ClaudSkills / Engineering / code-quality

Code Smell

Q: What is a Claude Code skill and how does the Code Smell skill fit in?

A Claude Code skill is a SKILL.md file that lives under ~/.claude/skills/<name>/ and tells the Claude Code CLI agent how to perform a specific task (instructions, prompts, allowed tools). Skills are auto-discovered at session start. Code Smell is one of 67,000+ skills indexed in the open ClaudSkills catalog, classified under the Engineering category. Learn more at https://claudskills.com/learn/what-is-skill-md/.

Category: Engineering · Sub-category: code-quality · Last updated: 2026-05-21

Scan codebase for Martin Fowler's catalog of code smells: god classes, long methods, feature envy, data clumps, primitive obsession, shotgun surgery, message chains, and more. Reports each smell with file location, severity, and specific refactoring recommendation. Ranks worst files and builds a prioritized refactoring queue. Use when code feels messy, before a major refactor, to find maintainability problems, or to identify the highest-impact cleanup targets.

About this skill (catalog notes)

Code Smell includes at least one code block. At roughly 1,548 words the SKILL.md is on the longer end of the catalog distribution.

Original author: excatt
Indexed lastmod: 2026-05-21
Catalog position: Engineering · code-quality
Indexed related skills: 10

How Code Smell fits the catalog

Code Smell sits in the Engineering category under the code-quality sub-topic in the ClaudSkills catalog. There are 10 related skills indexed alongside it; comparing a few before installing usually reveals which fits your workflow best.

These notes are auto-generated from features detected in the SKILL.md file and from this catalog's structure — they aren't part of the source repository.

From the source SKILL.md

You are an autonomous code smell detection agent. You systematically scan the entire codebase for Martin Fowler's catalog of code smells, report each with location and severity, and recommend specific refactorings. Do NOT ask the user questions. Investigate the entire codebase thoroughly.

What this skill does

Code Smell is a community-contributed Claude Code skill in the code-quality sub-category. It ships as a SKILL.md file that Claude Code auto-discovers under ~/.claude/skills/code-smell/ and loads when your prompt matches the skill's trigger.

When to invoke it: Use when code feels messy, before a major refactor, to find maintainability problems, or to identify the highest-impact cleanup targets.

Who uses this skill

The Code Smell Claude Code skill is built for software engineers, backend developers, full-stack teams, and technical leads building and maintaining production systems. It's part of ClaudSkills (also referred to as Claude Skills or Claude Code Skills) — the open community-curated registry of 116,000+ SKILL.md files for Anthropic's Claude Code agent and the wider Claude ecosystem (Claude API, Claude Agent SDK).

How to install

Free

Manual install (2 steps)

mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills/code-smell
curl -L https://claudskills.com/skills/code-smell/SKILL.md \
  -o ~/.claude/skills/code-smell/SKILL.md

Or just download SKILL.md directly and drop it into ~/.claude/skills/code-smell/. Claude Code auto-discovers it on next session.

Skills live at ~/.claude/skills/code-smell/SKILL.md on macOS/Linux, or %USERPROFILE%\.claude\skills\code-smell\SKILL.md on Windows. See the full install guide for step-by-step instructions.

📱 Install from your phone or desktop Telegram

Open @claudskills_bot on Telegram, tap Open Desktop App, and the desktop app installs this skill for you. Or share the bot link with a colleague — they get the same one-tap install. Learn more →

Pro

One-click install via the desktop app

The ClaudSkills desktop app installs any skill directly into ~/.claude/skills/ with one click — no terminal required. Pro starts at $9/mo or $149 lifetime.

Pro

For the full experience including quality scoring and one-click install features for each skill — upgrade to Pro.

See pricing → Download desktop app

Frequently asked questions

How do I install the Code Smell Claude Code skill?

Install via the ClaudSkills desktop app (one click) or copy SKILL.md from the source repository to ~/.claude/skills/code-smell/SKILL.md and restart Claude Code. Both flows are detailed at claudskills.com/install/.

What does the Code Smell skill do?

Is this skill free to install?

Yes. ClaudSkills is an open registry — every skill keeps its source repository's license, and manual install via copy is free. ClaudSkills Pro ($9/mo, $79/yr, or $149 one-time) adds one-click install via the desktop app and a multi-signal Quality Score.

When should I use the Code Smell skill?

Use Code Smell when your Claude Code task falls under the Engineering category — specifically in the code quality area. Claude Code auto-discovers installed skills and invokes the right one based on the task description, so you can also ask Claude directly (e.g. "use Code Smell" or describe the task and let Claude pick). Browse related skills at /category/engineering/.

What is a Claude Code skill and how does the Code Smell skill fit in?

A Claude Code skill is a SKILL.md file that lives under ~/.claude/skills/<name>/ and tells the Claude Code CLI agent how to perform a specific task (instructions, prompts, allowed tools). Skills are auto-discovered at session start. Code Smell is one of 67,000+ skills indexed in the open ClaudSkills catalog, classified under the Engineering category. Learn more at /learn/what-is-a-claude-skill/.

Attribution & license

Source: https://github.com/excatt/superclaude-plusplus/blob/HEAD/skills/code-smell/SKILL.md
Author: excatt

Cite this skill

If you reference this skill in a blog post, paper, or documentation, you can cite it as:

APA

excatt. (2026). Code Smell [Claude Code skill]. ClaudSkills. https://claudskills.com/skills/code-smell/

BibTeX

@misc{code-smell-2026,
  author    = {excatt},
  title     = {Code Smell [Claude Code skill]},
  year      = {2026},
  publisher = {ClaudSkills},
  url       = {https://claudskills.com/skills/code-smell/}
}

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Badge

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