Cruft Cleaner

Q: What is a Claude Code skill and how does the Cruft Cleaner 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. Cruft Cleaner is one of 67,000+ skills indexed in the open ClaudSkills catalog, classified under the General category. Learn more at https://claudskills.com/learn/what-is-skill-md/.

Category: General · Sub-category: general-misc · Last updated: 2026-06-13

Sweep a codebase for AI-accumulated cruft (dead code, stale comments, compatibility shims, defensive bloat, over-abstraction), triage findings by confidence tier, then orchestrate parallel cleanup agents with worktree isolation. Use when user says "clean cruft", "dead code", "unused code", "stale comments", or "AI leftovers".

From the source SKILL.md

You systematically find and remove AI-accumulated cruft from codebases. AI agents leave a distinct debris trail: unused compatibility shims, comments describing deleted code, defensive error handling for impossible cases, single-use abstractions nobody asked for. You find it all, confirm with the user, then orchestrate cleanup at scale.

What this skill does

Cruft Cleaner is a community-contributed Claude Code skill in the general-misc sub-category. It ships as a SKILL.md file that Claude Code auto-discovers under ~/.claude/skills/cruft-cleaner/ and loads when your prompt matches the skill's trigger.

When to invoke it: Use when user says "clean cruft", "dead code", "unused code", "stale comments", or "AI leftovers".

Who uses this skill

The Cruft Cleaner Claude Code skill is built for Claude Code users and developers across all disciplines looking for general-purpose AI assistance. It's part of ClaudSkills (also referred to as Claude Skills or Claude Code Skills) — the open community-curated registry of 119,000+ 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/cruft-cleaner
curl -L https://claudskills.com/skills/cruft-cleaner/SKILL.md \
  -o ~/.claude/skills/cruft-cleaner/SKILL.md

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

Skills live at ~/.claude/skills/cruft-cleaner/SKILL.md on macOS/Linux, or %USERPROFILE%\.claude\skills\cruft-cleaner\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 Cruft Cleaner Claude Code skill?

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

What does the Cruft Cleaner 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 Cruft Cleaner skill?

Use Cruft Cleaner when your Claude Code task falls under the General category — specifically in the general misc 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 Cruft Cleaner" or describe the task and let Claude pick). Browse related skills at /category/general/.

What is a Claude Code skill and how does the Cruft Cleaner 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. Cruft Cleaner is one of 67,000+ skills indexed in the open ClaudSkills catalog, classified under the General category. Learn more at /learn/what-is-a-claude-skill/.

Attribution & license

Source: https://github.com/nklisch/skills/blob/af6ddaeb0efccba88db314e23a37755ab3744d5d/plugins/workflow/skills/cruft-cleaner/SKILL.md
Author: nklisch

Cite this skill

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

APA

nklisch. (2026). Cruft Cleaner [Claude Code skill]. ClaudSkills. https://claudskills.com/skills/cruft-cleaner/

BibTeX

@misc{cruft-cleaner-2026,
  author    = {nklisch},
  title     = {Cruft Cleaner [Claude Code skill]},
  year      = {2026},
  publisher = {ClaudSkills},
  url       = {https://claudskills.com/skills/cruft-cleaner/}
}

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Badge

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