Concept

Codebase health

You might say: code health, deep modules, architecture hygiene

How easy the code is to find and change. A healthy codebase has a predictable layout, much of its behaviour behind small interfaces, and names that say what things do. Agents write code fast, so a codebase can also decay fast, and its health needs regular work.

What it does
Lets an agent find and change the right code without reading everything, which keeps its changes small enough to verify.
Ask
Can an agent find where this change belongs and make it behind one small interface?

What to look for

  1. Large modules with small public interfaces
  2. Folder and file names that say what the code does
  3. A regular architecture sweep that proposes deepening work

Connections

Sources

  1. Matt Pocock, AI Coding Dictionary, AXA codebase the agent can navigate without reading everything: predictable structure, a lot of behaviour behind small interfaces, names that say what things do
  2. Matt Pocock, Skills For Real Engineers, #4: We Built A Ball Of MudBecause agents can radically speed up coding, they also accelerate software entropy. Codebases get more complex at an unprecedented rate.
  3. Matt Pocock, Skills For Real Engineers, #4: We Built A Ball Of Mudsurveys a codebase for deepening opportunities and hands you the candidates. I recommend running it on your codebase once every few days.
  4. Steve McConnell, Code Complete, 2nd Edition, Chapter 5, Design in Construction (publisher's sample chapter PDF)Managing complexity is the most important technical topic in software development

Use it on your project

teardown-apply: hold "Codebase health" (codebase-health) from the teardown at https://teardownatlas.com/software-factory/ against my project

Paste it into a coding agent that has the teardown skills.

An AI agent wrote this map with the teardown skill. It can contain errors: check the sources before you rely on a part. About and legal