A skill your agent uses when fixing, editing, changing, debugging, or working with any TypeScript code.

MITAuto-check passedDevelopment

Install Boy Scout

skills CLI
$ npx skills add ertugrul-dmr/clean-code-skills --skill boy-scout -a claude-code

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

GitHub CLI
$ gh skill install ertugrul-dmr/clean-code-skills boy-scout --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/ertugrul-dmr/clean-code-skills.git skills-src && mkdir -p .claude/skills && cp -r skills-src/skills/typescript/boy-scout .claude/skills/boy-scout && 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
boy-scout
GitHub stars
197
Token cost
~996 tokens
SKILL.md length
391 words
Files
1
Skills in repo
14
Repo updated
First seen
Licence
MIT

At a glance

A skill your agent uses when fixing, editing, changing, debugging, or working with any TypeScript code.

  • Works in 4 steps: Complete the requested task first → Identify at least one small cleanup… → Apply the appropriate specialized skill → …
  • Working with any TypeScript code
  • SKILL.md covers The Philosophy, When Working on Code, The Rule in Practice and Skill Orchestration, plus 3 more sections
  • Instructions only: no scripts, shell commands, URLs or credentials in SKILL.md

What it does

Boy Scout is an agent skill from ertugrul-dmr/clean-code-skills. Use when fixing, editing, changing, debugging, or working with any TypeScript code. Applies the Boy Scout Rule—always leave code cleaner than you found it. Orchestrates other clean code skills as needed.

Its SKILL.md is about 1000 tokens, which your agent loads only when the skill is triggered. It is a single SKILL.md file with no bundled scripts.

It sits in Development, covering Code quality. It works with TypeScript. The licence is MIT.

When your agent uses it

  • Working with any TypeScript code
  • Tasks that involve Code quality

Example prompts

  • “/boy-scout”

Workflow steps

4 steps, taken from the first numbered list in SKILL.md.

  1. Complete the requested task first
  2. Identify at least one small cleanup opportunity
  3. Apply the appropriate specialized skill
  4. Note the improvement made (e.g., "Also cleaned up: renamed x to results for clarity")

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit 1b6b3cc. 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 (its code samples are typescript).

    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

Boy Scout loads about 996 tokens when it runs. Until then it costs about 53 tokens; SKILL.md has 391 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it
~53
When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches
~996

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 ertugrul-dmr/clean-code-skills at commit 1b6b3cc, republished under its MIT licence (© ertugrul-dmr). 391 words, ~996 tokens.

Download SKILL.mdSave it as .claude/skills/boy-scout/SKILL.md (or your agent's skills folder).
name
boy-scout
description
Use when fixing, editing, changing, debugging, or working with any TypeScript code. Applies the Boy Scout Rule—always leave code cleaner than you found it. Orchestrates other clean code skills as needed.
when_to_use
Also trigger on: "while you're at it", "any quick wins", "improve this a bit", "anything else obviously wrong", or when editing existing TypeScript and an…

The Boy Scout Rule

"Always leave the campground cleaner than you found it." — Robert Baden-Powell

"Always check a module in cleaner than when you checked it out." — Robert C. Martin, Clean Code

The Philosophy

You don't have to make every module perfect. You simply have to make it a little bit better than when you found it.

If we all followed this simple rule:

  • Our systems would gradually get better as they evolved
  • Teams would care for the system as a whole
  • The relentless deterioration of software would end

When Working on Code

Every time you touch code, look for at least one small improvement:

Quick Wins (Do These Immediately)
  • Rename a poorly named variable -> triggers clean-names
  • Delete a redundant comment -> triggers clean-comments
  • Remove dead code or unused imports
  • Replace a magic number with a named constant
  • Extract a deeply nested block into a well-named function
Deeper Improvements (When Time Allows)
  • Split a function that does multiple things -> triggers clean-functions
  • Remove duplication (DRY) -> triggers clean-general
  • Add missing boundary checks
  • Improve test coverage -> triggers clean-tests

The Rule in Practice

ts
// You're asked to fix a bug in this function:
function proc(d: number[], x: number[], flag = false): number[] {
  // process data
  for (const i of d) {
    if (i > 0) {
      if (flag) {
        x.push(i * 1.0825); // tax
      } else {
        x.push(i);
      }
    }
  }
  return x;
}

// Don't just fix the bug and leave.
// Leave it cleaner:
const TAX_RATE = 0.0825;

/** Filter positive values, optionally applying tax. */
function processPositiveValues(
  values: readonly number[],
  applyTax = false
): number[] {
  const rate = applyTax ? 1 + TAX_RATE : 1;
  return values.filter((v) => v > 0).map((v) => v * rate);
}

What changed:

  • ✅ Descriptive function name
  • ✅ Clear parameter names
  • ✅ Explicit TypeScript types
  • ✅ Named constant for magic number
  • ✅ No output argument mutation
  • ✅ Useful inline documentation

Skill Orchestration

This skill coordinates with specialized skills based on what you're doing:

TaskTrigger Skill
Writing/reviewing any TypeScripttypescript-clean-code (master)
Naming variables, functions, classesclean-names
Writing or editing commentsclean-comments
Creating or refactoring functionsclean-functions
Reviewing code qualityclean-general
Writing or reviewing testsclean-tests
Show full SKILL.md (145 more words)Show less

The Mindset

Don't:

  • Leave code worse than you found it
  • Say "that's not my code"
  • Wait for a dedicated refactoring sprint
  • Make massive changes unrelated to your task

Do:

  • Make one small improvement with every commit
  • Fix what you see, even if you didn't break it
  • Keep changes proportional to your task
  • Leave a trail of quality improvements

AI Behavior

When working on code:

  1. Complete the requested task first
  2. Identify at least one small cleanup opportunity
  3. Apply the appropriate specialized skill
  4. Note the improvement made (e.g., "Also cleaned up: renamed x to results for clarity")

When reviewing code:

  1. Load typescript-clean-code for comprehensive rule checking
  2. Flag violations by rule number
  3. Suggest incremental improvements, not complete rewrites

The Boy Scout Promise

Every piece of code you touch gets a little better. Not perfect-just better.

Over time, better compounds into excellent.

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

Files

Just SKILL.md in skills/typescript/boy-scout of ertugrul-dmr/clean-code-skills.

Open the folder on GitHubat commit 1b6b3cc

Compare with similar skills

Boy Scout 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.

Boy Scout compared with similar skills
SkillStarsUsed inTokensAuto-checkLicenceRepo updated
Boy Scout this skillertugrul-dmr/clean-code-skills197—~996Automated safety check: PassMIT
Install Anti-Slop Oxlint Rulesdmmulroy/anti-slop5.4k—~2.2kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Code Reviewerjewbetcha/opentrace1162 repos~1.1kAutomated safety check: NotesMIT
Coding Standardskurealnum/dotfiles29017 repos~2.9kAutomated safety check: PassNone
Code Qualityredis/RedisInsight8.9k—~1.2kAutomated safety check: PassCustom licence
Cross-Language Coding Standardszereight/gitlab-mcp2k1 repos~1.4kAutomated safety check: PassMIT

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More from ertugrul-dmr/clean-code-skills

All 14 skills in this repo
  • Boy Scout

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  • Clean General

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  • Clean Names

    ertugrul-dmr/clean-code-skills

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  • Clean Names

    ertugrul-dmr/clean-code-skills

    A skill your agent uses when naming, renaming, or fixing names of variables, functions, classes, interfaces, or modules in TypeScript.

    197 GitHub stars~1k tokensUpdated 5 mo ago
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  • Clean Tests

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Works with

Categories

Questions about Boy Scout

What does Boy Scout do?

A skill your agent uses when fixing, editing, changing, debugging, or working with any TypeScript code. Boy Scout is an agent skill from ertugrul-dmr/clean-code-skills. Use when fixing, editing, changing, debugging, or working with any TypeScript code.

When should I use Boy Scout?

Boy Scout fits situations like: working with any TypeScript code; tasks that involve Code quality.

How do I install Boy Scout in Claude Code?

Run `npx skills add ertugrul-dmr/clean-code-skills --skill boy-scout -a claude-code`. Or copy the skill folder (skills/typescript/boy-scout in ertugrul-dmr/clean-code-skills) into .claude/skills/boy-scout in your project. Claude Code loads it when a task matches its description.

How do I install Boy Scout in Codex?

Run `npx skills add ertugrul-dmr/clean-code-skills --skill boy-scout -a codex`. Or copy the skill folder (skills/typescript/boy-scout in ertugrul-dmr/clean-code-skills) into .agents/skills/boy-scout in your project. Codex loads it when a task matches its description.

Can I use Boy Scout 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 ertugrul-dmr/clean-code-skills --skill boy-scout -a cursor` (or -a gemini-cli, github-copilot or opencode for the others). To copy it by hand, put the folder in .cursor/skills/boy-scout, .gemini/skills/boy-scout, .github/skills/boy-scout and .opencode/skills/boy-scout in your project.

What does Boy Scout need to run?

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

Does Boy Scout 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 Boy Scout 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 Boy Scout use?

Boy Scout is published under the MIT licence (the repository's licence). It allows redistribution, so the full SKILL.md is shown on this page.

How many tokens does Boy Scout use?

About 996 tokens (SKILL.md is roughly 4k 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 Boy Scout?

Skills that share tags, products or a category with Boy Scout: Install Anti-Slop Oxlint Rules (dmmulroy/anti-slop, 5.4k stars), Code Reviewer (jewbetcha/opentrace, 116 stars), Coding Standards (kurealnum/dotfiles, 290 stars) and Code Quality (redis/RedisInsight, 8.9k stars). The comparison table on this page puts their stars, adoption, token cost, safety result and licence side by side.

Who maintains Boy Scout?

ertugrul-dmr (a GitHub user) maintains it in ertugrul-dmr/clean-code-skills, which has 197 GitHub stars. The repository holds 14 skills in this directory. The repository was last updated on April 21, 2026.

Source: ertugrul-dmr/clean-code-skills on GitHub. Facts on this page come from the repository at the commit we read; the author's words are quoted as theirs.