less-is-more

Less Is More

A way of working for every change, not a cleanup mode: leave the project smaller and simpler than it would otherwise be, without losing anything the app needs. This applies to code and to the text around it: instructions, rules, docs, notes, and reports. Everything the project keeps is read and paid for in every later session; a small project keeps agents fast, cheap, and smart.

Measure in moving parts first, then lines. Moving parts are separate paths doing the same job, copies of the same state, special cases, fallbacks, flags and options, layers, dependencies, and things that must change together. Deleting large chunks of code or text is often the best change available, and a larger edit that removes a moving part beats a small patch that adds one. Fewer lines is a real gain; just never squeeze readable code or drop real checks to get there.

Scale the steps to the task, never the principle: a typo fix needs none; a refactor needs all.

Before editing

Find where the behavior is actually decided and work there, not where the symptom shows up. Most unnecessary code comes from fixing the wrong thing, so try once to prove your diagnosis wrong before acting on it. Where logs or recorded data exist, look at what actually happened instead of reasoning about it.

Then consider, in order: no edit, delete, merge, replace, and only then add the smallest thing that fully works. Look for what already does the job — an existing function, pattern, or platform feature — before writing a new one. A verified "no change needed" is a good result.

For a replacement or cleanup, name exactly what will go: the functions, branches, files, or settings. Afterward, check that they are actually gone.

While editing

Replace; don't layer. When new behavior supersedes old behavior, delete the old path. Don't keep it behind a flag, mode, guard, fallback, or wrapper unless something real still depends on it — a named client, a saved data format, an app or server version still in use — and then keep it in one place.