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Skillscomment-refactor

comment-refactor

Coding & development

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Updated 10-15 22:16

About this skill

/comment-refactor — clean comment cruft, incrementally, across a codebase

Comments in AI-assisted code accumulate: fix-history narration (// changed to X because the old way broke), stale explanations that no longer match the code, and line-by-line restating of what the code plainly does. This skill removes that layer while keeping the comments that carry real information, across many files, and only re-touches files that changed since their last pass.

It composes three things:

  1. the /remove-comments keep/remove judgment (the engine),
  2. the /deslop → humanizer pass applied to comment prose (AI-tell removal inside the comments that survive), and
  3. two mods you asked for: a used-code filter (skip dead/abandoned/unused + vendored/generated files) and an incremental content-hash marker (skip files already up to date).

Bundled helpers

  • marker.py — the idempotency control marker. check <file> (exit 0 = up-to-date/skip, 10 = process), stamp <file> (write/refresh the marker), hash <file>. The marker is @comment-refactor:v1:<sha256(body-without-marker)[:16]> in the file's own comment syntax, placed at the top (after a shebang). Excluding the marker line from the hash makes re-stamping stable; any real edit changes the hash and forces a reprocess.
  • scan.sh [path|glob …] — prints the mechanical worklist (PROCESS <file> / SKIP-UPTODATE <file>), applying the extension allowlist, the vendored/generated exclusions, and the marker check. Default scope is the git-tracked tree.

Procedure

1. Resolve scope

From the argument: a file → that file; a directory/glob → its matching files; empty → the whole repo. Run the scan to get the worklist:

bash "$SKILL_DIR/scan.sh" <path-or-glob>     # omit arg for the whole repo

SKILL_DIR is this skill's directory. Everything marked SKIP-UPTODATE is already clean since its last pass — ignore it. Work only the PROCESS list.

2. Filter to code that's actually used (the used-code mod)

The scan already drops node_modules/dist/build/vendor/.min./*.d.ts/generated dirs. Now drop dead/abandoned/unused source too, so effort goes to live code:

  • If the repowise MCP server is available, call get_dead_code and remove any PROCESS file it flags as dead/unreachable. If codebase-memory is available instead, use search_graph / reachability to the same end.
  • If neither is available, fall back to obvious signals only — files with no inbound imports, files under legacy//deprecated//archive/, and anything the repo's own docs mark obsolete — and say in the summary that the dead-code filter was heuristic, not tool-verified.

Never delete or edit a file you're skipping; just leave it out of the worklist.

3. Refactor each PROCESS file

Read the file. Apply the keep/remove judgment (comment syntax is language-specific — //, #, --, /* */, <!-- -->, docstrings).

REMOVE:

  • Comments that restate the code (// increment i, # return the result, // constructor).
  • Fix-history / changelog narration in comments: // changed to…, // was previously…, // fixed bug where…, // updated 2024-… to handle…, stacked layers of // also handle… added over time. The comment should describe the code as it is now, not its edit history — that's what git is for.
  • Obsolete explanations that no longer match the current code (verify against the actual code, not the comment's claim).
  • AI narration of control flow (// Now we loop over the items and…, // First, we check if…).
  • Commented-out code (// const old = …) unless a nearby comment explains why it's intentionally parked.

PRESERVE (do not touch):

  • WHY a non-obvious choice was made; business-logic rationale; the repo's own "load-bearing" comments.
  • TODO / FIXME / HACK / XXX, MARK:/section markers, and warnings about non-obvious or dangerous behavior.
  • License/copyright headers, @ts-* / eslint-* / noqa / type-directive pragmas, and generator markers — including this skill's own @comment-refactor:v1: marker.

CONSOLIDATE: where several stacked comments describe one thing (typically fix-history), collapse to a single present-tense line, or delete if the code is now self-evident.

Then de-slop the surviving comment prose. If the humanizer skill is available, invoke it (Skill tool, skill=humanizer) on the comment text — it's the source of truth (/deslop is its alias). If it isn't installed, apply its core rules inline: no em-dash overuse, no rule-of-three, no AI vocabulary ("leverage", "seamless", "robust"), no filler/hedging. Either way, keep the technical content and stay neutral — never rewrite comments in anyone's "voice".

Keep changes surgical — comments only. Do not touch code, formatting, or imports.

4. Stamp the marker

After editing a file, refresh its marker so future runs skip it until it changes again:

python3 "$SKILL_DIR/marker.py" stamp <file>

Stamp only files you actually refactored (or confirmed already clean this pass) — the marker asserts "these comments were reviewed at this content hash."

5. Confirm + report

  • Default to a dry-run first on a multi-file scope: show the worklist and a sample of the removals per file, and get a go-ahead before applying — a bulk comment sweep is easy to over-cut. A single-file / small scope can apply directly with the diff shown.
  • Report: files processed, files skipped up-to-date, files skipped as dead/vendored, and a one-line note if the dead-code filter was heuristic.

Notes

  • The marker makes the skill cheap to re-run: a second pass over an unchanged repo does almost no work (all SKIP-UPTODATE). Run it after a big AI-assisted coding burst.
  • Bump the marker version (v1→v2) only if the keep/remove rules change enough that every file deserves a fresh pass — that invalidates all existing markers by design.
  • Language coverage is the marker helper's extension map; an unsupported extension is reported and left unstamped rather than guessed.