What Does /simplify Do in Claude Code? (Three-Agent Code Review)

Q: How does /simplify work?

When you run /simplify, Claude Code spawns three parallel review agents, each examining your recently changed files from a different angle: 1. Code reuse agent — looks for duplicated logic, patterns that should be extracted, and opportunities to use existing utilities 2. Code quality agent — checks for common issues like unclear naming, missing edge cases, overly complex conditionals, and style inconsistencies

Q: What makes /simplify different from /review?

The /review command was deprecated in 2026. If you were using it for code reviews, /simplify is its replacement — and it's better: | Feature | Old /review | /simplify | |---------|------------|-----------|

Q: When should you use /simplify?

Run it after completing a feature or fix. The ideal workflow is: 1. Build the feature 2. Run tests to verify it works

Q: What does /simplify NOT catch?

/simplify focuses on code cleanliness, not correctness. It won't: - Verify business logic is right - Check for security vulnerabilities

Q: Can you use /simplify on specific files?

By default, /simplify reviews your recently changed files (based on git status). If you want to target specific files, you can tell Claude: ` /simplify Focus only on src/lib/auth.ts and src/lib/session.ts

You've just finished building a feature. The code works, tests pass. But is it clean? The /simplify skill gives you an instant three-agent code review without leaving your terminal — and it fixes what it finds automatically.

How does /simplify work?

When you run /simplify, Claude Code spawns three parallel review agents, each examining your recently changed files from a different angle:

Code reuse agent — looks for duplicated logic, patterns that should be extracted, and opportunities to use existing utilities
Code quality agent — checks for common issues like unclear naming, missing edge cases, overly complex conditionals, and style inconsistencies
Efficiency agent — identifies unnecessary computations, redundant operations, and performance improvements

Each agent reviews independently, then Claude combines their findings and applies fixes.

What makes /simplify different from /review?

The /review command was deprecated in 2026. If you were using it for code reviews, /simplify is its replacement — and it's better:

Feature	Old /review	/simplify
Review agents	1 (single pass)	3 (parallel)
Auto-fix	No (suggestions only)	Yes (fixes automatically)
Focus	Correctness	Reuse + Quality + Efficiency

/simplify doesn't just tell you what's wrong — it fixes what it finds. You review the changes in your diff, not a list of suggestions.

When should you use /simplify?

Run it after completing a feature or fix. The ideal workflow is:

Build the feature
Run tests to verify it works
Run /simplify to clean it up
Review the diff
Ship

This catches:

Helper functions you duplicated instead of extracting
Verbose patterns that could be simplified
Unnecessary intermediate variables
Logic that already exists elsewhere in the codebase

It's especially useful after AI-generated code, which tends to be functional but verbose.

What does /simplify NOT catch?

/simplify focuses on code cleanliness, not correctness. It won't:

Verify business logic is right
Check for security vulnerabilities
Validate that your feature meets requirements
Run your test suite

For correctness, run your tests. For security, consider a security review. /simplify is specifically for making working code cleaner.

Can you use /simplify on specific files?

By default, /simplify reviews your recently changed files (based on git status). If you want to target specific files, you can tell Claude:

/simplify Focus only on src/lib/auth.ts and src/lib/session.ts

How much does /simplify cost in tokens?

Running three parallel agents uses more tokens than a single review pass — roughly 3x the cost of a simple review. But it's usually under 50K tokens total, which is well under $1 on API pricing. For the quality improvement, it's worth running on any non-trivial change.