[garylauchina]

Fair point – 30k LOC by itself isn’t “complex” in any absolute sense. In my case the difficulty isn’t the raw size, it’s:

long‑running experiments and measurement contracts that span many modules,

an evolving research agenda (I’m at V12 now, with quite a few pivots along the way),

and the fact that I’m doing all the design + implementation solo.

I agree that when something feels complex at this scale, it’s often a sign the structure needs to be simplified and unified. A big part of what I use the “architect” agent for is exactly that: forcing myself to rewrite and consolidate interfaces instead of just piling on more code.

[nunobrito]

Yes, you got it.

The structure tends to become "simpler" as it matures and you realize which parts can be made reusable (reality tends to be different from plans) and which "laws" you enforce across the project structure to ensure the architecture fits the goal and not the other way around.

Good luck and keep up sharing your progress. Very good article.