Overview
code-simplification is an open-source productivity skill for Claude Code and compatible agents, published by addyosmani. Its author describes it as: “Simplifies code for clarity. Use when refactoring code for clarity without changing behavior. Use when code works but is harder to read, maintain, or extend than it should be. Use when reviewing code that has accumula…”. The project has 98k stars on GitHub and is available under the MIT license. Add it to your setup with `/plugin marketplace add addyosmani/agent-skills`.
What code-simplification does
> Inspired by the Claude Code Simplifier plugin. Adapted here as a model-agnostic, process-driven skill for any AI coding agent.
What’s inside
The SKILL.md for code-simplification is organised into these sections:
- Overview
- When to Use
- The Five Principles
- 1. Preserve Behavior Exactly
- 2. Follow Project Conventions
- 3. Prefer Clarity Over Cleverness
- 4. Maintain Balance
- 5. Scope to What Changed
- The Simplification Process
- Step 1: Understand Before Touching (Chesterton's Fence)
- Step 2: Identify Simplification Opportunities
- Step 3: Apply Changes Incrementally
Installation
Add code-simplification to your agent with:
/plugin marketplace add addyosmani/agent-skillsReview a skill’s source before installing it — skills can instruct your agent to run commands. This command comes from the skill’s public repository, which is the source of truth for setup steps. New to skills? Read how to install Claude Code skills.
Supported agents
- Claude Code — ships a claude code plugin marketplace
- Codex — declared in the repository topics
- Cursor — declared in the repository topics
- Antigravity — declared in the repository topics
License
code-simplification is published under the MIT license.
Strengths
- Clear MIT license — safe to read and adapt within its terms
- Ships in addyosmani/agent-skills, an established project with 97,992 GitHub stars
- Works with Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, Antigravity
- Actively maintained — repository updated in the last 30 days
- Its repository gained 16,916 GitHub stars over the last 52 days
Author
Topics
Frequently asked questions
- What does code-simplification do?
- Simplifies code for clarity. Use when refactoring code for clarity without changing behavior. Use when code works but is harder to read, maintain, or extend than it should be. Use when reviewing code that has accumulated unnecessary complexity.
- How do I install code-simplification?
- Run /plugin marketplace add addyosmani/agent-skills in your agent, then reload your skills. Review the source at https://github.com/addyosmani/agent-skills before installing.
- Is code-simplification free to use?
- Yes. code-simplification is free and open source under the MIT license, so you can read, run, and adapt it within that license's terms.
- Which agents does code-simplification work with?
- code-simplification lists Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, and Antigravity — named in its SKILL.md, its plugin marketplace or its repository topics. Skills use the portable SKILL.md format, so other agents that read that format may load it too.
- Where does code-simplification come from?
- code-simplification ships inside addyosmani/agent-skills, a repository that contains 26 catalogued skills in total. The repository's 97,992 GitHub stars apply to that whole collection, not to this skill on its own.
