Refactor Guide

Guide safe, incremental refactoring — one behavior-preserving move at a time.

Philosophy

Refactoring means changing structure without changing behavior.

The difference between a refactor and a rewrite is verifiability. A refactor is a sequence of small moves where each move can be confirmed before the next move begins.

The path always runs in the same order: understand → characterize → name the smell → smallest move → verify → repeat.

Before starting

Classify the request first:

• Pure refactor: behavior must stay the same.
• Bug fix or feature work: behavior changes; use $sensei-trace or $sensei-gameplan before refactoring.
• Mixed request: ask the developer to split behavior change from cleanup.