Skills juliusbrussee/caveman Caveman
safe-refactor
- Use it when
- you're restructuring code, by extracting, merging or moving it, and its behavior must stay exactly the same
- It does
- sets up a check of current behavior before editing, keeps feature changes out, and moves one piece of responsibility at a time
- You get
- restructured code that passes the same checks as before, with every intermediate step still building
- Unlike migration
- which moves data, schemas or APIs with a rollback plan, this changes only how the code is organized
- Runs
- on its own, whenever the agent sees a task that fits; it's a short list of rules, not a step-by-step guide
Skill 11 of 12 in the Caveman bundle · Before it: surgical-patch · After it: migration
TLDR
Before any structural edit, the agent defines which behavior must be preserved and how it will verify that. It keeps new features out of the refactor, moves responsibility from one part of the code to another one step at a time, and preserves public interfaces, error behavior, ordering and compatibility unless you've said otherwise. Every intermediate state must still build and pass tests, and it adds no dependency or configuration unless correctness needs it. At the end it runs the same verification again, and stops once behavior matches and the requested structure is in place.
Summarizes the skill at bad48a0.
npx skills add https://github.com/juliusbrussee/caveman --skill safe-refactorskills.sh page · Source on GitHub · All skills from juliusbrussee/caveman
- Installs
- 61,972 on skills.sh, Sep 21, 2026
- Repo stars
- 106,976 juliusbrussee/caveman
- First seen
- Aug 11, 2026 on skills.sh
Weekly values
| Week to | Installs |
|---|---|
| Aug 3 | 0 |
| Aug 10 | 0 |
| Aug 17 | 6,282 |
| Aug 24 | 8,912 |
| Aug 31 | 9,036 |
| Sep 7 | 11,177 |
| Sep 14 | 12,591 |
| Sep 21 | 13,200 |
| Category |
Test-first work, implementation from specs, git hygiene and scope control. Everything for building software: planning, coding, debugging, design, frameworks, cloud, agents and skills. |
|---|---|
| Type |
A multi-step process the agent follows: interview, debug, run a TDD loop, review. |
| Effect |
Its own steps create or change files, git state or local tools. |
| Needs |
Instructions only. Works in any agent that supports skills. |
| Publisher |
Everyone else. Unverified vendor claims default to community. |
| Topics |
SKILL.md
From juliusbrussee/caveman at bad48a0. Checked daily, last changed Oct 20, 2026.
Frontmatter
name: safe-refactor
description: Restructure code while preserving behavior. Use for extraction, consolidation, ownership moves, or cleanup where verification must bracket structural edits.Safe refactor
Define behavior-preservation boundary and establish verification before structural edits.
- Keep feature changes outside refactor.
- Move one ownership boundary at a time.
- Preserve public interfaces, failure behavior, ordering, and compatibility unless explicitly scoped.
- Keep intermediate states buildable and testable.
- Avoid dependency or configuration growth without correctness need.
Run same proof after change. Stop when behavior matches and requested structure is achieved.