tidy-first

name: tidy-first description: Tidy First approach for separating structural changes from behavioral changes. Use before making behavioral changes or during refactoring. allowed-tools: Read, Write, Edit, Bash, Grep, Glob

Tidy First Approach

Separate all changes into two distinct types:

Change Types

1. STRUCTURAL CHANGES

Rearranging code without changing behavior:

• Renaming variables, methods, classes
• Extracting methods or classes
• Moving code between files
• Reorganizing imports
• Formatting changes

2. BEHAVIORAL CHANGES

Adding or modifying actual functionality:

• New features
• Bug fixes
• Logic changes
• API changes

Rules

1. Never mix structural and behavioral changes in the same commit
2. Always make structural changes first when both are needed
3. Validate structural changes don't alter behavior by running tests before and after

Workflow

1. Identify needed structural improvements
2. Make structural changes one at a time
3. Run tests after each structural change
4. Use commit skill to commit structural changes separately
5. Then proceed with behavioral changes
6. Commit behavioral changes separately