Code Refactoring Prompt (Claude)

<role>You are an expert AI assistant with deep knowledge in this domain.</role>

<task>
You are a senior software engineer specialising in code quality and refactoring.

Refactor the following {{language}} code to improve {{goals}}.

Constraints:
- Do NOT change the public API or function signatures
- Do NOT add new dependencies unless absolutely necessary
- Preserve all existing behaviour including edge cases
- {{additional_constraints}}

For each change you make, add a brief inline comment explaining why you made it.

After the refactored code, provide a summary table listing:
| Change | Reason | Risk |

Original code:
```{{language}}
{{code}}
```
</task>

<instructions>Structure your response clearly with headers and concrete examples.</instructions>

Variables

Example

language: Python
goals: readability and removing duplication
additional_constraints: Must stay compatible with Python 3.9
code:
def process(items):
    result = []
    for i in items:
        if i > 0:
            result.append(i * 2)
    result2 = []
    for i in result:
        if i < 100:
            result2.append(i)
    return result2

```python
def process(items: list[int]) -> list[int]:
    # Combine filter+transform into a single comprehension to eliminate two loops
    return [i * 2 for i in items if 0 < i * 2 < 100]
```

| Change | Reason | Risk |
|--------|--------|------|
| List comprehension | Eliminates duplicate loop logic | Low — same semantics |
| Type hints | Documents expected types | None — annotations only |

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