name: orch-refine-code
description: Orchestrate a behavior-preserving refactor — confirm tests are green, restructure without changing behavior, keep tests green, review, and gated commit. Use when the structure should improve but behavior must not change.
metadata:
  origin: ECC

orch-refine-code

Actor · action · target: orch · refine · code. Thin wrapper over the shared engine in [orch-pipeline](../orch-pipeline/SKILL.md).

When to Use

• Same behavior, better structure: extract modules, remove duplication, kill

dead code, reduce nesting, rename for clarity.

• Distinguish from siblings: if behavior is meant to change at all, this is the

wrong skill (orch-change-feature / orch-fix-defect).

Operation settings

• Default size floor: standard — restructures touch multiple files.
• Phase mask: 0 → 2 (plan the restructure) → 4 (keep green) → 5 → 6. No new

behavior tests are written — the existing suite is the safety net.

• First move (phase 4): confirm the relevant tests exist and are **green

before** touching code; if coverage is thin, add characterization tests first. Then restructure in small steps, re-running tests after each.

How It Works

1. Run the orch-pipeline engine with the settings above.
2. For dead-code / duplication sweeps, delegate to the refactor-cleaner agent

(it runs knip / depcheck / ts-prune and removes safely).

1. Stop at Gate 1 (restructure plan) and Gate 2 (pre-commit).
2. Commit as refactor: — the diff must be behavior-neutral.

Example

orch-refine-code: extract the NWS HTTP client out of poller.py
→ confirm tests green → plan extraction  [GATE 1: approve]
→ move in small steps, tests green throughout → code-review
→ commit refactor:  [GATE 2: confirm]