de-slop

De-Slop

AI-assisted development leaves two kinds of slop. Code slop compiles but reads as machine-written — dead code, any, defensive noise. Product slop ships but feels unfinished to a paying customer — filler copy, default styling, half-wired flows. This skill removes both. Code slop is the default; --product adds the product pass.

Edits and removes code, so it runs behind a confirmation gate and prefers the branch diff. For a read-only pass that only flags, use structural-review / /review.

Contract

Inputs:

• A package or repo to clean; optional scope (--changed, all, dry-run) and dimension (--product to add the product pass, ui to run the UI primitive pass).

Outputs:

• Applied edits (or, in dry-run, a grouped report of what would change), plus a short count of artifacts removed by type.

Creates/Modifies:

• Edits source files. Never deletes entry points, configs, or READMEs.

External Side Effects:

• None beyond local file edits. Runs type-check and tests to verify.

Delegates To:

• polish for the final micro-detail pass after the structural slop is gone.
• refactor-code when a fix is a real refactor, not a mechanical strip.

Code slop (default)

Remove, matching the surrounding file's existing style:

1. Console statements → the project logger.
2. any types → real types or unknown + a type guard.
3. Unused imports / variables → delete.
4. Commented-out code → delete (git remembers it).
5. Debug / temporary code → delete leftover TODO/FIXME debug lines.
6. Redundant comments — remove those that restate what; keep those that explain why.
7. Needless defensive checks — drop try-catch and null guards on trusted internal paths that cannot fail; keep guards on real external boundaries.
8. Over-nesting — collapse deep if/else pyramids into early returns.

Product slop (--product)

The layer that decides whether an app feels finished. See references/product-slop.md for the full Incorrect → Correct catalog; the three families:

• Copy — marketing filler ("Seamlessly elevate your workflow"), generic AI phrasing, em-dash overuse, empty-states and error messages that say nothing useful.
• UI — the untouched-shadcn-plus-purple-gradient look, inconsistent spacing/radius, loading and error states left unstyled or absent.
• UX — buttons wired to nothing, flows that dead-end, placeholder pages behind real-looking nav, forms with no validation or success feedback.

Product slop needs judgment, not just deletion — flag anything ambiguous rather than guessing at intended copy or behavior.

UI slop (ui)

When the first argument is ui, run only the UI pass. Do not run the code cleanup workflow first.

Do not encode component-specific styling rules in this skill. Derive them from the target project.

Before judging taste, inspect the local source of truth:

• Design docs, tokens, theme files, CSS variables, Tailwind config, or equivalent.
• Shared UI primitives such as cards, buttons, inputs, dialogs, tables, tabs, nav, badges, tooltips, menus, and loading states.
• Three nearby good examples in the same app or package.
• The target screen/component code and rendered output when available.

Create a short working inventory:

• Approved tokens and spacing/radius/shadow patterns.
• Shared primitives and their variants.
• UI-role map for the audited surface: primitive, documented recipe, or missing.
• Local examples that already look production-ready.
• Target files and routes affected.

For each UI role present on the audited surface, identify whether the project has a shared primitive or documented recipe:

• Surface, card, panel.
• Button or action.
• Link or navigation.
• Input, select, textarea.
• Checkbox, radio, switch.
• Badge or status.
• Modal, dialog, drawer, popover, tooltip.
• Table, list, grid.
• Tabs or segmented controls.
• Empty, loading, error states.
• App shell, navigation, layout sections.

If a primitive exists:

• Use it instead of raw HTML, copied markup, or local styling.
• Use only its public props, variants, slots, and documented composition patterns.
• Do not override its core visual contract from call sites: background, border, radius, shadow, typography, spacing, focus, disabled, loading, or state styling.
• If the needed variant does not exist, add a named variant to the primitive only when the need is clear and reusable. Otherwise defer with a finding.

If no primitive exists:

• Follow the documented design recipe or the strongest nearby local pattern.
• If the same recipe appears repeatedly, recommend extracting a primitive or named variant.
• Do not invent a one-off visual treatment unless the user explicitly requested a bespoke design.

Raw semantic HTML is fine for document structure and prose. Raw HTML is not fine when it is acting as a design-system control or surface.

Fix objective design-system drift before subjective taste. Keep changes scoped to the audited surface and defer product-judgment calls with a concrete finding instead of inventing intent.

Workflow

1. Route UI mode — if the first argument is ui, run the UI slop pass above and stop.

2. Detect structure — monorepo vs single package (ls packages/ 2>/dev/null). Process each package separately.

3. Scope — in --changed, limit edits to the branch diff:

   BASE="$(git merge-base HEAD origin/HEAD 2>/dev/null || git merge-base HEAD main 2>/dev/null || git merge-base HEAD master)"
   git diff --name-only "$BASE"..HEAD    # files this branch touched
   

   Touch only those files/hunks; do not clean pre-existing slop elsewhere in this mode.

4. Strip code slop by the categories above; add the product pass if --product.

5. Verify — the change must still build and pass:

   bun run type-check || bunx tsc --noEmit
   bun run test
   

6. Document — log packages cleaned and per-type counts in .agents/sessions/YYYY-MM-DD.md.

Modes

• default — code slop, current package, edits applied.
• ui — run the UI/design-system primitive pass.
• --changed — only the files/hunks this branch introduced (safest for a PR).
• --product — add the product-slop pass (copy/UI/UX).
• all — sweep every package in a monorepo, each processed separately.
• dry-run — detect only; report every artifact grouped by type with counts, edit nothing. Combines with any scope.

Anti-Patterns

• Cleaning the whole tree when a branch scope was meant — --changed keeps a PR reviewable; whole-tree edits need confirmation.
• Deleting side-effect imports (CSS, polyfills) or critical files (README, configs, entry points).
• Removing a "why" comment because it looks redundant — only what-restating comments go.
• Guessing at product copy or intended behavior — flag ambiguous product slop for the user instead of inventing a fix.
• Rewriting logic under the banner of cleanup — a behavior change is a refactor (refactor-code), not de-slop.