# Trace Mcp Refactoring

> Safe refactoring workflow using trace-mcp — assess risk, find candidates, check impact, and rename symbols across all files without missing import sites or cross-file references.

- **Type:** Skill
- **Install:** `agentstack add skill-nikolai-vysotskyi-trace-mcp-trace-mcp-refactoring`
- **Verified:** Yes — security-reviewed for prompt injection and unsafe behavior
- **Seller:** [nikolai-vysotskyi](https://agentstack.voostack.com/s/nikolai-vysotskyi)
- **Installs:** 0
- **Category:** [AI & ML](https://agentstack.voostack.com/c/ai-and-ml)
- **Latest version:** 0.1.0
- **License:** MIT
- **Upstream author:** [nikolai-vysotskyi](https://github.com/nikolai-vysotskyi)
- **Source:** https://github.com/nikolai-vysotskyi/trace-mcp/tree/master/skills/trace-mcp-refactoring
- **Website:** https://trace-mcp.com

## Install

```sh
agentstack add skill-nikolai-vysotskyi-trace-mcp-trace-mcp-refactoring
```

Requires the [AgentStack CLI](https://agentstack.voostack.com/docs/cli). Works with Claude Code, Cursor, and any MCP-compatible agent.

## About

# trace-mcp — Refactoring Workflow

Use this skill whenever you are about to rename, restructure, extract, or otherwise refactor code in a project indexed by trace-mcp. The goal is to never break cross-file references and never guess at what is affected.

## When to Use

- Renaming a class, function, method, variable, or file
- Extracting a function or method
- Restructuring a module or splitting a file
- Changing a function signature
- Any change that touches more than one call site

## Refactoring Workflow

### 1. Assess before touching anything

```
assess_change_risk({ file_path: "src/foo.ts" })
# or
assess_change_risk({ symbol_id: "" })
```

This returns the risk level of the target change based on churn, complexity, fan-in/fan-out, and test coverage. Use it to decide whether to proceed, add tests first, or split the change.

### 2. Find what actually needs refactoring

```
get_refactor_candidates()
```

Do not guess. This surfaces high-complexity, high-churn, and anti-pattern-laden symbols that are the real refactor targets.

### 3. Know what will break

```
get_change_impact({ symbol_id: "" })
```

Returns the reverse-dependency graph: every file, symbol, and test that depends on the target. Review this list before editing.

### 4. Quantify complexity

```
get_complexity_report({ file_path: "src/foo.ts" })
```

Gives you a baseline so you can verify the refactor actually reduced complexity.

## Renaming a Symbol — MANDATORY Flow

**Never** rename with `Edit` and `replace_all`. It silently misses import sites, re-exports, type references, and cross-file usages.

```
# 1. Collision detection first
check_rename({ symbol_id: "", target_name: "newName" })

# 2. Apply rename across ALL files (definition + every reference)
apply_rename({ symbol_id: "", new_name: "newName" })
```

`apply_rename` updates the definition, imports, re-exports, call sites, JSX usages, and tests in one atomic operation.

## Extracting a Function

```
extract_function({
  file_path: "src/foo.ts",
  start_line: 42,
  end_line: 67,
  new_name: "computeTotals"
})
```

Let trace-mcp handle the variable capture analysis — manual extraction routinely misses closure variables.

## After the Refactor

1. `register_edit` on each edited file to reindex
2. `get_complexity_report` again to confirm the reduction
3. `get_tests_for` the changed symbols — run them
4. `check_quality_gates` with `scope: "changed"` to verify no regressions

## Source & license

This open-source skill is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code.

- **Author:** [nikolai-vysotskyi](https://github.com/nikolai-vysotskyi)
- **Source:** [nikolai-vysotskyi/trace-mcp](https://github.com/nikolai-vysotskyi/trace-mcp)
- **License:** MIT
- **Homepage:** https://trace-mcp.com

Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above.

## Pricing

- **Free** — Free

## Security capabilities

Automated source analysis of v0.1.0 — what this tool can access:

- **Network access:** no
- **Filesystem access:** no
- **Shell / process execution:** no
- **Environment & secrets:** no
- **Dynamic code execution:** no

*"Yes" means the capability is present in the source — more access means more to trust, not that it is unsafe.*


## Versions

- **0.1.0** — security scan: passed — Imported from the upstream source.

## Links

- Listing page: https://agentstack.voostack.com/l/skill-nikolai-vysotskyi-trace-mcp-trace-mcp-refactoring
- Seller: https://agentstack.voostack.com/s/nikolai-vysotskyi
- Browse the marketplace: https://agentstack.voostack.com/browse

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Listed on AgentStack — the marketplace for AI agent skills and MCP servers. Every listing is security-reviewed. Creators keep 70%.