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---
name: complexity-management-skill
description: "KISS/YAGNI/DRY tradeoff heuristics for minimizing accidental complexity. Triggers: complexity, accidental complexity. Not for smell detection (code-smells-skill), over-engineering audit (civiltekk-ponytail-audit-skill), or SOLID reference (solid-principles-skill)."
license: Apache-2.0
compatibility: opencode
category: Code Quality
---
## What I do
Reduce accidental complexity (self-inflicted: unclear names, leaky abstractions, unnecessary layers) while expressing essential complexity (inherent problem domain) clearly.
## When to use me
- Reviewing whether an abstraction/module/layer earns its cost
- Symptoms present: change amplification (one simple change → many edits), high cognitive load (can't hold the module in your head), unknown unknowns (can't find what to change)
House stance: aggressive deletion of speculative abstraction; KISS/YAGNI are the defaults; add a layer only when the second consumer actually arrives. Working code beats elegant design; invest complexity budget where change is frequent.
> Removed 2026-09: essential-vs-accidental complexity essays, the three symptom deep-dives with code examples, XP values walkthrough, KISS/YAGNI/DRY explanation catalogs, working-effectively-with-legacy notes — Ousterhout-style textbook content the model already carries.
