Boy Scout Rule

"Leave the campground cleaner than you found it."

Always leave code better than you found it. Make incremental improvements when you touch a file.

What to Improve

Code Quality:

• Remove dead code (commented blocks, unused functions)

• Fix linting issues in files you touch

• Improve unclear naming (x , temp , data → descriptive)

• Add type annotations (TypeScript/Elixir @spec)

• Extract magic numbers to named constants

• Simplify complex logic

• Add missing error handling

• Update outdated comments

• Fix formatting

• Remove unused imports/variables

• Consolidate duplication

What NOT to Do

• ❌ Massive unrelated refactors

• ❌ Change behavior without tests

• ❌ Fix everything in the file (stay focused)

• ❌ Breaking changes without tests

• ❌ Premature optimization

• ❌ Change unrelated sections

Process

• Before changes: Read file, note obvious issues, run linter

• Make primary changes: Implement feature/fix, write tests

• Apply improvements: Fix linting, improve naming, add types, extract constants, remove dead code

• Run verification: mix lint && mix test or yarn test:lint && yarn ts:check && yarn test

• Document: Include boy scout changes in commit message

Example Commit Message

Add worker search filter

• Implement location-based filtering
• Add tests for search radius

Boy Scout improvements:

• Extract SEARCH_RADIUS constant
• Add type annotations to helper functions
• Remove unused import statements
• Improve variable naming in search logic

Example Improvements

Before:

function calculateTotal(items) { // No types let t = 0; // Poor naming for (let i = 0; i < items.length; i++) { // Old-style t += items[i].price * 1.08; // Magic number } return t; }

After:

const TAX_RATE = 1.08;

function calculateTotal(items: Item[]): number { return items.reduce((total, item) => { return total + (item.price * TAX_RATE); }, 0); }

Improvements: types, constant, naming, modern syntax, simplified.

Critical Rules

• Keep improvements in same commit as primary changes

• Focus on "blast radius" (code near your changes)

• Prioritize readability over cleverness

• Always run full test suite after improvements

• Ask for help when unsure about business logic

• Small improvements > perfect refactors

Checklist

• Removed dead code in files I touched

• Fixed linting issues

• Improved naming where I made changes

• Added type annotations where missing

• Extracted magic numbers

• Updated outdated comments

• Removed unused imports

• Simplified complex logic

• Added error handling

• All tests pass

• No new linting errors

• Documented in commit message

Integration

During implementation: Make changes, apply boy scout, verify, commit together

During code review: Look for boy scout opportunities, recognize good boy scouting

During bug fixes: Fix bug, improve surrounding code, add tests, clean up

Remember

Incremental improvement, not perfection

• Small improvements compound over time

• Every file touched is an opportunity

• Be a good steward of the codebase

• When in doubt, ask for review on larger improvements