Refactoring Workflow

Refactoring is changing the structure of code without changing its behaviour. If behaviour changes, it is not a refactor — it is a rewrite, and it needs a different plan and a different review.

When to Use This Skill

• The user asks to refactor, clean up, restructure or simplify
• A feature is hard to add because the current structure resists it
• Duplication has reached the point where a change must be made in several places
• A module has grown beyond what one reader can hold in mind
• Coupling makes a unit impossible to test in isolation

Do not refactor when the tests are red, when you do not understand the current behaviour, or as a side quest inside a feature branch. Refactoring merged together with behaviour change is unreviewable.

Core Concepts