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name: frontend-refactor-planner description: Creates safe refactor plans for messy UI code including component splitting strategies, state simplification, performance optimizations, and accessibility improvements. Provides phased approach, risk assessment, and "done" criteria. Use when refactoring "legacy code", "messy components", "performance issues", or "large files".

Frontend Refactor Planner

Create safe, phased refactor plans for complex frontend code.

Refactor Assessment

Identify Issues: Large components (>300 lines), prop drilling, duplicate logic, poor performance, accessibility gaps, tight coupling, untested code Prioritize: By risk (high-traffic pages first) and impact (user-facing bugs prioritized) Plan Phases: Break into small, testable increments

Common Refactor Patterns

Component Splitting: Extract sub-components, create compound components, separate logic from presentation State Management: Lift state up, move to Context/Zustand, remove unnecessary state Performance: Memoization (useMemo/useCallback), code splitting, lazy loading, virtualization Accessibility: Add ARIA labels, keyboard navigation, focus management, semantic HTML Testing: Add tests before refactoring, test after each change

Phased Approach

Phase 1 - Stabilize: Add tests, fix critical bugs, document current behavior Phase 2 - Extract: Pull out utilities, create smaller components, reduce complexity Phase 3 - Simplify: Remove dead code, consolidate duplicates, optimize state Phase 4 - Polish: Performance optimization, accessibility audit, documentation

Risk Mitigation

Feature flags for gradual rollout, A/B testing refactored vs original, monitor error rates, have rollback plan, peer review all changes, incremental deployment.

Done Criteria

Code coverage >80%, performance metrics improved, accessibility score 95+, no regressions in tests, code review approved, documentation updated.