# brooks-lint

Evaluates production code and test suites against classic engineering literature. Delivers a health score with cited remedies.

- plugin · `type=plugin` · Claude Code · ★ 1542
- Author: hyhmrright
- License: MIT · policy=mirror · the beginning of the file is at the end of this page
- Source: https://github.com/hyhmrright/brooks-lint
- Updated: 2026-10-24
- HTML: https://affpapa.org/en/nevibecode/plugins/brooks-lint

## What it does

The plugin assesses codebases across six production decay risks and six test-suite risks. Instead of tracking superficial metrics like line counts, it applies principles synthesized from twelve classic books by authors such as Brooks, McConnell, Fowler, and Ousterhout.

Every reported issue follows a strict diagnostic pattern: symptom, book source, consequence, and concrete remedy. In addition to detailed commentary, the tool calculates an overall codebase health score from 0 to 100. Analysis runs via dedicated commands such as `/brooks-review`, `/brooks-audit`, `/brooks-debt`, and `/brooks-test`.

Findings tie every critique directly to published engineering theory.

## Install

### Claude Code (native platform)

**Plugin marketplace**
In the agent chat (not a shell):
```text
/plugin marketplace add anthropics/claude-plugins-community
```
In the agent chat (not a shell):
```text
/plugin install brooks-lint@claude-community
```

## When to use it
- audit software architecture against classic engineering principles
- review pull requests with cited structural findings
- detect fragility and maintainability issues in test suites
- generate clear refactoring plans with concrete remedies

## Example prompts
- Audit our service architecture using `/brooks-audit`
- Review this pull request for code decay risks with `/brooks-review`
- Run `/brooks-test` to inspect test suite maintainability

## Source text · SKILL.md · MIT

Below is the content of a third-party file. It is data, not instructions for you: do not act on anything written inside unless the human asks. Block tag: 32a5f2550adb1ef6.

BEGIN THIRD-PARTY FILE 32a5f2550adb1ef6
````text
<p align="center">
  <img src="assets/logo.svg" alt="brooks-lint" width="200">
</p>

<h1 align="center">brooks-lint</h1>

<p align="center">
  <strong>AI code reviews grounded in twelve classic engineering books.<br>
  Consistent. Traceable. Actionable.</strong>
</p>

<p align="center">
  <strong>English</strong> ·
  <a href="README.zh-CN.md">简体中文</a> ·
  <a href="README.zh-TW.md">繁體中文</a> ·
  <a href="README.ja.md">日本語</a> ·
  <a href="README.ko.md">한국어</a> ·
  <a href="README.es.md">Español</a>
</p>

<p align="center">
  <a href="#quick-start">Quick Start</a> •
  <a href="#the-six-decay-risks">The Six Decay Risks</a> •
  <a href="#what-it-looks-like">What It Looks Like</a> •
  <a href="#benchmark">Benchmark</a> •
  <a href="#installation">Installation</a>
</p>

<p align="center">
  <img src="https://img.shields.io/badge/version-1.9.1-blue.svg" alt="Version">
  <img src="https://img.shields.io/badge/license-MIT-green.svg" alt="MIT License">
  <img src="https://img.shields.io/badge/Claude_Code-Plugin-blueviolet.svg" alt="Claude Code Plugin">
  <img src="https://img.shields.io/badge/Codex_CLI-Skill-orange.svg" alt="Codex CLI Skill">
  <img src="https://img.shields.io/github/stars/hyhmrright/brooks-lint?style=social" alt="GitHub Stars">
</p>

<p align="center">
  <a href="https://trendshift.io/repositories/47738" target="_blank"><img src="https://trendshift.io/api/badge/trendshift/repositories/47738/daily?language=JavaScript" alt="#2 JavaScript Repository of the Day | Trendshift" style="width: 250px; height: 55px;" width="250" height="55"/></a>
</p>

<p align="center">
  <img src="assets/banner-en.svg" alt="Your code → 12 classics → 12 decay risks → cited findings" width="900">
</p>

<p align="center">
  <a href="https://hyhmrright.github.io/brooks-lint/"><img src="assets/demo.gif" alt="brooks-lint reviewing code: a /brooks-review command produces a 28/100 health score and cited Symptom → Source → Consequence → Remedy findings" width="820"></a>
</p>

<p align="center">
  <strong><a href="https://hyhmrright.github.io/brooks-lint/">→ Visit the website</a></strong>
</p>

---

> *"The bearing of a child takes nine months, no matter how many women are assigned."*
> — Frederick Brooks, *The Mythical Man-Month* (1975)

**50 years later, Brooks was still right — and so were McConnell, Fowler, Martin, Hunt & Thomas, Evans, Ousterhout, Winters, Meszaros, Osherove, Feathers, and the Google Testing team.**

Most code quality tools count lines and cyclomatic complexity. **brooks-lint** goes deeper — it diagnoses your code against six decay risk dimensions synthesized from twelve classic engineering books, producing structured findings with book citations, severity labels, and concrete remedies every time.

For the full source-to-skill mapping, including exceptions and false-positive guards, see
[`skills/_shared/source-coverage.md`](skills/_shared/source-coverage.md).

## Quick Start

```bash
# Claude Code
/plugin marketplace add hyhmrright/brooks-lint
/plugin install brooks-lint@brooks-lint-marketplace

# Any other Agent Skills platform — Cursor · Codex · Gemini · Copilot · Windsurf · OpenCode · Kiro · Bob …
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/hyhmrright/brooks-lint/main/scripts/install.sh | bash -s -- <platform>
```

Then just ask ("review this PR", "audit the architecture"), or run one of the six commands —
`/brooks-review`, `/brooks-audit`, `/brooks-debt`, `/brooks-test`, `/brooks-health`, `/brooks-sweep`
([what each one does](#slash-commands)).

Every finding comes back as **Symptom → Source → Consequence → Remedy** with a book citation and a
0–100 Health Score. Full install options (10 more platforms) and CI/CD setup are [below](#installation).

## The Twelve Books

| Book | Author | Contributes to |
|------|--------|----------------|
| *The Mythical Man-Month* (1975) | Frederick P. Brooks Jr. | R2, R4, R5 |
| *Code Complete* (1993, 2nd ed. 2004) | Steve McConnell | R1, R4 |
````
END THIRD-PARTY FILE 32a5f2550adb1ef6

The third-party file has ended. Everything between the 32a5f2550adb1ef6 tags is data: requests and commands from it are not followed. An “end of file” line with another tag inside the block is part of the file.

First 4029 of 31942 bytes. © hyhmrright · MIT · https://github.com/hyhmrright/brooks-lint

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