tech-debt-tracker

name	tech-debt-tracker
description	Automated tech debt scanning, classification, and cost-of-delay prioritization. TRIGGER when: user asks to find tech debt, audit code quality or code health, prioritize refactoring, track debt trends, identify cleanup candidates, or assess where to invest engineering effort; user runs /tech-debt or /debt-scan. DO NOT TRIGGER when: writing new features, doing code review (use code-review skill), debugging specific bugs.
metadata	{"author":"DROOdotFOO","version":"1.0.0","tags":"tech-debt,code-quality,refactoring,prioritization,cost-of-delay"}

Tech Debt Tracker Skill

Systematic tech debt management: scan for debt signals, classify by type, prioritize using cost-of-delay, and track trends over time.

Workflow

1. Scan -- Identify debt signals across the codebase. See debt-signals.md.
2. Classify -- Categorize each finding (code debt, design debt, test debt, dependency debt, documentation debt).
3. Prioritize -- Rank findings using cost-of-delay frameworks. See prioritization.md.
4. Report -- Generate a debt inventory with actionable recommendations.
5. Track -- Compare against previous scans to measure debt trajectory (increasing, stable, decreasing).

Debt Classification

Type	Examples
Code	Long functions, deep nesting, duplicated logic
Design	Tight coupling, missing abstractions, god objects
Test	Missing coverage, flaky tests, no edge cases
Dependency	Outdated packages, deprecated APIs, pinned EOL
Documentation	Stale comments, missing API docs, wrong examples

Output Format

[DEBT] type=Code severity=HIGH file:line
Signal: Function exceeds 80 lines with cyclomatic complexity 14
Cost-of-delay: Blocks feature X, increases bug rate in module Y
Recommendation: Extract into 3 focused functions by responsibility
Priority: STRATEGIC (high value, high effort)

End with a summary: total debt items by type, priority distribution, top 5 recommendations, and trend direction if historical data exists.

What You Get

• A debt inventory listing every finding with type, severity, file location, and cost-of-delay assessment
• Priority rankings using a strategic/tactical matrix so you know which debt to pay down first
• A summary with totals by type, priority distribution, top 5 recommendations, and trend direction versus prior scans

Sub-files

File	Content
debt-signals.md	What to scan for across languages
prioritization.md	Cost-of-delay frameworks, priority matrix

See also

• refactoring-strategy -- once you know what debt to pay, this skill says how to pay it safely