Refactoring Patterns

Safety Rules

Before any refactoring, verify all of the following:

• Tests exist covering the code you will change
• All tests pass before you start
• Perform one transformation at a time
• Run tests after every single transformation
• Commit after each successful step
• Name every transformation in your commit message (e.g., "refactor: Extract Method -- validateEmail")
• Never change behavior and structure in the same commit
• If a step breaks tests, revert immediately and try a smaller step

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