recipe-simplify-codebase
Recipe: Simplify Codebase
Generic, domain-invariant recipe skill for deliberate wide-scope simplification campaigns — the missing vehicle for sweeping surplus structure out of a codebase at a chosen scope × thoroughness cell. Where recipe-refactor-to-profile-standards brings code into compliance with profile standards, this recipe runs the cognitive minimum-viable-code review across a declared radius and deletes surplus structure the static doctors cannot reach.
The per-batch worker is finalize-step-simplify's cognitive engine — reused, not reinvented — widened past its live-footprint change-set cap and fed a dependency-structured batch plan. The scaffold mirrors recipe-refactor-to-profile-standards's module/package iteration. Domain-invariant by construction: the minimum-viable-code anti-pattern set is language-agnostic (as finalize-step-simplify proves), so this recipe applies uniformly to Java, Python, JavaScript, documentation, and marketplace changesets alike.
Input
| Parameter | Type | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
plan_id |
string | Yes | Plan identifier |
recipe_scope |
string | Yes | Campaign scope — one of component, module, overall |
recipe_thoroughness |
string | Yes | Campaign thoroughness rung — one of T1, T2, T3, T4, T5 |
The two dials are the scope × thoroughness contract. Their ladders, the grade-to-the-floor rule, and the coupling constraint are defined once in persona-plan-marshall-agent/standards/thoroughness.md; this recipe implements the coverage-gathering contract — it gathers, expands, and consumes the cell per that contract and does NOT restate the ladders or re-derive the coupling check. recipe_scope / recipe_thoroughness are accepted as the pre-gathered values when the recipe workflow already supplied them; otherwise Step 0 gathers them.