find-complexity

name	find-complexity
description	Find functions with high cyclomatic complexity, excessive length, or too many parameters. Use when the user asks to find complex code, complexity hotspots, refactoring candidates, or wants to improve code maintainability.
disable-model-invocation	true

Find Complexity Hotspots

Identify Go functions that are hard to review, test, and maintain.

Rules

• Report findings, do not refactor. Refactoring is a separate task.
• Focus on production code (controller/, api/, cmd/, cli/). Skip tests unless explicitly asked.
• Rank by severity: highest complexity first.

Step 1: Determine Scope

Ask the user:

• Branch mode: only files changed in the current branch vs main.
• Full mode: scan the entire codebase.

For branch mode:

git diff --name-only upstream/main -- 'controller/' 'api/' 'cmd/' 'cli/' | grep '\.go$' | grep -v '_test\.go$'

Step 2: Install Prerequisites

Install gocyclo and gocognit if not available:

go install github.com/fzipp/gocyclo/cmd/gocyclo@latest
go install github.com/uudashr/gocognit/cmd/gocognit@latest

Step 3: Cyclomatic Complexity

gocyclo -over 10 <target>

This shows functions with cyclomatic complexity over 10.

Thresholds: 1-10 (simple), 11-20 (moderate), 21-50 (complex), 51+ (untestable).

Step 4: Cognitive Complexity

Cognitive complexity weights nesting depth — a 5-deep if scores much higher than 5 sequential ifs.

gocognit -over 15 <target>

This shows functions with cognitive complexity over 15.

Step 5: Function Length

Find long functions (50+ lines of code, excluding comments and blank lines):

for file in $(find <target> -name '*.go' -not -name '*_test.go'); do
    awk '/^func / {start=NR; func=$0} 
         /^}/ && start {
           len=NR-start; 
           if(len>50) print FILENAME":"start": "func" ("len" lines)"
         }' "$file"
done

Step 6: Parameter Count

Find functions with too many parameters (6+):

rg "^func.*\([^)]{60,}\)" <target> -A 0

Functions with 6+ parameters are candidates for parameter objects or config structs.

Step 7: File Size

Find large files (500+ lines):

wc -l $(find <target> -name '*.go' -not -name '*_test.go') | sort -rn | head -20

Files over 500 lines are candidates for splitting into focused packages.

Step 8: Classify Findings

For each function found, classify:

Category	Criteria	Action
Split	High complexity + long body	Break into smaller functions
Simplify	High complexity + short body	Reduce branching (early returns, switch statements)
Parameterize	Too many arguments (6+)	Group into config struct
Monitor	Complexity 11-15, not growing	Note it, revisit if it gets worse
Split file	File over 500 lines	Break into focused packages

Step 9: Report

For each finding:

1. File, function name, line number
2. Cyclomatic/cognitive complexity score
3. Lines of code / parameter count
4. Classification (split / simplify / parameterize / monitor)
5. Brief suggestion

Summary: total hotspots, top 5 worst offenders, estimated refactoring effort.