Work Explore

Explore a Codebase

Goal

Understand a codebase BEFORE modifying it. Never code without having explored.

Instructions

1. Overview (5 min)

# Project structure
ls -la
tree -L 2 -I 'node_modules|.git|dist|build' | head -40

# Configuration
cat package.json | head -30
cat README.md | head -50

Questions to answer:

• Project type (frontend, backend, fullstack, lib)?
• Tech stack (languages, frameworks)?
• How to run the project?

2. Architecture (10 min)

Identify the layers:

• Entry points (main, index, app)
• Routes / Controllers
• Services / Business logic
• Data access / Models
• Utilities

Patterns to spot:

• Architecture (MVC, Clean, Hexagonal)
• State management
• Error handling
• Configuration

3. Data flow

Trace a complete flow:

Request → Validation → Processing → DB → Response

4. Conventions

• Code style (linter config)
• Naming (camelCase, snake_case)
• Test structure
• Commit format

Expected output

## Project summary

**Type**: [frontend/backend/fullstack]
**Stack**: [languages and frameworks]
**Architecture**: [main pattern]

## Key structure
- `/src/xxx` - [description]
- `/src/yyy` - [description]

## Entry points
- `file.ts:line` - [role]

## Identified conventions
- [Convention 1]
- [Convention 2]

## Sensitive areas
- [Area 1] - [why]

Rules

• ALWAYS explore before modifying
• Do not assume — verify in the code
• Note patterns to reuse them

Source & license

This open-source skill is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code.

• Author: christopherlouet
• Source: christopherlouet/claude-base
• License: MIT
• Homepage: https://christopherlouet.github.io/claude-base/

Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above.