brooks-debt
Helps your agent identify code maintenance issues. It classifies and prioritizes these problems to create an improvement plan.
What it does
This tool helps find and organize maintenance issues in your programming code. It prioritizes what to fix first, using lessons from engineering books, so you can plan improvements.
When to use it
- ✓When you want to know which parts of your code need fixing.
- ✓When planning which improvements to make to the code first.
- ✓If you need a guide to organize code cleanup.
Example of what to ask your AI
“Analyze my code and tell me what to fix first to improve maintainability.”
Want more? Open the sections below.
How to use
The easiest way: copy the message below and paste it into Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor or any AI. It reads the skill and follows the instructions.
Skill link
Ready-to-paste message
How it works
The tool scans your code for common maintenance problems, classifies these issues, and organizes them by importance. It uses a method based on engineering books to help you decide what to fix.
Installation
Easiest way: copy the skill link and paste it into Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor asking it to follow the instructions.
In the terminal (Claude Code, Codex, Cursor), in your project folder:
npx skills add sickn33/agentic-awesome-skills --skill brooks-debtOr download just the file:
curl -L https://raw.githubusercontent.com/sickn33/agentic-awesome-skills/main/plugins/agentic-awesome-skills-claude/skills/brooks-debt/SKILL.md -o SKILL.mdTechnical content (original SKILL.md)
Original text by the author, straight from GitHub.
Brooks-Lint — Tech Debt Assessment
When to Use
Use this skill when you need tech debt assessment that identifies, classifies, and prioritizes maintainability problems — helping teams build a refactoring roadmap — drawing on twelve classic engineering books. Triggers when: user asks about tech debt, refactoring priorities, what to clean up first, or asks "why...
Setup
- Read
../_shared/common.mdfor the Iron Law, Project Config, Report Template, and Health Score rules - Read
../_shared/source-coverage.mdfor book-level coverage, exceptions, and tradeoffs - Read
../_shared/decay-risks.mdfor symptom definitions and source attributions - Read
debt-guide.mdin this directory for the debt classification framework
Process
If the user has not described the codebase or pointed to specific areas: apply Auto
Scope Detection from ../_shared/common.md to determine the assessment scope before proceeding.
- Scan for all six decay risks (Step 1 of the guide); list every finding before scoring
- Apply the Pain × Spread priority formula and classify debt intent (Steps 2–3 of the guide)
- Group findings by decay risk (Step 4 of the guide)
- Output using the Report Template from common.md, plus the Debt Summary Table
Mode line in report: Tech Debt Assessment
Limitations
- Use this skill only when the task clearly matches its upstream source and local project context.
- Verify commands, generated code, dependencies, credentials, and external service behavior before applying changes.
- Do not treat examples as a substitute for environment-specific tests, security review, or user approval for destructive or costly actions.
FAQ
What is 'tech debt'?
'Tech debt' (technical debt) is like taking a shortcut in programming that can cause problems later if not addressed. It's something that needs fixing for the code to work better and be easier to maintain.
What does 'refactoring roadmap' mean?
A 'refactoring roadmap' is a plan that shows which parts of the code you will fix and in what order. It helps organize the work of improving the code.
Where do the rules for prioritizing problems come from?
The rules come from twelve classic engineering books, which teach best practices for building and maintaining quality software.
Details
Original description by the author
Tech debt assessment that identifies, classifies, and prioritizes maintainability problems — helping teams build a refactoring roadmap — drawing on twelve classic engineering books.
Popularity
- GitHub stars
- 48k
- Ranking position
- #2445
- License
- MIT
- Updated
- 10/15/2026
Comments
- …
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