Learn this project
Agent skill for orienting agents with a codebase
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What its author says it does
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Provides fast, evidence-backed repository triage for unfamiliar codebases and produces a summary of purpose, architecture, tech stack, workflows, conventions, and key files without overstating certainty. Use when the task involves a repo overview, architecture summary, onboarding context, or quick identification of a repository's main components and capabilities.
The file declares its own license as Apache-2.0. That is the author’s claim about this one file, and it is not the same thing as the license GitHub reports for the repository, which is listed with the other numbers below.
SKILL.md
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Learn This Project
This skill helps an agent learn an unfamiliar repository quickly and report only what is supported by evidence in the repo.
The goal is not to read everything. The goal is to produce a reliable working model of the project, identify the key files that support that model, and stay explicit about uncertainty.
When to Use
Use this skill when:
- a task starts in an unfamiliar repository
- the user asks for a repo overview, architecture summary, or onboarding help
- you need to identify conventions before making changes
- you need a quick triage pass before deeper implementation or review work
Do not use this skill as a substitute for task-specific investigation once the relevant subsystem is already known.
Core Objectives
- Identify the repository's likely purpose, audience, and main capabilities.
- Map the major components, boundaries, and execution flow.
- Capture the tech stack, workflows, and engineering conventions that matter for follow-on work.
- Separate direct evidence from inference and avoid false certainty.
- Call out ambiguity or insufficient evidence instead of guessing.
Working Rules
- Prefer primary artifacts such as code, config, tests, manifests, workflows, and runtime entrypoints over prose docs alone.
- Treat a fast repo triage as intentionally partial unless you actually inspected the repo broadly.
- Cite concrete files whenever they materially support a claim.
- If the repository is large, sample deliberately instead of wandering.
- If the evidence is weak, say so plainly.
How to Learn the Repo
Start broad, then narrow:
- Inspect the top-level repository shape.
- Read project framing such as
README*, manifests,Makefile, and CI. - Confirm the implementation surface through entrypoints, package boundaries, service wiring, or exported APIs.
- Inspect configuration, integrations, and quality signals.
- Summarize conventions and remaining uncertainties.
For the detailed workflow, sampling strategy, and ambiguity rules, load:
references/WORKFLOW.mdfor the step-by-step repo-triage processreferences/EVIDENCE.mdfor confidence levels, evidence standards, and insufficient-evidence handling
Output
Produce a concise report that covers:
- project summary
- tech stack and tooling
- architecture and execution model
- conventions and quality signals
- ambiguities and gaps
- confidence notes
Use the output template in assets/report-template.md when you need a concrete
response shape. Load it before writing the final report if the user wants a
structured project summary or if the repo is complex enough that a fixed format
improves clarity.
For more output guidance, load:
references/OUTPUT.mdfor section expectations and writing rulesassets/report-template.mdfor a fill-in template
Loading Guidance
Do not load every supporting file by default.
- Load
references/WORKFLOW.mdwhen you are actively exploring a repository. - Load
references/EVIDENCE.mdwhen the repo is ambiguous, large, stale, or lightly documented. - Load
references/OUTPUT.mdandassets/report-template.mdwhen preparing the final summary for the user.
Success Criteria
The skill is successful when the final report:
- gives a useful working model of the repository
- distinguishes evidence from inference
- references the files that matter most
- avoids invented details
- tells the reader what is still unclear