improve
This skill contains shell command directives (!`command`) that may execute system commands. Review carefully before installing.
Pre-computed context
Current branch: !git branch --show-current 2>/dev/null || echo "unknown"
Recent commits: !git log --oneline -10 2>/dev/null || echo "no commits"
Working tree status: !git status --porcelain 2>/dev/null | head -10 || echo "clean"
Variables
Arguments: $ARGUMENTS
Purpose
Improvement is distinct from review and planning. Review evaluates a DIFF against criteria (reactive). Planning designs NEW work (forward-looking). This skill scans EXISTING code for friction and proposes candidates for improvement (proactive).
The scan-present-pick process generalizes across improvement lenses. Each lens (action) brings its own analysis method and vocabulary via an actions/<lens>.md playbook plus a research/<lens>/ reference set, loaded only when that lens runs. The first lens, deepening, implements Ousterhout's deep-module concept — finding shallow modules (interface nearly as complex as implementation) and proposing how to deepen them. The aim is testability and AI/agent-navigability (AX): a deep module's small interface lets a reader — human or agent — grasp its purpose without traversing the whole import graph.
This finds existing friction — it does not plan new work, apply mechanical code-level tidyings, enforce rules on a diff, or review changes before a PR. Those are separate concerns handled by planning, tidying, rule-enforcement, and review tools respectively (see "Composition").