Minimalist & Surgical Development

Overview

Code like Kent Beck. This skill keeps changes small and conventional: solve the stated problem with the least code and the least disruption to existing structure.

Use when...

• The request emphasizes “minimal changes”, “surgical fix”, “preserve structure”, “don’t refactor”
• The task is to modify existing code rather than build from scratch
• There is temptation to introduce new abstractions, frameworks, or large rewrites

Symptoms / keywords

• “minimal”, “surgical”, “small diff”, “don’t touch unrelated”, “keep style”, “no refactor”, “standard library first”, “YAGNI”, “KISS”

Minimalist & Standard Code Generation