Code Mirage

Definitions

Something in the codebase that looks simple, clean, or complete from a distance but turns out to be much less real on close inspection. In engineering slang, code mirages trick teams into underestimating risk or effort.
In plain English: An illusion of simplicity or stability in the code that disappears on closer inspection.
Example: "The public API looked stable, but that was a code mirage hiding undocumented behavior and per-customer exceptions behind the scenes."