How to de-slop an AI-generated codebase

NKNeha Kulkarni·Sep 2, 2026·8 min read

AI made it cheap to write code. It did not make it cheap to maintain. Here’s the cleanup playbook we use with customers.

1. Find the duplicates

Search for near-identical components. Consolidate them into your design system and delete the rest.

Colors, spacing and font sizes should come from tokens. A simple lint rule catches most regressions.

Index your components so future AI output reuses them. Add CI checks for bundle size and accessibility.

npx nexora index --components src/components

Let agents handle small refactors weekly, reviewed like any other PR.

We surveyed 1,200 engineering leaders about how AI is really changing the way they build software.

It isn’t the model. It’s the context you give it — and who else can pick up the work.

We tested every major approach so you don’t have to. Here is what survives contact with a real codebase.