Refactoring

When to use

• Execute an agreed structural move while preserving behavior.

Not for: codebase-design for choosing boundaries; simplify for local clarity.

Steps

1. Define the move and behavior contract; establish tests or characterization evidence.

2. Plan incremental file, symbol, import and ownership changes; use automation for repetitive moves.

3. Move coherent units and run affected checks; separate features and use compatibility only for actual consumers.

4. Verify old references, exports, packaging, documents and runtime paths.

Verify

• Contracts are preserved; moved symbols resolve and abandoned references are removed.

References

• engineering-principles.md — shared decision boundaries, scope and verification.
• references/refactoring-catalog.md — before→after examples + characterization-test guidance for each move (extract, move, split, merge, change-dependency)