Refactoring means changing structure without changing behaviour. AI is fast at the first part and careless about the second.
Direct answer
To refactor with AI safely, start with passing tests, commit, ask for one small change at a time, run the tests after each step and review the diff. If you do not have tests, write them first or refactor by hand in tiny steps.
A safe workflow
- Run tests and commit the current state.
- State the goal: "Extract this logic into a function, no behaviour changes."
- Limit scope: one file or one function.
- Review the diff.
- Run tests and lint.
- Commit and repeat.
Good refactoring tasks
- Renaming for clarity.
- Extracting repeated code.
- Splitting large functions.
- Removing dead code.
When not to
- Without tests.
- Right before a release.
- When the goal is unclear.
Where Teyro fits
Teyro's Working with AI Coding Agents course turns this into short lessons you can play in a few minutes a day. It has 60 lessons, and you can start free.
The bottom line
Small steps, tests after each, diff reviews always.
