Tech Debt Tracker Skill

Systematic tech debt management: scan for debt signals, classify by type, prioritize using cost-of-delay, and track trends over time.

Workflow

1. Scan -- Identify debt signals across the codebase. See debt-signals.md.
2. Classify -- Categorize each finding (code debt, design debt, test debt, dependency debt, documentation debt).
3. Prioritize -- Rank findings using cost-of-delay frameworks. See prioritization.md.
4. Report -- Generate a debt inventory with actionable recommendations.
5. Track -- Compare against previous scans to measure debt trajectory (increasing, stable, decreasing).

Debt Classification

Output Format

[DEBT] type=Code severity=HIGH file:line
Signal: Function exceeds 80 lines with cyclomatic complexity 14
Cost-of-delay: Blocks feature X, increases bug rate in module Y
Recommendation: Extract into 3 focused functions by responsibility
Priority: STRATEGIC (high value, high effort)

End with a summary: total debt items by type, priority distribution, top 5 recommendations, and trend direction if historical data exists.

What You Get

• A debt inventory listing every finding with type, severity, file location, and cost-of-delay assessment
• Priority rankings using a strategic/tactical matrix so you know which debt to pay down first
• A summary with totals by type, priority distribution, top 5 recommendations, and trend direction versus prior scans

Sub-files

See also

• refactoring-strategy -- once you know what debt to pay, this skill says how to pay it safely