Maintainability Skill
Evaluate long-term maintainability and identify technical debt.
When to Use
This skill activates for queries about:
- •Long-term maintenance
- •Technical debt
- •Upgrade strategies
- •Modularity
- •Future changes
Trigger words: maintainability, technical debt, upgrade, modular, refactor, future-proof
Quick Reference
Maintainability Factors
| Factor | Good | Poor |
|---|---|---|
| Modularity | Separated concerns | Monolithic |
| Coupling | Loose | Tight |
| Documentation | Current | Missing/stale |
| Dependencies | Minimal | Excessive |
| Complexity | Low | High |
Technical Debt Indicators
- •Large circuits (>50 lines)
- •Duplicated code
- •Magic numbers
- •Missing documentation
- •Complex nesting
- •Unclear names
Review Process
1. Modularity Assessment
Evaluate code separation:
- •Single responsibility per circuit
- •Clear module boundaries
- •Minimal cross-dependencies
2. Change Impact Analysis
Consider future changes:
- •How hard to add features?
- •How hard to modify behavior?
- •What breaks if X changes?
3. Debt Identification
Look for:
- •TODOs and FIXMEs
- •Commented-out code
- •Workarounds
- •Deprecated patterns
4. Upgrade Readiness
Check for:
- •Version handling
- •Migration paths
- •Backward compatibility
References
- •Modularity Guidelines - Module design
- •Upgrade Patterns - Safe upgrades
Related Skills
- •design-architecture - Structural design
- •code-quality - Code organization