clean-code

A set of guidelines for writing readable, maintainable code, including clear names, small focused functions, shared logic, and organized files.

In plain words
What is it for?
It helps write or review code by applying named constants, sensible comments, single-purpose functions, reusable logic, and clear structure.
Why use it?
It reduces duplication, hidden behavior, confusing names, and hard-to-change code.

Cursor rule

Install

Getting it into your agent

One page per mod, every tool's command on it. A separate URL per tool would split the same page into five that compete with each other.

agentmods
npx agentmods add rules/patrickjs/awesome-cursorrules/clean-code
Clone the repo
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/PatrickJS/awesome-cursorrules
Per session 0 Nothing until a file matches its globs; then the whole rule loads.
When invoked 374 The whole file, excluding the scripts and references it only reads on demand.
Security scan A 0 findings. Scan, not verified.
Origin original No closer match found in the catalogue.
Token cost

What it costs to keep this loaded

Counted locally with the o200k_base tokenizer, which is exact for GPT models; Claude uses its own tokenizer and its counts differ. Treat this as one consistent yardstick across the catalogue rather than a bill. Prices are per million input tokens.

ModelPer sessionOnce invoked
Fable 5 $0.00000 $0.00374
Opus 5 $0.00000 $0.00187
Sonnet 5 $0.00000 $0.00075
Haiku 4.5 $0.00000 $0.00037

Measured 2d ago against content hash ebbf56b9e6df, method: parsed. Prices are Anthropic first-party input rates as of 2026-08-30, from the pricing page.

Security

Grade A, and why

clean-code scanned grade A with 0 findings against 26 rules in 11 categories — prompt injection, anti-refusal, data exfiltration, privilege escalation, supply chain, agent snooping, system-prompt leakage, SSRF and excessive agency — measured 2d ago.

A static scan of the body, not an audit. Every finding is printed with the line that produced it so you can judge whether it matters here. A mod is markdown that instructs an agent; that is exactly why what it instructs is worth reading.

Nothing flagged

None of the 26 patterns this scan looks for appear in this file: no shell pipes, no recursive deletes, no credential paths, no hidden text, no instruction-override or anti-refusal phrasing, no agent-config snooping. That is not a guarantee, it is the absence of the things that are checkable.

Origin

Copies of this mod

8 near-identical copies found in the catalogue:

rules/clean-code.mdc · 57 lines

What it actually says

Clean Code Guidelines

Constants Over Magic Numbers

  • Replace hard-coded values with named constants
  • Use descriptive constant names that explain the value's purpose
  • Keep constants at the top of the file or in a dedicated constants file

Meaningful Names

  • Variables, functions, and classes should reveal their purpose
  • Names should explain why something exists and how it's used
  • Avoid abbreviations unless they're universally understood

Smart Comments

  • Don't comment on what the code does - make the code self-documenting
  • Use comments to explain why something is done a certain way
  • Document APIs, complex algorithms, and non-obvious side effects

Single Responsibility

  • Each function should do exactly one thing
  • Functions should be small and focused
  • If a function needs a comment to explain what it does, it should be split

DRY (Don't Repeat Yourself)

  • Extract repeated code into reusable functions
  • Share common logic through proper abstraction
  • Maintain single sources of truth

Clean Structure

  • Keep related code together
  • Organize code in a logical hierarchy
  • Use consistent file and folder naming conventions

Encapsulation

  • Hide implementation details
  • Expose clear interfaces
  • Move nested conditionals into well-named functions

Code Quality Maintenance

  • Refactor continuously
  • Fix technical debt early
  • Leave code cleaner than you found it

Testing

  • Write tests before fixing bugs
  • Keep tests readable and maintainable
  • Test edge cases and error conditions

Version Control

  • Write clear commit messages
  • Make small, focused commits
  • Use meaningful branch names
Changes

What this file has done since we first saw it

Hashed on every crawl. A supply-chain change to an agent config is a question of when, not whether, so the history is kept rather than the latest state alone.

  1. 2d ago First seen · 57 lines · 0 tokens per session scan A ebbf56b9e6df

Subscribe to this mod's changes

clean-code is a cursor rule published in the GitHub repository PatrickJS/awesome-cursorrules (40,694 stars, last pushed 3mo ago), licensed CC0-1.0. It costs nothing until one of its globs matches a file; then it loads 374 tokens. A static security scan graded it A with 0 findings. No closer match exists in the catalogue, so it is treated as the original; first seen 2026-08-30.