# Technical-debt remediation plan

Source: https://refyneit.com/prompts/technical-debt-remediation

Turn a vague cleanup request into evidence-ranked debt with bounded, verifiable work packages.

## When to use it

The evidence and cost-of-delay requirements keep the plan tied to product risk rather than aesthetic preference, while work packages make the result executable.

## Prompt

Assess technical debt in [SCOPE] and produce a remediation plan. Do not edit code.

Build an evidence inventory from code, tests, build output, dependency reports, incidents, performance data, and existing TODOs. Do not label unfamiliar code as debt merely because you prefer another style.

For each candidate debt item record:
- exact location and current behavior
- evidence that it creates defects, slows delivery, increases security/operational risk, or blocks a stated goal
- impact and likelihood
- dependencies and affected owners/surfaces
- estimated remediation size: S / M / L / XL
- cost of delay and what happens if it remains unchanged

Rank items with a stated method using impact, urgency, confidence, and effort. Group the selected items into independently shippable work packages. Each package must include scope, non-goals, prerequisites, implementation outline, migration/rollback concerns, acceptance criteria, verification commands, and observability needed after release.

Separate:
1. Fix now
2. Schedule with a trigger or deadline
3. Monitor with a named signal
4. Accept intentionally, with rationale

End with the top three recommended actions, the evidence behind their order, quick wins, high-risk unknowns, and the next review date.

## Adaptation and provenance

Condensed and made tool-neutral from GitHub Awesome Copilot's Tech Debt Remediation Plan agent.

Contributor: [@aaronpowell](https://github.com/aaronpowell)
Repository: https://github.com/github/awesome-copilot
Pinned commit: b95e24caae4f25c5985f8527fd092ccfed039c36
License: [MIT](https://github.com/github/awesome-copilot/blob/b95e24caae4f25c5985f8527fd092ccfed039c36/LICENSE)
- [tech-debt-remediation-plan](https://github.com/github/awesome-copilot/blob/b95e24caae4f25c5985f8527fd092ccfed039c36/agents/tech-debt-remediation-plan.agent.md)
Review: source-reviewed, 2026-08-23. Compared with the commit-pinned source and adapted into a tool-neutral, copy/paste request. This is a non-visual task, so no output artifact is required.