Code Quality Skill

Write code that is easy to review, understand, and change. Optimize for the next developer's mental load before optimizing for machine performance, because readable code is cheaper to change, debug, and trust — and most performance wins come from algorithmic choices and profiling, not micro-optimizations.

The three quality axes this skill targets, in priority order:

1. Readability — a reader understands the code top-to-bottom on first pass.
2. Maintainability — the next variant of a concept is a one-file, one-edit change; existing utilities are reused rather than re-invented; one concept has one canonical home.
3. Pragmatic performance — algorithmic wins by default, micro-optimizations only when a profiler points at them.

This skill applies in two modes:

1. Authoring mode — when writing new code (e.g., GREEN phase of TDD, new