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Agent skill

Simplify

by kdlbs in kdlbs/kandev

Simplify recently changed code — inline one-off abstractions, remove speculative code, reduce nesting, replace cleverness with clarity.

AGPL-3.0Auto-check passedDevelopment

Install Simplify

skills CLI
$ npx skills add kdlbs/kandev --skill simplify -a claude-code

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

GitHub CLI
$ gh skill install kdlbs/kandev simplify --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/kdlbs/kandev.git skills-src && mkdir -p .claude/skills && cp -r skills-src/.agents/skills/simplify .claude/skills/simplify && 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
simplify
GitHub stars
909
Token cost
~648 tokens
SKILL.md length
324 words
Files
1
Skills in repo
45
Repo updated
First seen
Licence
AGPL-3.0

At a glance

Simplify recently changed code — inline one-off abstractions, remove speculative code, reduce nesting, replace cleverness with clarity.

  • Works in 4 steps: Identify what to simplify → Apply simplifications → Validate → …
  • Tasks that involve Pull requests
  • SKILL.md covers Planner Entry and Steps
  • Calls git

What it does

Simplify is an agent skill from kdlbs/kandev. Simplify recently changed code — inline one-off abstractions, remove speculative code, reduce nesting, replace cleverness with clarity. Use only on explicit request or PR-review remediation.

Its SKILL.md is about 650 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 Pull requests. The repository describes itself as: AI Kanban & Development Environment. Orchestrate multiple agents, review changes, open PRs. Multi-provider, self-hostable, no telemetry. The licence is AGPL-3.0.

When your agent uses it

  • Tasks that involve Pull requests

Example prompts

  • “/simplify”

Workflow steps

4 steps, taken from the step headings in SKILL.md.

  1. Identify what to simplify
  2. Apply simplifications
  3. Validate
  4. Summary

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit b734113. 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

    Shell commands in SKILL.md call:

    • git

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

  • Network

    No URLs in SKILL.md. Its commands use git, which can reach the network depending on how they are called.

    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

Simplify loads about 648 tokens when it runs. Until then it costs about 50 tokens; SKILL.md has 324 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it
~50
When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches
~648

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 kdlbs/kandev at commit b734113, republished under its AGPL-3.0 licence (© kdlbs). 324 words, ~648 tokens.

Download SKILL.mdSave it as .claude/skills/simplify/SKILL.md (or your agent's skills folder).
name
simplify
description
Simplify recently changed code — inline one-off abstractions, remove speculative code, reduce nesting, replace cleverness with clarity. Use only on explicit request or PR-review remediation.

Simplify

Post-implementation simplification pass. Review recently changed code and actively simplify it while preserving all behavior.

Planner Entry

Run /simplify only on explicit request or when an actionable PR finding calls for it. It is not a default post-implementation or pre-PR pass.

The best code is code you don't have to write. The second best is code anyone can read.

Steps

1. Identify what to simplify

Run git diff --name-only (or git diff origin/<base>...HEAD --name-only for a branch) to get the changed files. Read each one.

2. Apply simplifications

Work through each changed file. Preserve behavior by inspection; defer broad test suites, lint, typecheck, and full verification until after this pass. Report any verification concerns and the focused task check to run next.

Inline one-off abstractions:

  • Helper functions with a single call site — inline them
  • Wrapper types that add no behavior — remove the wrapper
  • Interfaces with a single implementation and no test mock — remove the interface

Remove speculative code:

  • Unused function parameters or return values
  • Config options that are parsed but never read
  • "Reserved for future" scaffolding, empty extension points
  • Feature flags with no toggle mechanism

Reduce nesting:

  • Replace nested if/else with early returns (guard clauses)
  • Replace nested ternaries with if/else or switch
  • Extract deeply nested blocks into named functions

Replace cleverness with clarity:

  • Dense one-liners that hide intent — expand to readable multi-line
  • Overly generic code where a concrete implementation is simpler
  • Abstractions that add indirection without reducing duplication

Remove noise:

  • Comments that restate code (// increment counter above counter++)
  • Redundant type annotations where inference works
  • Empty error handlers, unused catch variables
  • Leftover debug logging
3. Validate

After the simplification pass, run the focused task check affected by the change. If anything breaks, the simplification changed behavior and must be corrected before continuing. Broad suites remain deferred unless the task or user explicitly requires them.

4. Summary

Report what was simplified:

  • Files modified
  • What was removed/inlined/simplified
  • Lines removed (net)
  • Verification concerns or recommended focused checks

© kdlbs, AGPL-3.0. 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 .agents/skills/simplify of kdlbs/kandev.

Open the folder on GitHubat commit b734113

Compare with similar skills

Simplify 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.

Simplify compared with similar skills
SkillStarsUsed inTokensAuto-checkLicenceRepo updated
Simplify this skillkdlbs/kandev909—~648Automated safety check: PassAGPL-3.0
ObservalObserval/Observal4.2k—~2.2kAutomated safety check: PassApache-2.0
Review PRwarpdotdev-demos/cloud-factory-demo325—~1.5kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Project Pull Requestswimmwatch/cloakbrowser-mcp161—~1kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
PR Monitorespennilsen/pi1221 repos~935Automated safety check: PassMIT
GitHub Automationsickn33/agentic-awesome-skills47k1 repos~1.3kAutomated safety check: PassMIT

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Categories

Questions about Simplify

What does Simplify do?

Simplify recently changed code — inline one-off abstractions, remove speculative code, reduce nesting, replace cleverness with clarity. Simplify is an agent skill from kdlbs/kandev. Simplify recently changed code — inline one-off abstractions, remove speculative code, reduce nesting, replace cleverness with clarity.

When should I use Simplify?

Simplify fits situations like: tasks that involve Pull requests.

How do I install Simplify in Claude Code?

Run `npx skills add kdlbs/kandev --skill simplify -a claude-code`. Or copy the skill folder (.agents/skills/simplify in kdlbs/kandev) into .claude/skills/simplify in your project. Claude Code loads it when a task matches its description.

How do I install Simplify in Codex?

Run `npx skills add kdlbs/kandev --skill simplify -a codex`. Or copy the skill folder (.agents/skills/simplify in kdlbs/kandev) into .agents/skills/simplify in your project. Codex loads it when a task matches its description.

Can I use Simplify 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 kdlbs/kandev --skill simplify -a cursor` (or -a gemini-cli, github-copilot or opencode for the others). To copy it by hand, put the folder in .cursor/skills/simplify, .gemini/skills/simplify, .github/skills/simplify and .opencode/skills/simplify in your project.

What does Simplify need to run?

Going by SKILL.md and its folder, Simplify needs the command-line tools its instructions call (git).

Does Simplify access the network?

SKILL.md contains no URLs. Its commands use git, which can reach the network depending on how they are called. This is read from the text; nothing was executed.

Is Simplify 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 Simplify use?

Simplify is published under the AGPL-3.0 licence (the repository's licence). It allows redistribution, so the full SKILL.md is shown on this page.

How many tokens does Simplify use?

About 648 tokens (SKILL.md is roughly 2.6k 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 Simplify?

Skills that share tags, products or a category with Simplify: Observal (Observal/Observal, 4.2k stars), Review PR (warpdotdev-demos/cloud-factory-demo, 325 stars), Project Pull Request (swimmwatch/cloakbrowser-mcp, 161 stars) and PR Monitor (espennilsen/pi, 122 stars). The comparison table on this page puts their stars, adoption, token cost, safety result and licence side by side.

Who maintains Simplify?

kdlbs (a GitHub organization) maintains it in kdlbs/kandev, which has 909 GitHub stars. The repository holds 45 skills in this directory. The repository was last updated on October 8, 2026.

Source: kdlbs/kandev on GitHub. Facts on this page come from the repository at the commit we read; the author's words are quoted as theirs.