Simplify

Run three parallel read-only reviewers on a scoped diff, aggregate their findings, then make targeted cleanup edits yourself. The goal is less complexity and better reuse — not a rewrite.

Project skill: .agents/skills/simplify/SKILL.md

When to use

• After /simplify or when asked to simplify code, reduce complexity, or clean up a diff.
• Before review when a change works but feels heavier than it needs to be.
• When you want parallel review passes (quality, performance, reuse) without handing edits to subagents.

Scope selection

1. Explicit paths, symbols, diff, or area the user named.
2. Otherwise: combined git diff + git diff --cached.
3. If no local diff: files or symbols mentioned in the conversation.
4. Last resort: git show HEAD.
5. Do not broaden scope beyond the selected work unless needed to understand local patterns.

Subagents (read-only, parallel)

Launch all three with the same model as the parent. They report only — no edits, formatters, worktrees, or commits.

Code quality — low-information comments, one-off helpers, nullable proliferation, catch-all try/catch, premature abstraction, weak type escapes, duplicated or derived state, dead compatibility code.

Performance — blocking hot-path work, uncached expensive ops, busy waits, string concat in loops, N+1 I/O, chatty logging in tight loops.

Reuse — existing helpers or patterns elsewhere in the codebase or already in the diff.

Fixing

• Aggregate findings and fix what clearly reduces complexity or improves reuse.
• Skip issues that need more user context or a refactor much larger than the original diff; note those in the summary.
• Run lightweight checks on touched files when practical.

Output should feel like

• A short summary: what was fixed, what was skipped but recommended.
• Behavior preserved unless a clear bug was fixed.
• Edits stay inside the selected scope.

Related

• deslop — strip AI-generated slop from a branch diff.
• thermo-nuclear-code-quality-review — deeper structural review when simplification isn't enough.
• improve-codebase-architecture — longer-horizon architecture opportunities.
• skills-index — vault catalog.