simplifying-code SKILL.md skillA

simplifying-code from iliaal/whetstone is an agent skill: a SKILL.md folder an AI agent loads when a task calls for it.

Install it, pinned

mdr add iliaal/whetstone/simplifying-code@git:20260227.215f429

Pins git:20260227.215f429 in mdr.lock. Pin the fingerprint instead.

Audit grade: A, 17 of 17 checks passed
Kind: SKILL.md skill
Repository: iliaal/whetstone
Path: distillery/generated-skills/simplifying-code/SKILL.md
Versions recorded: 1
Latest version: git:20260227.215f429, committed Feb 27, 2026
Size: 3,340 bytes
Repository stars: 35
License: MIT

Simplifies, polishes, and declutters code without changing behavior. Use when asked to "simplify code", "clean up code", "polish code", "refactor", "declutter", "reduce complexity", "remove dead code", "remove AI slop", "improve readability", or "tighten up this file".

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

# Simplifying Code

## Principles

| Principle | Rule |
|-----------|------|
| **Preserve behavior** | Output must do exactly what the input did — no silent feature additions or removals. Specifically preserve: async/sync boundaries, error propagation paths, and logging side effects |
| **Explicit over clever** | Prefer explicit variables over nested expressions. Readable beats compact |
| **Simplicity over cleanliness** | Prefer straightforward code over pattern-heavy "clean" code. Three similar lines beat a premature abstraction |
| **Surgical changes** | Touch only what needs simplifying. Match existing style, naming conventions, and formatting of the surrounding code |
| **Surface assumptions** | Before changing a block, identify what imports it, what it imports, and what tests cover it. Edit dependents in the same pass |

## Process

1. **Read first** — understand the full file and its dependents before changing anything
2. **Identify invariants** — what must stay the same? Public API, return types, side effects, error behavior
3. **Identify targets** — find the highest-impact simplification opportunities (see Smell → Fix table)
…

Read the whole file at its exact version.

How to install

The exact contents, by fingerprint

mdr add iliaal/whetstone/simplifying-code@sha256:2ba57dce477dbf03

The line at the top of this page pins the label git:20260227.215f429, 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.

Badge

[![mdr](https://markdownregistry.com/badge/art_nso6ltssqjfrvqwk.svg)](https://markdownregistry.com/a/art_nso6ltssqjfrvqwk)

3 badge image fetches in 30 days. What the badge shows.

Versions

The registry has recorded 1 version of this file, committed on Feb 27, 2026.

version	committed	commit	size	audit
git:20260227.215f429 latest	2026-02-27	215f429	3,340 B	A	view

Audit of the latest version

A 17 of 17 checks passed. Fixed automatic checks with no AI involved, so the same checks give the same answer every run.

pass: Frontmatter block present
pass: Frontmatter declares a name
pass: Frontmatter declares a description
pass: Size between 200 bytes and 200 KB (3340 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

GitHub

iliaal/whetstone · 35 stars · license MIT · pushed 2026-11-04 · branch master

API

GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/artifacts/art_nso6ltssqjfrvqwk
GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/resolve?ref=iliaal/whetstone/simplifying-code
GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/blob/2ba57dce477dbf0335f60c3760034b6a424d9ca59fc8c33b291baa5934b23fca

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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