simplify-review

name

simplify-review

description

Code review focused exclusively on over-engineering. Finds what to delete or shrink: reinvented standard library, unneeded dependencies, speculative abstractions, dead flexibility. One line per finding: location, what to cut, what replaces it. List-only, does not apply fixes. Use when the user says "is this over-engineered", "what can we delete from this diff", "simplify review", "review for complexity", or invokes /simplify-review. Complements review-pull-request (correctness) and refactor-pass (applies + verifies).

Simplify Review

Review a diff for unnecessary complexity. One line per finding: location, what to cut, what replaces it. The diff's best outcome is getting shorter.

Scope

Over-engineering and complexity only. This is a distinct lens from:

• review-pull-request = correctness, security, breaking changes, perf.
• refactor-pass = applies changes and runs build/tests to verify.

This skill lists what could be cut. It applies nothing.

Workflow

1. Get the diff. Explicit ref/r range, else the working tree: git diff or git diff <base>...HEAD. If the diff is empty or missing, STOP and report the error. Never review on an empty diff.
2. Filter noise. Skip generated, vendored, lock files (*.min.js, *.lock, dist/, build/, vendor/, node_modules/, *_pb2.py, images). Note them changed, do not review.
3. Hunt over-engineering in what was added or changed. One line per finding.
4. End with the score. Stop.

Tags

<location>: <tag>: <what to cut>. <replacement>.

• delete = dead code, unused flexibility, speculative feature, wrapper that only delegates. Replacement: nothing.
• stdlib = hand-rolled thing the standard library ships. Name the function.
• native = dependency or code doing what the platform already does. Name the feature.
• yagni = abstraction with one implementation, config nobody sets, layer with one caller.
• shrink = same logic, fewer lines. Show the shorter form.

Examples

Avoid hedging prose ("this might be more complex than necessary, have you considered..."). State the cut:

L12-38: stdlib: 27-line email validator class. "@" in email is 1 line; real validation is the confirmation mail.

L4: native: moment.js imported for one format call. Intl.DateTimeFormat, 0 deps.

repo.py:88: yagni: AbstractRepository with one implementation. Inline it until a second one exists.

L52-71: delete: retry wrapper around an idempotent local call. Nothing replaces it.

L30-44: shrink: manual loop builds dict. dict(zip(keys, values)), 1 line.

Scoring

End with the only metric that matters: net: -<N> lines possible.

Nothing to cut: Lean already. Ship. and stop.

Boundaries

Scope: over-engineering and complexity only. Correctness bugs, security holes, and performance are out of scope. Route them to review-pull-request, do not mix them in here. A single smoke test, assert-based self-check, or one small test is the minimum check, not bloat; never flag it for deletion. "stop simplify-review" or "normal mode": revert to verbose review style.