| name | claude-simplify-wrapper |
| description | Run Claude's built-in /simplify skill on BASE_SHA..HEAD, validate checks, and commit. |
Simplify Loop
Input: a git base SHA/ref to simplify against (for example: <sha> or HEAD~1).
Preconditions
- Confirm you are in the intended repo:
git rev-parse --show-toplevel
- Ensure you have a base commit SHA (prefer the commit from before the change set).
- Start from a clean working tree (required):
git status --porcelain should be empty.
- Ensure git can create commits (stop if missing):
- If commits fail due to missing identity, configure
user.name and user.email.
- Only
claude CLI is required (no codex dependency).
Scope / intent
- This is a simplification pass, not a general code review.
- Invokes Claude's built-in
/simplify skill which runs three parallel agents internally:
- Code reuse (find and eliminate duplication)
- Code quality (simplify convoluted logic)
- Code efficiency (remove unnecessary work)
- Changes are validated (build/lint/test) and committed automatically.
Architecture
Two-phase per iteration:
- Simplify subprocess — Invokes
claude with the /simplify prompt. The built-in skill handles its own three parallel agents and applies fixes directly to the working tree.
- Validate+commit subprocess — A second
claude subprocess that runs the repo's standard build/lint/test commands, fixes only breakages introduced by the simplify phase, stages and commits all changes, and emits LOOP_STATUS: {...} so the wrapper can decide whether to continue.
The loop stops when:
- The simplify phase produces no working-tree changes (nothing to simplify)
- The validate phase fails to make checks green
- Max iterations reached
Expected runtime
Typically runs 5–20 minutes per iteration. Allow at least 30 minutes for a single iteration.
Do not interrupt/restart the subagent if it looks stuck. The loop script owns stuck/timeout handling and will exit on its own when it completes or when --timeout is reached.
Run
resolve_skill_dir() {
local name="$1"
local repo_root=""
repo_root="$(git rev-parse --show-toplevel 2>/dev/null || pwd)"
local candidates=(
"$repo_root/.agents/skills/$name"
"$repo_root/.claude/skills/$name"
"$HOME/.agents/skills/$name"
"$HOME/.codex/skills/$name"
"$HOME/.claude/skills/$name"
)
for d in "${candidates[@]}"; do
if [[ -d "$d" ]]; then
echo "$d"
return 0
fi
done
echo "Error: skill '$name' not found in repo-scoped or user-scoped skill dirs." >&2
return 1
}
SIMPLIFY_SKILL_DIR="$(resolve_skill_dir claude-simplify-wrapper)"
python3 "$SIMPLIFY_SKILL_DIR/scripts/run_simplify_loop.py" <base-sha>
Options:
--max-iterations N (default: 1)
--model <model> (default: claude-sonnet-4-6)
--effort <effort> (default: high)
--progress-log <path> and --heartbeat-seconds N
--artifacts-dir <path> (optional; stores subprocess outputs)
--timeout N (per-subprocess timeout in seconds; default: 3600)
--review-only (run simplify phase only; do not validate or commit)
--scope <pathspec> (repeatable; restricts git diff to those paths)
Claude automation knobs (env vars; defaults shown):
PROMPT_TEMPLATES_CLAUDE_OUTPUT_FORMAT=stream-json (text|json|stream-json)
PROMPT_TEMPLATES_CLAUDE_MIN_VERSION=2.1.33 (fail fast if installed Claude Code is older)
PROMPT_TEMPLATES_CLAUDE_STREAM_LOG_MAX_BYTES=10485760 (per invocation; set 0 for unlimited)
PROMPT_TEMPLATES_CLAUDE_INACTIVITY_TIMEOUT_SECONDS=180 (set 0 to disable)
PROMPT_TEMPLATES_CLAUDE_INACTIVITY_MIN_RUNTIME_SECONDS=30
PROMPT_TEMPLATES_CLAUDE_PROMPT_BUDGET_BYTES=0 (disabled by default; set >0 to enforce)
Behavior:
- Each iteration runs in two fresh Claude subprocesses (claude-only, no codex required).
- Phase 1 invokes the bundled
/simplify skill which applies fixes directly.
- Phase 2 validates changes, fixes any breakages, and commits.
- Claude subprocesses run in a native PTY (when available) and have an inactivity timeout; on classifiable Claude automation failures the script retries once.
- The script enforces commit hygiene per iteration: if the validator leaves working-tree changes, it auto-commits them before the next iteration.
Troubleshooting:
--progress-log may include full tool outputs (diffs, file contents). Treat it as sensitive; stream-json logs are truncated by default via PROMPT_TEMPLATES_CLAUDE_STREAM_LOG_MAX_BYTES.