ai-slop-cleaner

AI Slop Cleaner Task Card

Use this bounded helper for cleanup/refactor/deslop work, not as a competing top-level workflow. Shared operating invariants live in AGENTS.md; this card defines scope, smell taxonomy, passes, and evidence.

When to use and inputs

Use when working code is bloated, noisy, repetitive, over-abstracted, or AI-generated; the user requests cleanup/refactor/deslop; or a follow-up left duplicate/dead code, weak boundaries, missing tests, fallback-like paths, or wrappers. Inputs are the requested feature/files and behavior to preserve. A file list scope is valid; keep the pass bounded to it. Inside an implementation workflow, limit cleanup to its changed files unless the user requests a broader scope.

Before editing

1. Lock behavior first: run existing targeted checks; add regression coverage for changed logic when missing, including compatibility/fail-safe paths. For instruction-only edits, check discovery, links, metadata, and workflow decisions.
2. Create a cleanup plan before code: list scope and smells, include fallback findings/classifications/escalation, and order safest/highest-signal fixes first.
3. Inventory fallback-like code in scope: quick hacks, temporary workaround, temporary fallback, just bypass, just skip, fallback if it fails, swallowed errors, silent defaults, broad compatibility shims, and duplicate alternate execution paths.
4. Classify each fallback: Masking fallback slop hides evidence, bypasses the contract, suppresses validation, swallows failures, silently defaults, or adds untested paths; Grounded compatibility/fail-safe fallback is narrow at an external/version/fail-safe boundary, documents rationale, preserves failure evidence, and tests primary plus fallback.
5. Prefer root-cause repair, deletion, boundary repair, or explicit failure behavior. For unresolved architectural decisions, report the finding to the caller; use $ralplan when consensus planning is requested or required by the active workflow.