name: deslop description: | Remove LLM-generated artifacts from code. Cleans unnecessary comments and defensive checks. Use when asked to "clean up the code", "remove AI slop", "deslop this", or after AI-assisted coding sessions to remove artifacts that don't match codebase style. license: MIT metadata: author: howells argument-hint: <codebase|branch>

Deslop Workflow

Remove AI-generated slop from the codebase. Based on Cursor team's approach.

Modes

1. Branch mode (default): Check diff against main, clean this branch only
2. Codebase mode: Scan entire codebase

Process

Step 1: Determine Mode

If argument is "codebase":

# Scan all files
git ls-files '*.ts' '*.tsx' '*.js' '*.jsx'

Otherwise (default):

# Get changed files vs main
git diff --name-only main...HEAD

Step 2: For Each File, Detect Slop

What to look for:

1. Extra comments inconsistent with the file

   • Comments a human wouldn't add
   • Comments that state the obvious
   • Comments inconsistent with file's style

2. Defensive checks abnormal for the codebase

   • Try/catch blocks in trusted codepaths
   • Null checks where types guarantee non-null
   • Extra validation already handled upstream

3. Type escapes

   • as any
   • // @ts-ignore
   • ! assertions that shouldn't be needed

4. Style inconsistencies

   • Different naming conventions than the file
   • Different formatting patterns
   • Verbose where file is terse (or vice versa)

Step 3: Context-Aware Analysis

For each potential issue:

1. Read surrounding code
2. Check if pattern exists elsewhere in file
3. Only flag if genuinely inconsistent

Good comment (keep):

// Retry logic handles transient network failures

Slop comment (remove):

// This function processes the user data and returns the result
function processUserData(data: UserData): Result {

Step 4: Fix Issues

For each confirmed slop:

1. Remove or fix it
2. Don't add new code, just clean

Step 5: Report

## Deslop Summary

Cleaned [N] files:
- Removed [X] unnecessary comments
- Removed [Y] defensive checks
- Fixed [Z] type escapes

[1-3 sentence summary]

<progress_append> After cleaning the codebase, append to progress journal:

## YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM — /arc:deslop
**Task:** Clean [scope]
**Outcome:** Complete
**Files:** [N] files cleaned
**Decisions:**
- Removed: [X] comments, [Y] checks, [Z] escapes
**Next:** Continue working

---

</progress_append>

What Deslop Does NOT Do

• Add new functionality
• Refactor working code
• Change behavior
• Make "improvements"

It only removes things that shouldn't be there.