preparatory-refactor SKILL.md skillA
preparatory-refactor from thoughtbot/rails-consultant is an agent skill: a SKILL.md folder an AI agent loads when a task calls for it.
mdr add thoughtbot/rails-consultant/preparatory-refactor@git:20261106.ce8ab68Pins git:20261106.ce8ab68 in mdr.lock. Pin the fingerprint instead.
- Audit grade
- A, 17 of 17 checks passed
- Kind
- SKILL.md skill
- Repository
- thoughtbot/rails-consultant
- Path
skills/preparatory-refactor/SKILL.md- Versions recorded
- 1
- Latest version
- git:20261106.ce8ab68, committed Nov 6, 2026
- Size
- 9,753 bytes
- Repository stars
- 29
- License
- MIT
Identify opportunities to introduce a refactor that would make a feature easy to implement.
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
# Preparatory refactoring > Make the change easy, then make the easy change. — Kent Beck You're looking for the refactorings _this_ feature asks for. A preparatory refactoring earns its place by making the feature's diff smaller and more obvious, so if you can't show that, leave it out — a finding that stands on its own without the feature is a code review finding, and `/multi-lens-review` is where it goes. You identify, you don't refactor. Nothing here edits code. The report has to survive being pasted into a session that has none of this conversation, which is the real constraint on how long it can be. ## Workflow 1. Get the feature. 2. Find where it lands — one angle, then two more running in the background. 3. Sketch the naive diff — what you'd touch if you just wrote it now. 4. Name the moves that shrink that diff. 5. Report the ones you'd defend. ### 1. Get the feature The feature, if the user passed one: `$ARGUMENTS` …
Read the whole file at its exact version.
How to install
mdr add thoughtbot/rails-consultant/preparatory-refactor@sha256:6c5632b15c27ccbbThe line at the top of this page pins the label git:20261106.ce8ab68, 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_zagg2lqmgavpwsrv)
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Versions
The registry has recorded 1 version of this file, committed on Nov 6, 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 (9753 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
thoughtbot/rails-consultant · 29 stars · license MIT · pushed 2026-11-07 · branch main
API
GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/artifacts/art_zagg2lqmgavpwsrv GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/resolve?ref=thoughtbot/rails-consultant/preparatory-refactor GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/blob/6c5632b15c27ccbb250e1df276ca1c260afd507c950d21148f1a41b8b74af6b8
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.
More from thoughtbot/rails-consultant
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