Onboard repo

Skill frohsinnllc/claude-code-onboard-repo/onboard-repo

Use at the start of work in an unfamiliar repository — produces a fast, accurate mental model (stack, architecture, entry points, conventions, risks) before any code changes.From its SKILL.md

Install

npx -y skills add frohsinnllc/claude-code-onboard-repo --skill onboard-repo

Assembled from the repository path, not quoted from the project. Check it against their README if it does not work.

One thing to look at

0 stars0 stars. Stars are a popularity signal and not a quality one, but at this level it is likely that nobody has read this closely except its author, and you would be relying on your own review.

SKILL.md

1.4 KB, 327 tokens by cl100k_base, as published. Nobody here has run it

Onboard a repository

Goal: in one pass, understand a repo well enough to make safe changes — without reading every file.

Steps

Shape. Read README*, CLAUDE.md/AGENTS.md, package.json/pyproject.toml/go.mod, and any /docs. Note stack, scripts, and stated conventions.
Entry points. Find where execution starts (main, server.*, index.*, CLI bin, route registration). Trace one request/command end to end.
Map layers. Identify the boundaries: entry → routing/handlers → business logic → storage/external. Write them down as a 5-line map.
Conventions. Skim 3–4 representative source files. Capture naming, error handling, test style, and module organization — match these later.
Risks. Note the fragile/critical paths (payments, auth, data writes, deploys) and anything marked TODO/FIXME/HACK.
Verify how. Find the test/build/lint commands and which one is the smallest relevant gate for a typical change.

Output

Produce a short brief:

STACK: ...
RUN/TEST/BUILD: ...
ARCHITECTURE (5 lines): ...
CONVENTIONS: ...
DO-NOT-TOUCH / ASK-FIRST: ...
SMALLEST GATE: ...

Stop here. Do not change code during onboarding — the brief is the deliverable.

What ships with it

Read from the repository

Just SKILL.md. No reference files, no scripts.