refactor SKILL.md skillA
refactor from ahgraber/skills is an agent skill: a SKILL.md folder an AI agent loads when a task calls for it.
mdr add ahgraber/skills/refactor@git:20261020.6d30bf1Pins git:20261020.6d30bf1 in mdr.lock. Pin the fingerprint instead.
- Audit grade
- A, 17 of 17 checks passed
- Kind
- SKILL.md skill
- Repository
- ahgraber/skills
- Path
skills/refactor/SKILL.md- Versions recorded
- 5
- Latest version
- git:20261020.6d30bf1, committed Oct 20, 2026
- First version recorded
- Aug 8, 2026
- Size
- 10,321 bytes
- Repository stars
- 6
- License
- CC0-1.0
Use when changing the structure of working code without changing its behavior: decomposing an oversized function, extracting or merging a module, collapsing a layer, breaking an import cycle. Applies when the edit is structural enough to need a plan and explicit approval before it lands. Triggers: 'refactor this', 'decompose this function', 'split this module', 'break this dependency cycle', 'extract this into', 'restructure', 'work through the deferred items'. Not for slop cleanup…
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
# Refactor: Behavior-Preserving Structural Change ## Overview Refactor changes the structure of working code; it does not change behavior. It differs from `simplify` by risk rather than size: simplify applies edits whose behavior preservation is verifiable on the spot, and refactor takes the edits that are not — the ones that move contracts, cross module boundaries, or touch files far from where the request started. Those need a plan the user rules on before anything lands, because the resulting diff is too large to review after the fact. Every move is approved individually and executed on its own, with verification green between moves. ## When to Use - A function or class has grown past the point where it can be read. - Two modules import each other, or a layer imports something below it that it must not. - An abstraction has one implementation, and collapsing it touches every call site. - A simplify pass left structural proposals and the user wants to work through them. - Code needs to move: extracted to a new module, merged into an existing one, renamed across the tree. ## When Not to Use …
Read the whole file at its exact version.
How to install
mdr add ahgraber/skills/refactor@sha256:12d97673f337f09aThe line at the top of this page pins the label git:20261020.6d30bf1, 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_hcnizlw2mpga7fsv)
4 badge image fetches in 30 days. What the badge shows.
Versions
The registry has recorded 5 versions of this file, between Aug 8, 2026 and Oct 20, 2026, about one every 18 days.
| version | committed | commit | size | audit | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| git:20261020.6d30bf1 latest | 2026-10-20 | 6d30bf1 | 10,321 B | A | view · diff |
| git:20260819.209d97b | 2026-08-19 | 209d97b | 9,556 B | A | view · diff |
| git:20260819.8c8e388 | 2026-08-19 | 8c8e388 | 9,352 B | A | view · diff |
| git:20260816.2905688 | 2026-08-16 | 2905688 | 9,352 B | A | view · diff |
| git:20260808.eb5c83b | 2026-08-08 | eb5c83b | 9,374 B | A | view |
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 (10321 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
ahgraber/skills · 6 stars · license CC0-1.0 · pushed 2026-10-29 · branch main
API
GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/artifacts/art_hcnizlw2mpga7fsv GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/resolve?ref=ahgraber/skills/refactor GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/blob/12d97673f337f09ae32fdae24a68cb6c9cd70782c0900c9c2d1c43ea2129cc83
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.