Agent skill

Refactoring Guru

by ciembor in ciembor/agent-rules-books

Apply Refactoring.Guru-inspired rules when diagnosing code smells, choosing refactoring techniques, and stopping cleanup before uncontrolled redesign.

MITAuto-check passedDevelopment

Install Refactoring Guru

skills CLI
$ npx skills add ciembor/agent-rules-books --skill refactoring-guru -a claude-code

Project install by default; add -g for ~/.claude/skills/.

GitHub CLI
$ gh skill install ciembor/agent-rules-books refactoring-guru --agent claude-code

Project scope by default; add --scope user for a personal install. Needs GitHub CLI 2.90.0 or later (public preview).

Manual copy
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/ciembor/agent-rules-books.git skills-src && mkdir -p .claude/skills && cp -r skills-src/refactoring-guru .claude/skills/refactoring-guru && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.claude/skills/ instead of .claude/skills for a personal install. The folder must contain SKILL.md.

Claude Code skills documentation · loads skills from .claude/skills/

Facts

Skill name
refactoring-guru
GitHub stars
2.9k
Token cost
~170 tokens
SKILL.md length
54 words
Files
4
Skills in repo
14
Repo updated
First seen
Licence
MIT

At a glance

Apply Refactoring.Guru-inspired rules when diagnosing code smells, choosing refactoring techniques, and stopping cleanup before uncontrolled redesign.

  • Tasks that involve Refactoring
  • Instructions only: no scripts, shell commands, URLs or credentials in SKILL.md

What it does

Refactoring Guru is an agent skill from ciembor/agent-rules-books. Apply Refactoring.Guru-inspired rules when diagnosing code smells, choosing refactoring techniques, and stopping cleanup before uncontrolled redesign.

Its SKILL.md is about 170 tokens, which your agent loads only when the skill is triggered. The skill folder holds 3 other files (for example `refactoring-guru.md`, `refactoring-guru.mini.md` and `refactoring-guru.nano.md`).

It sits in Development, covering Refactoring. The repository describes itself as: AGENTS.md rules / skills for AI coding agents: Codex, Cursor & Claude Code. Inspired by Clean Code, Refactoring, DDD, Clean Architecture and DDIA programming books. The licence is MIT.

When your agent uses it

  • Tasks that involve Refactoring

Example prompts

  • “/refactoring-guru”

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit 893a88a. It shows what the files ask for, not the result of running them.

  • Tool permissions

    Pre-approves nothing: there is no allowed-tools line, so your agent's usual permission prompts apply.

    From allowed-tools in the SKILL.md frontmatter.

  • Runs code

    No scripts in the folder and no shell commands in SKILL.md.

    From the folder's file list and the shell code blocks in SKILL.md.

  • Network

    No URLs in SKILL.md.

    From URLs in SKILL.md, links to its own repository left out.

  • Credentials

    Names no API keys, tokens, secrets or passwords.

    From names ending in _API_KEY, _TOKEN, _SECRET, _KEY or _PASSWORD in SKILL.md.

Context cost

Refactoring Guru loads about 170 tokens when it runs. Until then it costs about 42 tokens; SKILL.md has 54 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it
~42
When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches
~170

Estimates: characters ÷ 4, the usual rule of thumb; real counts depend on the model's tokenizer. Scripts and assets cost tokens only if the agent reads them.

Safety

Auto-check passed

The automated check found no risky patterns in SKILL.md.

Automated static check — not a guarantee. Review scripts before installing. It scans the text of SKILL.md for risky patterns (piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files, hidden Unicode, destructive commands); files beside SKILL.md are not scanned.

SKILL.md

The full file from ciembor/agent-rules-books at commit 893a88a, republished under its MIT licence (© ciembor). 54 words, ~170 tokens.

Download SKILL.mdSave it as .claude/skills/refactoring-guru/SKILL.md (or your agent's skills folder). This skill also uses 3 other files; get the full folder from GitHub.
name
refactoring-guru
description
Apply Refactoring.Guru-inspired rules when diagnosing code smells, choosing refactoring techniques, and stopping cleanup before uncontrolled redesign.
license
MIT

Refactoring.Guru Skill

Use this skill when a task involves diagnosing smells, choosing targeted refactoring treatments, preserving behavior, applying a refactoring catalog, or avoiding uncontrolled redesign.

Before making design or code decisions, read and apply refactoring-guru.mini.md. Use refactoring-guru.md only as a deeper reference when the mini rules are not enough for the current refactoring tradeoff.

© ciembor, MIT. Rendered from Markdown: HTML in the file is shown as text, images as links, and headings moved down two levels. Raw file

Files

SKILL.md and 3 other files in refactoring-guru of ciembor/agent-rules-books.

  • SKILL.md
  • refactoring-guru.md
  • refactoring-guru.mini.md
  • refactoring-guru.nano.md

Open the folder on GitHubat commit 893a88a

Compare with similar skills

Refactoring Guru next to the 5 skills that share the most tags, products or categories with it. Stars are the repository's; “used in” counts other GitHub owners with a copy.

Refactoring Guru compared with similar skills
SkillStarsUsed inTokensAuto-checkLicenceRepo updated
Refactoring Guru this skillciembor/agent-rules-books2.9k—~170Automated safety check: PassMIT
Guidelinesakash-network/node1.1k22 repos~577Automated safety check: PassMIT
Component Refactoringlangflow-ai/langflow156k—~3.5kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Migrate Core Code to Submodulestinyhumansai/openhuman42k—~2.6kAutomated safety check: PassGPL-3.0
Systematic Code Refactoringluongnv89/claude-howto42k—~3kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Codexskills-directory/skill-codex1.5k3 repos~1.8kAutomated safety check: PassMIT

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Categories

Questions about Refactoring Guru

What does Refactoring Guru do?

Apply Refactoring.Guru-inspired rules when diagnosing code smells, choosing refactoring techniques, and stopping cleanup before uncontrolled redesign. Refactoring Guru is an agent skill from ciembor/agent-rules-books.Guru-inspired rules when diagnosing code smells, choosing refactoring techniques, and stopping cleanup before uncontrolled redesign.

When should I use Refactoring Guru?

Refactoring Guru fits situations like: tasks that involve Refactoring.

How do I install Refactoring Guru in Claude Code?

Run `npx skills add ciembor/agent-rules-books --skill refactoring-guru -a claude-code`. Or copy the skill folder (refactoring-guru in ciembor/agent-rules-books) into .claude/skills/refactoring-guru in your project. Claude Code loads it when a task matches its description.

How do I install Refactoring Guru in Codex?

Run `npx skills add ciembor/agent-rules-books --skill refactoring-guru -a codex`. Or copy the skill folder (refactoring-guru in ciembor/agent-rules-books) into .agents/skills/refactoring-guru in your project. Codex loads it when a task matches its description.

Can I use Refactoring Guru in Cursor, Gemini CLI or GitHub Copilot?

Cursor, Gemini CLI, GitHub Copilot and OpenCode also load SKILL.md folders. With the skills CLI, run `npx skills add ciembor/agent-rules-books --skill refactoring-guru -a cursor` (or -a gemini-cli, github-copilot or opencode for the others). To copy it by hand, put the folder in .cursor/skills/refactoring-guru, .gemini/skills/refactoring-guru, .github/skills/refactoring-guru and .opencode/skills/refactoring-guru in your project.

What does Refactoring Guru need to run?

SKILL.md names no scripts, command-line tools or credentials: Refactoring Guru is instructions for the agent only.

Does Refactoring Guru access the network?

SKILL.md contains no URLs. Any network use would come from the scripts or tools the agent runs. This is read from the text; nothing was executed.

Is Refactoring Guru safe to install?

Our automated static check of SKILL.md found no risky patterns, such as piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files or hidden Unicode. It is not a guarantee. Review the folder before installing.

What licence does Refactoring Guru use?

Refactoring Guru is published under the MIT licence (declared in SKILL.md). It allows redistribution, so the full SKILL.md is shown on this page.

How many tokens does Refactoring Guru use?

About 170 tokens (SKILL.md is roughly 680 characters). Agents keep only the skill's name and description in context until a task matches; then they load SKILL.md in full.

What are the alternatives to Refactoring Guru?

Skills that share tags, products or a category with Refactoring Guru: Guidelines (akash-network/node, 1.1k stars), Component Refactoring (langflow-ai/langflow, 156k stars), Migrate Core Code to Submodules (tinyhumansai/openhuman, 42k stars) and Systematic Code Refactoring (luongnv89/claude-howto, 42k stars). The comparison table on this page puts their stars, adoption, token cost, safety result and licence side by side.

Who maintains Refactoring Guru?

ciembor (a GitHub user) maintains it in ciembor/agent-rules-books, which has 2,927 GitHub stars. The repository holds 14 skills in this directory. The repository was last updated on September 10, 2026.

Source: ciembor/agent-rules-books on GitHub. Facts on this page come from the repository at the commit we read; the author's words are quoted as theirs.