| name | improve-codebase-architecture |
| description | Explore a codebase to find opportunities for architectural improvement, focusing on making the codebase more testable by deepening shallow modules. This skill should be used when the user wants to improve architecture, find refactoring opportunities, consolidate tightly-coupled modules, or make a codebase more AI-navigable. |
Improve Codebase Architecture
Runtime Tools
When this skill needs user questions, todo/progress tracking, subagents, or another skill, use the active runtime equivalents in RUNTIME_TOOLS.md.
Explore a codebase like an AI would, surface architectural friction, discover opportunities for improving testability, and propose module-deepening refactors as GitHub issue RFCs.
A deep module (John Ousterhout, "A Philosophy of Software Design") has a small interface hiding a large implementation. Deep modules are more testable, more AI-navigable, and let you test at the boundary instead of inside.
Process
1. Explore the codebase
Use the active runtime subagent tool with subagent_type=Explore to navigate the codebase naturally. Do NOT follow rigid heuristics — explore organically and note where friction occurs:
- Where does understanding one concept require bouncing between many small files?
- Where are modules so shallow that the interface is nearly as complex as the implementation?
- Where have pure functions been extracted just for testability, but the real bugs hide in how they're called?
- Where do tightly-coupled modules create integration risk in the seams between them?
- Which parts of the codebase are untested, or hard to test?
The friction encountered IS the signal.
2. Present candidates
Present a numbered list of deepening opportunities. For each candidate, show:
- Cluster: Which modules/concepts are involved
- Why they're coupled: Shared types, call patterns, co-ownership of a concept
- Dependency category: See REFERENCE.md for the four categories
- Test impact: What existing tests would be replaced by boundary tests
Do NOT propose interfaces yet. Ask the user: "Which of these would you like to explore?"
3. User picks a candidate
4. Frame the problem space
Before spawning sub-agents, write a user-facing explanation of the problem space for the chosen candidate:
- The constraints any new interface would need to satisfy
- The dependencies it would need to rely on
- A rough illustrative code sketch to make the constraints concrete — this is not a proposal, just a way to ground the constraints
Show this to the user, then immediately proceed to Step 5. The user reads and thinks about the problem while the sub-agents work in parallel.
5. Design multiple interfaces
Spawn 3+ sub-agents in parallel using the active runtime subagent tool. Each must produce a radically different interface for the deepened module.
Prompt each sub-agent with a separate technical brief (file paths, coupling details, dependency category, what's being hidden). This brief is independent of the user-facing explanation in Step 4. Give each agent a different design constraint:
- Agent 1: "Minimize the interface — aim for 1-3 entry points max"
- Agent 2: "Maximize flexibility — support many use cases and extension"
- Agent 3: "Optimize for the most common caller — make the default case trivial"
- Agent 4 (if applicable): "Design around the ports & adapters pattern for cross-boundary dependencies"
Each sub-agent outputs:
- Interface signature (types, methods, params)
- Usage example showing how callers use it
- What complexity it hides internally
- Dependency strategy (how deps are handled — see REFERENCE.md)
- Trade-offs
Present designs sequentially, then compare them in prose.
After comparing, give a recommendation: which design is strongest and why. If elements from different designs would combine well, propose a hybrid. Be opinionated — the user wants a strong read, not just a menu.
6. User picks an interface (or accepts recommendation)
7. Create GitHub issue
Create a refactor RFC as a GitHub issue using gh issue create. Use the issue template in REFERENCE.md. Do NOT ask the user to review before creating — just create it and share the URL.
