# Claude Code /simplify

9 Hacker News commenters recommended Claude Code /simplify and 3 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 5 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** Claude Code skill that trims over-engineering and verbosity in code; people find it effective, though some engineers get weaker results and a benchmark found no test pass gains.

## Why people recommend it

- Cuts over-engineering and verbosity (2 comments): "basically solves the erosion and verbosity metrics SCB flagged; after running the SCB benchmark I cannot find any evidence that it actually improves test pass rate trajectories" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50172282)) "It walks back over-engineerings quite often for me." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47500290))
- Effective and worth using (3 comments): "What's also been really helpful to me is /simplify and similar code review skills" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47766077)) "It still surprises me how effective the /simplify skill is." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48028049)) "Yeah /simplify is your friend." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47640730))

## What people warn about

- Mixed results for some engineers (1 comments): "Some engineers I work with have had less than desirable results with /simplify but it overall seems to work!" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48051030))
- No test pass rate gain found (1 comments): "basically solves the erosion and verbosity metrics SCB flagged; after running the SCB benchmark I cannot find any evidence that it actually improves test pass rate trajectories" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50172282))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Superpowers](https://hackerapproved.com/p/superpowers.md): 138 recommend
- [Claude Skills](https://hackerapproved.com/p/claude-skills.md): 59 recommend
- [grill-me skill by Matt Pocock](https://hackerapproved.com/p/grill-me-skill.md): 39 recommend
- [Get Shit Done](https://hackerapproved.com/p/get-shit-done.md): 31 recommend
- [Matt Pocock's skills](https://hackerapproved.com/p/matt-pocock-s-skills.md): 27 recommend

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Claude Code /simplify", https://hackerapproved.com/p/simplify/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).