2. Behavior Preservation (CRITICAL)

• behave-preserve-outputs

  - Preserve all return values and outputs

• behave-preserve-errors

  - Preserve error messages, types, and handling

• behave-preserve-api

  - Preserve public function signatures and types

• behave-preserve-side-effects

  - Preserve side effects (logging, I/O, state changes)

• behave-no-semantics-change

  - Forbid subtle semantic changes

• behave-verify-before-commit

  - Verify behavior preservation before finalizing

3. Scope Management (HIGH)

• scope-recent-code-only

  - Focus on recently modified code only

• scope-minimal-diff

  - Keep changes small and reviewable

• scope-no-unrelated-refactors

  - No unrelated refactors

• scope-no-global-rewrites

  - Avoid global rewrites and architectural changes

• scope-respect-boundaries

  - Respect module and component boundaries

4. Control Flow Simplification (HIGH)

• flow-early-return

  - Use early returns to reduce nesting

• flow-guard-clauses

  - Use guard clauses for preconditions

• flow-no-nested-ternaries

  - Never use nested ternary operators

• flow-explicit-over-dense

  - Prefer explicit control flow over dense expressions

• flow-flatten-nesting

  - Flatten deep nesting to maximum 2-3 levels

• flow-single-responsibility

  - Each code block should do one thing

• flow-positive-conditions

  - Prefer positive conditions over double negatives

• flow-optional-chaining

  - Use optional chaining and nullish coalescing

• flow-boolean-simplification

  - Simplify boolean expressions

5. Naming and Clarity (MEDIUM-HIGH)

• name-intention-revealing

  - Use intention-revealing names

• name-nouns-for-data

  - Use nouns for data, verbs for actions

• name-avoid-abbreviations

  - Avoid cryptic abbreviations

• name-consistent-vocabulary

  - Use consistent vocabulary throughout

• name-avoid-generic

  - Avoid generic names

• name-string-interpolation

  - Prefer string interpolation over concatenation

6. Duplication Reduction (MEDIUM)

• dup-rule-of-three

  - Apply the rule of three

• dup-no-single-use-helpers

  - Avoid single-use helper functions

• dup-extract-for-clarity

  - Extract only when it improves clarity

• dup-avoid-over-abstraction

  - Prefer duplication over premature abstraction

• dup-data-driven

  - Use data-driven patterns over repetitive conditionals

7. Dead Code Elimination (MEDIUM)

• dead-remove-unused

  - Delete unused code artifacts

• dead-delete-not-comment

  - Delete code, never comment it out

• dead-remove-obvious-comments

  - Remove comments that state the obvious

• dead-keep-why-comments

  - Keep comments that explain why, not what

• dead-remove-todo-fixme

  - Remove stale TODO/FIXME comments

8. Language Idioms (LOW-MEDIUM)

• idiom-ts-strict-types

  - Use strict types over any (TypeScript)

• idiom-ts-const-assertions

  - Use const assertions and readonly (TypeScript)

• idiom-rust-question-mark

  - Use ? for error propagation (Rust)

• idiom-rust-iterator-chains

  - Use iterator chains when clearer (Rust)

• idiom-python-comprehensions

  - Use comprehensions for simple transforms (Python)

• idiom-go-error-handling

  - Handle errors immediately (Go)

• idiom-prefer-language-builtins

  - Prefer language and stdlib builtins

Workflow

1. Discover context: Read CLAUDE.md, lint configs, examine existing patterns
2. Identify scope: Focus on recently modified code unless asked to expand
3. Apply transformations: Use rules in priority order (CRITICAL first)
4. Verify behavior: Ensure outputs, errors, and side effects remain identical
5. Keep diffs minimal: Small, focused changes that are easy to review

How to Use

Read individual reference files for detailed explanations and code examples:

• Section definitions - Category structure and impact levels
• Rule template - Template for adding new rules

Reference Files