ai-slop-remover

name	ai-slop-remover
description	Remove AI-generated code smells and patterns from code. Use when cleaning up AI-generated code, removing over-commenting, simplifying verbose patterns, or making code look like a senior engineer wrote it.

AI Slop Remover

Trigger: "clean up AI code", "remove AI slop", "make this look human", "review for AI patterns", or after AI-generated code needs polishing.

Purpose

Removes AI-generated code smells from code while preserving functionality. Makes code read like a senior engineer wrote it.

AI Slop Patterns to Detect and Remove

Over-Commenting

// BAD: AI slop
// This function calculates the total price
// It takes the items array and returns the sum
function calculateTotal(items) {
  // Initialize total to zero
  let total = 0;
  // Loop through each item
  for (const item of items) {
    // Add the item price to total
    total += item.price;
  }
  // Return the total
  return total;
}

// GOOD: Senior engineer code
function calculateTotal(items) {
  return items.reduce((sum, item) => sum + item.price, 0);
}

Unnecessary Abstractions

// BAD: AI over-engineering
class UserService {
  constructor(userRepository) {
    this.userRepository = userRepository;
  }
  async getUserById(id) {
    return await this.userRepository.findById(id);
  }
}

// GOOD: Direct and simple
const getUserById = (id) => userRepository.findById(id);

Verbose Error Messages

// BAD: AI explaining the obvious
catch (error) {
  console.error("An error occurred while attempting to fetch the user data from the database. This could be due to network issues, database connectivity problems, or invalid query parameters.");
}

// GOOD: Specific and actionable
catch (error) {
  logger.error("Failed to fetch user", { userId, error: error.message });
}

Redundant Type Annotations

// BAD: AI over-typing
const name: string = "John";
const count: number = 0;
const isValid: boolean = true;

// GOOD: Let TypeScript infer
const name = "John";
const count = 0;
const isValid = true;

Empty/Useless Functions

// BAD: AI placeholder
function handleUserInput(input) {
  // TODO: implement
  // For now, just return the input
  return input;
}

// GOOD: Either implement properly or don't create the function yet

Cleanup Process

Step 1: Identify

Scan the file for AI slop patterns listed above.

Step 2: Remove

• Delete redundant comments that explain obvious code
• Simplify over-engineered abstractions
• Consolidate verbose patterns
• Remove TODO placeholders that should have been implemented

Step 3: Polish

• Ensure code follows project conventions
• Add comments ONLY for non-obvious logic
• Verify functionality is preserved
• Run tests if available

Rules

• NEVER change functionality — only improve readability
• NEVER remove genuinely useful comments
• ALWAYS preserve the file's existing style
• ALWAYS verify the code still works after cleanup