Tech Debt
This breaks down technical debt into six categories (code, architecture, test, dependency, documentation, and infrastructure) and scores each item using a formula that weighs impact, risk, and effort. The output is a prioritized backlog with business justifications and a phased remediation plan you can work through alongside feature development. It's most useful when you know something's wrong but can't articulate why refactoring X matters more than refactoring Y, or when you need to make the case to leadership that yes, we really do need to upgrade that ancient library. The scoring framework is simple enough to be practical without turning debt management into its own full-time job.
- installs
- 6.5K
- GitHub stars
- 33.3K
- last updated
- Aug 21, 2026
Install
$ npx -y skills add anthropics/knowledge-work-plugins --skill tech-debt --agent claude-codeInstalls into .claude/skills of the current project.
Files
Tech Debt Management
Systematically identify, categorize, and prioritize technical debt.
Categories
| Type | Examples | Risk |
|---|---|---|
| Code debt | Duplicated logic, poor abstractions, magic numbers | Bugs, slow development |
| Architecture debt | Monolith that should be split, wrong data store | Scaling limits |
| Test debt | Low coverage, flaky tests, missing integration tests | Regressions ship |
| Dependency debt | Outdated libraries, unmaintained dependencies | Security vulns |
| Documentation debt | Missing runbooks, outdated READMEs, tribal knowledge | Onboarding pain |
| Infrastructure debt | Manual deploys, no monitoring, no IaC | Incidents, slow recovery |
Prioritization Framework
Score each item on:
- Impact: How much does it slow the team down? (1-5)
- Risk: What happens if we don't fix it? (1-5)
- Effort: How hard is the fix? (1-5, inverted — lower effort = higher priority)
Priority = (Impact + Risk) x (6 - Effort)
Output
Produce a prioritized list with estimated effort, business justification for each item, and a phased remediation plan that can be done alongside feature work.
Sponsors
Details
- Repository
- github.com/anthropics/knowledge-work-plugins
- Category
- Code Review & Quality
- First seen
- Apr 16, 2026
