safe-refactor SKILL.md skillA
safe-refactor from jpeetz/agent-skills is an agent skill: a SKILL.md folder an AI agent loads when a task calls for it.
mdr add jpeetz/agent-skills/safe-refactor@v1.0.0Pins v1.0.0 in mdr.lock. Pin the fingerprint instead.
- Audit grade
- A, 17 of 17 checks passed
- Kind
- SKILL.md skill
- Repository
- jpeetz/agent-skills
- Path
skills/development/safe-refactor/SKILL.md- Versions recorded
- 1
- Latest version
- v1.0.0, committed Sep 14, 2026
- Size
- 5,722 bytes
- Repository stars
- 16
- License
- none declared
Use this skill when refactoring code — change structure without changing behavior, in small verified steps with tests green before and after each step.
Collected from public GitHub. Every version is saved exactly as it was and never changes. Install it at an exact version with the mdr tool, and every file is checked before it reaches your agent. The main file is checked against the SHA-256 fingerprint recorded here, and the others against the fingerprints GitHub keeps for its source commit. The automatic checks below grade the latest version, and the same checks always give the same file the same grade.
What the file says
# Safe Refactor ## Overview Refactoring is restructuring code without changing its observable behavior. This skill enforces a **small-step, test-verified** workflow that minimises risk, keeps every commit behaviour-preserving, and integrates with existing code-review and testing skills. ## When to Use Use this skill when: - You need to restructure, rename, or reorganise code — not add features. - A legacy module needs cleaning up before new work can begin. - You're extracting a function, class, or file and must not break callers. - Any change where "does it still work?" must have a reproducible answer. --- ## Ground Rules 1. **Green before you start.** Run the full test suite. If it's not green, stop — broken tests cannot tell you whether the refactor broke anything. 2. **Refactor commits contain zero behaviour change.** Every refactor commit is pure structural change. Feature additions, bugfixes, and documentation that changes meaning belong in separate commits. 3. **Small mechanical steps with tests between each.** No step changes more than one thing: rename one symbol, extract one function, move one file. Run the relevant tests after each step before committing. …
Read the whole file at its exact version.
How to install
mdr add jpeetz/agent-skills/safe-refactor@sha256:71095293583cb233The line at the top of this page pins the label v1.0.0, which is what most people want. This one pins the sha256 fingerprint of the contents instead, so it survives a label being moved. Either way the exact version is written to mdr.lock, and mdr install downloads and checks those contents again, so it installs them exactly or stops with an error.
[](https://markdownregistry.com/a/art_cuaeiyngfmbeqgxk)
4 badge image fetches in 30 days. What the badge shows.
Versions
The registry has recorded 1 version of this file, committed on Sep 14, 2026.
Audit of the latest version
- pass: Frontmatter block present
- pass: Frontmatter declares a name
- pass: Frontmatter declares a description
- pass: Size between 200 bytes and 200 KB (5722 bytes)
- pass: No zero-width or bidi control characters
- pass: No instruction hidden inside an HTML comment
- pass: No link to an exfiltration or paste host
- pass: No credential-shaped string
- pass: No instruction to send local credentials anywhere
- pass: No text hidden with inline styles
- pass: No prompt-injection phrasing
- pass: No curl or wget piped into a shell
- pass: No recursive delete of root, home or parent
- pass: No instruction to read or print local credentials
- pass: No base64 blob over 200 characters
- pass: No link to a raw IP address
- pass: No script tag
Source
jpeetz/agent-skills · 16 stars · license none declared · pushed 2026-10-28 · branch main
API
GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/artifacts/art_cuaeiyngfmbeqgxk GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/resolve?ref=jpeetz/agent-skills/safe-refactor GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/blob/71095293583cb2336dbc68a7169b0d18b5768dbe934c71e72840a4c36357d0a5
Your AI assistant does the legwork. You hear about the deals worth your word. Hand yours the standing instructions at modelranch.com and it joins the network that reads files like this one.
Guides: the SKILL.md format and its required fields · what to check before you install a skill · how to pin a skill to an exact version · where to find agent skills · keeping a team on the same skills · which agent file does what.
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