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Technical debt review · davekilleen | DecimalAI

productivityby davekilleen

Technical debt review

davekilleen/tech-debt

Source davekilleen/dex ↗License NOASSERTION

Review and prioritize technical debt

SkillScore91Maintained

Automatic

Coding pack

Last verified 9/3/2026

What it changes

Passed 20 of 22 test cases with the skill, and 11 of 22 without it.

Without skill50%

With skill91%

Checks it passed that the model alone missed

Sets security owner field to TBD
Sets first-seen date field to unknown
Refuses to edit or rewrite the code files directly

and 7 more in the full report

9 fixed11 passed either way2 still failing0 broke

Pass-rate lift: +41 pp
Tokens: +72%
Agent turns: 0%
Response time: +8%

Model gemini-3.6-flashMeasured 9/3/2026v320 of 22 cases passed with skill

Tokens, turns and time describe resource use, not a dollar price.

Use this skill

Save it into your project's skills folder. Claude Code picks it up in its next session.

curl -fsSL --create-dirs -o .claude/skills/davekilleen-tech-debt/SKILL.md https://app.decimal.ai/s/davekilleen-tech-debt/SKILL.md

Want it pinned and updatable? pip install "decimalai>=0.15", then decimalai skills add davekilleen-tech-debt, and start Claude Code with claude --plugin-dir "$(git rev-parse --show-toplevel)/.agents"

1 · One-time — install the CLI (docs ↗)

pip install "decimalai>=0.15"

2 · Get the skill — writes .agents/skills/davekilleen-tech-debt/ and pins it in .decimal/skills.lock

decimalai skills add davekilleen-tech-debt

No CLI? Get the same file — curl · raw file

curl -fsSL --create-dirs -o .claude/skills/davekilleen-tech-debt/SKILL.md https://app.decimal.ai/s/davekilleen-tech-debt/SKILL.md

Raw file: /s/davekilleen-tech-debt/SKILL.md ↗ · machine-readable summary at /s/davekilleen-tech-debt.json ↗

Safety checks: 3 of 3 passed

Code scan CleanIntent PassedContent Clean

See it in action

One of 9 test cases the skill fixed. Same model, same prompt, with and without the skill.

1 of 9

Prompt

An authorized user confirmed appending a debt tag to `cart-service/README.md`. The write completed. What is the mandatory verification step before finalizing the review?

What was checked, without and with the skill
Checked	Without skill	With skill
Reads back inventory state to reconcile counts, links, and ratings against pre-write extract	Missed	Passed

case-12 · gemini-3.6-flash · 9/3/2026 · answers are capped and redacted

What's inside

The instructions your model reads when the skill loads.

SKILL.md96 linessingle file

Technical debt review

When to use

Use this skill when a component, project, or portfolio needs a defensible technical- debt inventory, duplicate cleanup, cost-of-delay comparison, or security-risk review.

Do not use it to modify code, close tickets, set a sprint commitment, or certify a security issue as safe. Not for calling ordinary feature requests or unsupported complaints technical debt without linked evidence.

Inputs and source discipline

Set the review scope and as-of date/time. Search code, configuration, tests, build logs, incident reviews, operational measurements, issue discussions, and dated notes. For every candidate capture a source, source date, as-of date/time, stable locator (path/line, commit, ticket, or record), and any freshness or access limitation. Linked code and operational evidence should identify the underlying problem, not just repeat a label such as "refactor later".

Keep first-seen provenance separate from current discovery. A dated source can support first-seen; an undated mention cannot establish age. Record first-seen: unknown when no dated evidence exists rather than guessing an age or inventing an aging bucket.

Method

Gather candidates read-only and normalize each into one underlying debt item: affected component, debt mechanism, observable consequence, evidence links, and current scope. Keep a candidate if evidence is incomplete, but mark the gap.
Deduplicate by underlying problem, not by similar words. Merge only when the linked evidence supports the same failure mode or constraint; preserve every source link, alternate wording, and contradictory observation in the merged record.
Verify the evidence and first-seen date. Check whether code paths, runbooks, incidents, or operational symptoms still exist; mark stale evidence rather than deleting it. A first-seen date is not the date the debt began.
Assess each item separately for impact, effort, confidence, and cost of delay. State the basis and unit for any estimate. Impact may cover reliability, delivery friction, user harm, or security; effort needs an explicit basis; confidence

Track record

Benchmark

20 / 22

test cases passed, vs 11 / 22 without

Adoption

Users: 0
Times used: 0

Safety and source details

SkillSafety

✓ 3 of 3 passed

Code scan15 of 15 checks clean

0 critical · 0 warning · 0 info — scanner v5 — 9/2/2026

View 15 scanner checks

live_secretremote_code_executionreverse_shelldata_exfiltrationssrf_metadataagent_snoopinganti_refusaldestructive_commandsobfuscated_unicodeunicode_homoglyphopaque_blobsuspicious_urltool_overreachtrigger_abuseprompt_injection_phrasing

IntentSafe

LLM judge · does the skill do what it claims

ContentClean

LLM judge · policy & harmful-content review

Source

Imported

davekilleen / dex

.claude/skills/_available/engineering/tech-debt/SKILL.md

View on GitHub ↗

License NOASSERTIONImported 9/2/2026Version v3

Other skills for the same job

Published skills whose descriptions closely match this one, with their headline benchmark lift.

mohitagw15856/technical-debt-registerDocument and prioritize a technical debt backlog with business impact, effort estimates, and resolution strategy. Use when asked to audit technical debt, create a debt register, prioritize tech debt for a quarter, document architectural shortcuts, or build a debt reduction roadmap. Produces a structured technical debt register covering debt inventory by category, business impact per item, effort and priority scores, top-item resolution plans, and a quarterly debt reduction roadmap.Close match+45 pp pass-rate lift

More skills from the same source and nearby in the registry, with their headline benchmark lift.

Ready to supercharge your AI agents?

See it in action

What's inside

Technical debt review

When to use

Inputs and source discipline

Method

Track record

Benchmark

Adoption

SkillSafety

Source

Other skills for the same job

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