Understand

Install

npx -y skills add vasu-devs/Forge --skill understand

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

1 stars1 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.

What its author says it does

Copied from the file, not written here

Build an accurate mental map of unfamiliar code before changing it. Use when starting work in a codebase or area you don't know well, before editing code whose ripple effects you can't predict, or when the user asks how something works or where something lives.

SKILL.md

4.7 KB, as published. Nobody here has run it

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Understand before you touch

Editing code you haven't mapped is the fastest route to breakage. Spend a little to orient first, then change with confidence. The goal is a short, accurate map in the project's own vocabulary — not a file dump.

1. Pick the cheapest accurate lens

If CodeGraph MCP tools are available (codegraph_explore, codegraph_search, codegraph_callers, codegraph_impact — present when /codegraph-here has been activated for this repo): prefer codegraph_explore for "how does X work / how does X reach Y" and codegraph_impact before changing a symbol. One call replaces many grep/read round-trips and follows dynamic-dispatch hops grep can't.
Else use forge:graph — forge's always-on, zero-setup live code map. node ~/.claude/skills/forge/scripts/graph.js map for hotspots + module layout, neighbors <file> / impact <file> for blast radius. One call beats grepping around.
Then Grep/Glob for entry points and definitions and Read only the files on the relevant path — don't read the whole tree. (If forge:graph is unavailable, approximate fan-in by grepping a symbol's definition name for its call sites.)
Read the tests and the types/interfaces first. A module's tests state its contract (and the repo's vocabulary) more densely than its implementation; type/interface signatures map the shape faster than reading call sites. Start there, then drop into bodies only as needed.

2. Iterative retrieval — learn the repo's words

The codebase rarely uses your words. Search by the obvious term; if it comes back empty, that's a signal, not a dead end:

Search the concept ("rate limit").
Empty? Find what this repo calls it (skim a nearby module, a config, a test) — maybe it's "throttle" or "quota".
Re-search with the repo's term. Repeat up to ~3 cycles. After 3 empty cycles, stop and ask the user for the in-repo term (or state plainly that the concept may not exist here) — don't keep guessing.

Adopt the repo's vocabulary in everything you write afterward — it makes your map, plans, and PRs legible to the team.

3. Produce the map, then stop

Before editing, state a compact map:

Entry points — where execution starts for this area.
Key modules — the 3-6 that matter, one line each, in the project's vocabulary.
The path — the call/data flow relevant to the task (A → B → C).
Hotspots — the most complex / highest-fan-in pieces you'll be near (handle with extra care).

Validate the map before trusting it: trace one concrete execution end-to-end (a real entry point → the site you'll change) and confirm each hop actually exists in the code. An untraced map is a guess.

If you're lost, zoom out one layer: ask for a map of the relevant modules and their callers rather than diving deeper into one file.

When to skip

A localized edit in code you already understand doesn't need a mapping pass. This is for unfamiliar territory or changes with non-obvious blast radius. Pair with forge:architect (designing new shape) or forge:debug (tracing a failure).