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AgentCompany/builtin-skills/software-engineer/clean-code/references/cmt-avoid-commented-out-code.md
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ZacharyZhang-NY e74dafcd36 Silence render-disposed spam, unbreak bundled skills, drop board wake
Three independently ugly bugs that all fed the same log flood:

* Electron's `WebFrameMain.send` writes every "Render frame was disposed"
  to stderr via `console.error`. When the worker fans a second
  agent-event past a reloading renderer, we produced thousands of
  identical lines and stalled the main loop on stderr I/O. Added a
  `mainFrame.detached` guard so the send is short-circuited before
  Electron's own catch block fires, and installed a targeted filter in
  `suppress-warnings.ts` (now actually imported from the entry point)
  so the specific `console.error("Error sending from webFrameMain:"…)`
  noise never reaches the terminal. Any other payload still surfaces.

* `dispatchAgentMessage` accepted the human-reader sentinel as a wake
  target when an agent replied to `__board__` — `wakeAgentIfPossible`
  then called `db.getAgent("__board__")`, threw, and the dispatcher
  kept repeating on every send. Strip `HUMAN_SENDER_ID` at
  `resolveMessageWakeTargets`, and keep a defense-in-depth guard in the
  heartbeat so a stray caller (future automation fan-out) cannot
  reintroduce the crash.

* Pi's skills loader rejects any SKILL.md whose frontmatter `name`
  diverges from its parent directory. The four bundled `my-writing-style`
  copies declared `name: writing-style-skill`, so every install emitted
  a warning and dropped the skill. They also lived as orphan gitlinks
  (mode 160000 without .gitmodules), and the global `*.md` gitignore
  hid every other SKILL.md from version control. Fixed the frontmatter
  to match the dir, converted the dangling submodules to plain trees,
  and allowlisted `builtin-skills/**/*.md` so a fresh clone carries the
  catalogue instead of silently losing it.
2026-04-20 08:13:48 -04:00

1.4 KiB

title, impact, impactDescription, tags
title impact impactDescription tags
Delete Commented-Out Code HIGH prevents code archaeology confusion cmt, dead-code, version-control, clutter

Delete Commented-Out Code

Commented-out code is an abomination. Others who see it will not have the courage to delete it. They think it must be there for a reason. It rots and becomes increasingly irrelevant.

Incorrect (commented-out code persisting):

public void processOrder(Order order) {
    validateOrder(order);
    // calculateLegacyDiscount(order);
    // if (order.getCustomer().isPremium()) {
    //     applyPremiumDiscount(order);
    // }
    calculateDiscount(order);
    // sendNotification(order);
    // logOrderDetails(order);
    saveOrder(order);
    notifyWarehouse(order);
}

Correct (clean code, trust version control):

public void processOrder(Order order) {
    validateOrder(order);
    calculateDiscount(order);
    saveOrder(order);
    notifyWarehouse(order);
}

Why delete it?

  • Version control remembers everything
  • Commented code creates confusion: Is it needed? Why is it there?
  • It clutters the file and makes scanning harder
  • It becomes stale and misleading over time

If you really need it: Create a git branch, or add a reference comment pointing to the commit where it was removed.

Reference: Clean Code, Chapter 4: Comments