DEV Community

Dakota Huang profile picture

Dakota Huang

Building things with Python, Go, and JavaScript. Love automating everything.

Location Seattle, WA Joined Joined on 
Don't Truncate Chat: Token-Aware Context Compressor

Don't Truncate Chat: Token-Aware Context Compressor

Comments
5 min read
Capture Three Channels, Then Change One Concern

Capture Three Channels, Then Change One Concern

Comments
7 min read
Refactor One Function After Characterization Holds

Refactor One Function After Characterization Holds

Comments
7 min read
Snapshot Hidden Process State Before You Split a God Module

Snapshot Hidden Process State Before You Split a God Module

Comments
6 min read
Pin Mixed Outputs Before You Split a God Module

Pin Mixed Outputs Before You Split a God Module

Comments
6 min read
Golden-Master a Tangled Script Before the Cleanup Diff

Golden-Master a Tangled Script Before the Cleanup Diff

Comments
7 min read
Snapshot File Deltas Before You Extract Glue

Snapshot File Deltas Before You Extract Glue

Comments
7 min read
Treat a Tangled File as a Black Box First

Treat a Tangled File as a Black Box First

Comments
7 min read
Lock Report Bytes Before You Extract One Function

Lock Report Bytes Before You Extract One Function

Comments
7 min read
Characterize the Job Envelope Before You Touch Helpers

Characterize the Job Envelope Before You Touch Helpers

Comments
8 min read
Characterize the Job Envelope Before You Touch Helpers

Characterize the Job Envelope Before You Touch Helpers

Comments
8 min read
Record Four CLI Channels Before You Change One Flag

Record Four CLI Channels Before You Change One Flag

Comments
8 min read
Pin Package Output Before You Change One Branch

Pin Package Output Before You Change One Branch

Comments
6 min read
Freeze the Repo Seam Before You Cut a Single File

Freeze the Repo Seam Before You Cut a Single File

Comments
7 min read
Edit Once: Freeze a Messy Module at the Process Boundary

Edit Once: Freeze a Messy Module at the Process Boundary

Comments
7 min read
The Smallest Safe Change: Refactor a Messy Function One Step at a Time

The Smallest Safe Change: Refactor a Messy Function One Step at a Time

Comments
4 min read
Refactor on a Budget: Why Your Diff Size Should Be a Hard Limit

Refactor on a Budget: Why Your Diff Size Should Be a Hard Limit

Comments
4 min read
The Smallest Safe Change: A Refactor Budget for Messy Repos

The Smallest Safe Change: A Refactor Budget for Messy Repos

Comments
4 min read
The Refactor Preflight: 20 Minutes That Decide Your Outcome

The Refactor Preflight: 20 Minutes That Decide Your Outcome

Comments
3 min read
Lock Down a Legacy Function in 30 Minutes: AI Tests, Mutation Checks, and a Free Server

Lock Down a Legacy Function in 30 Minutes: AI Tests, Mutation Checks, and a Free Server

Comments
4 min read
The Impact Radius: Refactor Around Every Caller You Can't See

The Impact Radius: Refactor Around Every Caller You Can't See

Comments
5 min read
Characterization Tests Can Be Fake. Mutation Testing Proves They Work.

Characterization Tests Can Be Fake. Mutation Testing Proves They Work.

Comments
3 min read
When Types Can't Save You: Behavior Contracts for Messy Functions

When Types Can't Save You: Behavior Contracts for Messy Functions

Comments
4 min read
Pin the Mess: Characterization Tests Before You Refactor a Legacy Function

Pin the Mess: Characterization Tests Before You Refactor a Legacy Function

Comments
4 min read
Zero-Cost Refactor Safety: AI Tests on a Free Server

Zero-Cost Refactor Safety: AI Tests on a Free Server

Comments
3 min read
The Smallest Safe Change: A Branch-Level Refactor Workflow for Messy Repos

The Smallest Safe Change: A Branch-Level Refactor Workflow for Messy Repos

Comments
5 min read
Your Cache Header Is a Contract. Characterize It Before You Refactor

Your Cache Header Is a Contract. Characterize It Before You Refactor

Comments
4 min read
Your Refactor Needs an Oracle: Characterization Tests vs. AI Diffs

Your Refactor Needs an Oracle: Characterization Tests vs. AI Diffs

1
Comments
3 min read
Your Refactor Is a Guess Until You Diff the Public Surface

Your Refactor Is a Guess Until You Diff the Public Surface

Comments 1
4 min read
You Drafted the Patch. Now Prove It Changed Nothing.

You Drafted the Patch. Now Prove It Changed Nothing.

Comments
6 min read
Audit AI-Generated Characterization Tests Before You Refactor

Audit AI-Generated Characterization Tests Before You Refactor

Comments
4 min read
Your Clean Diff May Lie: Capture Behavior Before You Approve

Your Clean Diff May Lie: Capture Behavior Before You Approve

Comments
5 min read
Differential Characterization: The Only Refactor Safety Net for Messy JSON Normalizers

Differential Characterization: The Only Refactor Safety Net for Messy JSON Normalizers

Comments
3 min read
Free AI Tokens and a Free Server Are Enough for a Refactor Safety Net

Free AI Tokens and a Free Server Are Enough for a Refactor Safety Net

Comments
3 min read
Smoke Tests Should Run Themselves: A Free Model and Free Server Workflow

Smoke Tests Should Run Themselves: A Free Model and Free Server Workflow

Comments
5 min read
The Smallest Safe Refactor: Lock Behavior, Then Change One Thing

The Smallest Safe Refactor: Lock Behavior, Then Change One Thing

Comments
4 min read
One Function, One Test, One Commit: The Smallest Safe Refactor

One Function, One Test, One Commit: The Smallest Safe Refactor

Comments
3 min read
The Smallest Safe Change: A Characterization-First Workflow for Messy Repos

The Smallest Safe Change: A Characterization-First Workflow for Messy Repos

Comments
4 min read
From Characterization Tests to Minimal Safe Refactors: A Free-Resource Workflow

From Characterization Tests to Minimal Safe Refactors: A Free-Resource Workflow

Comments
3 min read
Characterize, Minify, Refactor: A Safe Path Through a Messy Codebase

Characterize, Minify, Refactor: A Safe Path Through a Messy Codebase

Comments
4 min read
You're the Reviewer Now. Who Reviews Your Verdict?

You're the Reviewer Now. Who Reviews Your Verdict?

Comments
3 min read
The Smallest Safe Change: Capture Behavior, Refactor, Ship

The Smallest Safe Change: Capture Behavior, Refactor, Ship

Comments
4 min read
Characterization Tests Need a Home: Run Them on a Free Server

Characterization Tests Need a Home: Run Them on a Free Server

Comments
3 min read
Real API Traffic Is Your Missing Test Data: A Free-Server Capture Workflow

Real API Traffic Is Your Missing Test Data: A Free-Server Capture Workflow

Comments
6 min read
Your AI Refactor Looks Right: Verify It With a Behavior Fingerprint

Your AI Refactor Looks Right: Verify It With a Behavior Fingerprint

Comments
4 min read
Characterization-First Refactoring: Lock the Mess, Then Fix It

Characterization-First Refactoring: Lock the Mess, Then Fix It

Comments
4 min read
Diff the AI's Test Draft Before You Adopt It

Diff the AI's Test Draft Before You Adopt It

Comments
5 min read
The AI Wrote the Diff. The Tests Wrote the Verdict.

The AI Wrote the Diff. The Tests Wrote the Verdict.

Comments
4 min read
A Refactor Without a Baseline Is a Trust Fall

A Refactor Without a Baseline Is a Trust Fall

Comments
3 min read
The Change Budget: A Decision Table for Messy Repo Refactors

The Change Budget: A Decision Table for Messy Repo Refactors

Comments
4 min read
Differential Testing Is the Proof Your Extraction Is Missing

Differential Testing Is the Proof Your Extraction Is Missing

Comments
5 min read
The Golden-File Refactor Loop: Record, Verify, Move, Commit

The Golden-File Refactor Loop: Record, Verify, Move, Commit

Comments
5 min read
A Golden File Is Not a Test: The Byte-Level Refactor Safety Net

A Golden File Is Not a Test: The Byte-Level Refactor Safety Net

Comments
5 min read
The Move-Only Contract: A Three-Step Refactor for a Messy Module

The Move-Only Contract: A Three-Step Refactor for a Messy Module

Comments
5 min read
Freeze First, Refactor Second: Snapshotting a Messy Order Function

Freeze First, Refactor Second: Snapshotting a Messy Order Function

Comments
5 min read
The Smallest Safe Change: Characterize the Mess, Then Extract the Seam

The Smallest Safe Change: Characterize the Mess, Then Extract the Seam

Comments
4 min read
The Diff Budget: Four Checks Before Merging an AI-Generated Refactor

The Diff Budget: Four Checks Before Merging an AI-Generated Refactor

Comments
4 min read
A Refactor Is Two Commits: Lock the Behavior, Then Edit the Body

A Refactor Is Two Commits: Lock the Behavior, Then Edit the Body

Comments
4 min read
The Reviewer Is the Untested Component: A Three-Layer Gate for AI Refactors

The Reviewer Is the Untested Component: A Three-Layer Gate for AI Refactors

Comments
5 min read
Fan-In Is the Refactor Safety Signal You're Ignoring

Fan-In Is the Refactor Safety Signal You're Ignoring

Comments 1
5 min read
loading...