The Boy Scout Rule

The Rule

1. Complete the requested task first.
2. Scan the immediate vicinity of your change (same function, same block, nearby declarations) for one proportional improvement.
3. Apply

   clean-typescript

   rules to the touched code.
4. Do not touch code outside your change scope.

What to Look For

• Poorly named variable or parameter
• Redundant comment or dead code
• Magic value that should be a named constant
• Deeply nested block extractable into a named function
• Output argument mutation replaceable with a return value
• Boolean flag hiding two separate responsibilities

Example

// Asked to fix a bug in:
function proc(d: number[], x: number[], flag = false): number[] {
  for (const i of d) {
    if (i > 0) {
      if (flag) { x.push(i * 1.0825); }
      else { x.push(i); }
    }
  }
  return x;
}

// Fix the bug AND leave it cleaner:
const TAX_RATE = 0.0825;

function processPositiveValues(values: readonly number[]): number[] {
  return values.filter((value) => value > 0);
}

function processTaxablePositiveValues(values: readonly number[]): number[] {
  return values.filter((value) => value > 0).map((value) => value * (1 + TAX_RATE));
}

AI Behavior

1. Complete the task first.
2. Scan the touched function or block for one improvement worth making.
3. Apply it only if it stays within the change scope.
4. Briefly note what was improved.