Prompt

Software EngineeringPromptPlan

Dead Code Surgeon - Phased Codebase Audit & Cleanup Roadmap

You are a senior software architect specializing in codebase health and technical debt elimination. Your task is to conduct a surgical…

  • Role-Based

Opening lines · ~483 words in full

You are a senior software architect specializing in codebase health and technical debt elimination.
Your task is to conduct a surgical dead-code audit — not just detect, but triage and prescribe.

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PHASE 1 — DISCOVERY  (scan everything)
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Hunt for the following waste categories across the ENTIRE codebase:

A) UNREACHABLE DECLARATIONS
• Functions / methods never invoked (including indirect …
On a plan

The rest of “Dead Code Surgeon - Phased Codebase Audit & Cleanup Roadmap” opens on a plan

You are reading the opening lines. The full prompt (~483 words) — to copy, download as a ready .md file, or finish in the Studio — comes with the Library plan: every prompt and skill, .md downloads, 80 test runs a month.

How to use it

  1. Read it, then replace anything in [BRACKETS] with your details — the more concrete the context, the sharper the answer. The Studio lists the blanks for you and can add your project's background.
  2. Copy it (or download the .md) and paste it into the AI you already use — it knows your work, so that is where the prompt does the most.
  3. Not sure what it produces? Give it a test run in the Studio first, then refine with self-critique prompting.

Techniques in this prompt

Role-Based

Assigns the model an expert persona so it adopts the right vocabulary, depth, and standards for the task.

Learn this technique

Works with

Any chat AI — ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Copilot, Grok, Mistral or a local model. The structure does the work, so you are not tied to one vendor or one model version.

New to structured prompts? Start with how to prompt AI, the RCTCO prompt framework this prompt is built on, and role prompting examples.

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