rewrite

Goal

Rewrite one or more files completely from scratch, without referencing prior context, and deliver complete content

Scope

Use when the user asks to rewrite a file or several files, wanting all content written fresh from an empty slate

Execute

1. Reset Context

Goal: Reset Context

Start with /reset-context to clear prior context

Invoke /reset-context before every edit
Do not reference conclusions, analyses, or decisions from earlier conversations
Treat the target files as new files that must be written from scratch

2. Identify Targets

Goal: Identify Targets

Clearly identify the files to rewrite

Ask or determine target files from the user request
Use scan-codebase to find related files
Check the dependencies and references of the target files

3. Read Targets Fresh

Goal: Read Targets Fresh

Read the target files and all references anew

Read each target file in full
Read imports, exports, and dependencies
Read reverse dependencies
Run review-devin-global-harness for related workflows

4. Analyze Requirements

Goal: Analyze Requirements

Analyze all requirements anew

Identify what each file does
Identify public APIs, interfaces, and contracts
Identify standards, conventions, and best practices to preserve
Run follow-best-practice for related topics

5. Rewrite From Scratch

Goal: Rewrite From Scratch

Write each file completely from an empty slate

Do not merge or append with the old content
Do not reference prior context
Use write to overwrite the original file with new content
If there are many files, use use-scripts for automation
Run update-references if file names or paths change

6. Validate

Goal: Validate

Check the results

Run /deep-validate to verify correctness
Run run-verify to execute lint, typecheck, and scan
Read the new files again to verify

Rules

1. Always Reset Context

Always invoke /reset-context before every rewrite
Never reference conclusions or analysis from earlier conversations
Never assume the original code is correct

2. Full Rewrite

Files are written completely from scratch, never merged with old content
Never copy-paste from the old content without review
Never leave unused old sections behind

3. Evidence-Based

Every decision must be based on the actual files read fresh
Every assumption must have evidence
Do not guess from context or memory

4. Preserve Contracts

Preserve the public APIs and interfaces the user specified
Preserve file paths and naming conventions
If a contract must change, run update-references to update all references

5. Complete Delivery

All files must be complete, with no unnecessary TODO, MOCK, or STUB
Verify that all references actually exist
Run run-verify before delivery

Expected Outcome

Target files are fully rewritten from scratch
No stale context influenced the decisions
New content matches the current requirements
Passes validation and run-verify
All references updated correctly