| name | graybeard-debt |
| description | Harvest every `defer:` comment in the codebase into a debt ledger, so the deliberate shortcuts and deferrals get tracked instead of rotting into "later means never". Use when the user says "graybeard debt", "/graybeard-debt", "what did we defer", "list the shortcuts", "debt ledger", or "what did we mark to do later". One-shot report, changes nothing.
|
Every deliberate shortcut is marked with a defer: comment naming its ceiling
and upgrade path. This collects them into one ledger so a deferral can't
quietly become permanent.
Scan
Where the checker is distributed (kit-bootstrapped repos), start with it —
it handles all comment prefixes, multi-line continuation clauses, and noise
dirs, and supplies the totals and the rot rows:
scripts/defer-lint --json
Its findings array lists only the rot rows (missing trigger or ceiling);
defer_comments is the total. The compliant rows — the bulk of the ledger —
still come from the grep:
grep -rnE '(#|//) ?defer:' . (skip node_modules, .git, build output;
add other comment prefixes if your stack uses them; also the full fallback
where the checker isn't distributed)
Each grep hit is one ledger row. The comment prefix keeps prose that merely
mentions the convention out of the ledger.
Output
One row per marker, grouped by file:
<file>:<line>, <what was simplified>. ceiling: <the limit named>. upgrade: <the trigger to revisit>.
The convention is defer: <what was simplified>. ceiling: <known limitation>. upgrade when: <trigger condition>.,
so pull the ceiling and the trigger straight from the comment. Want an owner
per row too? add git blame -L<line>,<line>.
Flag the rot risk: any defer: comment that names no upgrade path or trigger
gets a no-trigger tag, those are the ones that silently rot.
End with <N> markers, <M> with no trigger. Nothing found: No defer: debt. Clean ledger.
Boundaries
Reads and reports only, changes nothing. To persist it, ask and it writes the
ledger to a file (e.g. DEFER-DEBT.md). One-shot. "stop graybeard-debt" or
"normal mode" to revert.
