Is the Before You Refactor skill free?

Yes. The skill itself is free from oribarilan/97. SkillProof publishes the install command and an independent test verdict at no cost.

What is the Before You Refactor SkillProof Score?

10.0/10 — installs cleanly 5/5, triggers reliably 5/5, output vs. baseline 10/10, docs & honesty 5/5.

How do I install Before You Refactor?

Copy the install command from this page, run it in your terminal, and restart Claude Code. Skills live in ~/.claude/skills/ (global) or .claude/skills/ inside a project.

Can I use Before You Refactor with Cursor, Copilot, Gemini CLI, Codex or other AI tools?

The SKILL.md format is native to Claude (Claude Code, Desktop, claude.ai). The instructions inside adapt to other assistants: Cursor rules, GitHub Copilot instructions, Windsurf rules, Custom GPTs, AGENTS.md for OpenAI Codex, and GEMINI.md for Google Gemini CLI — our conversion guides cover each, and the free converter on the tools page does the wrapping for you.

Before You Refactor

A pre-refactor checklist that catches untested behavior before you 'clean up' code.

by oribarilan · oribarilan/97

Tested · Works

Install — copy the command Download source ↗

Test report

Verdict: Tested · Works
Score: 10.0/10
Tested: Jul 16, 2026
Environment: Claude Code 2.x (agent harness)
Upstream re-checked: Jul 18, 2026 · 91fbb94

Its checklist caught a real regression a naive refactor introduced: an archived record silently 'claiming' its dedup id so a later active duplicate got dropped — the naive rewrite passed all 5 existing tests anyway and only broke on a case none of them covered; the skill's step to add a characterization test for untested behavior caught it before the edit landed.

Scored on four weighted criteria — install, triggering, output vs. baseline, docs. How scoring works

Installs cleanly 5/5
Triggers reliably 5/5
Output vs. baseline 10/10
Docs & honesty 5/5

What Before You Refactor does

A rigid pre-refactor checklist: read the existing code twice, find and run the tests that already cover it, state a one-sentence goal, and add a characterization test for any behavior the current suite doesn't pin down before changing the code's shape. Triggers on refactors, restructures, cross-file renames, or reviewing a restructuring PR; explicitly does not trigger on one-line bug fixes, new files, or formatting-only changes.

How to install Before You Refactor

git clone https://github.com/oribarilan/97
mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills
cp -r 97/skills/before-you-refactor ~/.claude/skills/before-you-refactor

Skills live in ~/.claude/skills/ (global) or .claude/skills/ (per-project). Restart Claude Code after installing.

Commands — how to trigger Before You Refactor

/before-you-refactor A pre-refactor checklist that catches untested behavior before you 'clean up' code.

It also activates on plain-language prompts like these:

before I restructure this module, what tests actually cover it?
I'm about to rename these files across the codebase, what's the risk?
add a characterization test before I clean up this function's shape

Frequently asked questions

Is the Before You Refactor skill free?: Yes. The skill itself is free from oribarilan/97. SkillProof publishes the install command and an independent test verdict at no cost.
Does Before You Refactor work with Claude Code?: We tested it with Claude Code 2.x (agent harness) on Jul 16, 2026. Verdict: Tested · Works. Its checklist caught a real regression a naive refactor introduced: an archived record silently 'claiming' its dedup id so a later active duplicate got dropped — the naive rewrite passed all 5 existing tests anyway and only broke on a case none of them covered; the skill's step to add a characterization test for untested behavior caught it before the edit landed.
What is the Before You Refactor SkillProof Score?: 10.0/10 — installs cleanly 5/5, triggers reliably 5/5, output vs. baseline 10/10, docs & honesty 5/5.
How do I install Before You Refactor?: Copy the install command from this page, run it in your terminal, and restart Claude Code. Skills live in ~/.claude/skills/ (global) or .claude/skills/ inside a project.
Can I use Before You Refactor with Cursor, Copilot, Gemini CLI, Codex or other AI tools?: The SKILL.md format is native to Claude (Claude Code, Desktop, claude.ai). The instructions inside adapt to other assistants: Cursor rules, GitHub Copilot instructions, Windsurf rules, Custom GPTs, AGENTS.md for OpenAI Codex, and GEMINI.md for Google Gemini CLI — our conversion guides cover each, and the free converter on the tools page does the wrapping for you.