Explore - Internal Codebase Exploration

Meta-skill for exploring an internal codebase at varying depths. READ-ONLY workflow - no code changes.

Usage

/explore <depth> [options]

Question Flow (No Arguments)

If the user types just /explore with no or partial arguments, guide them through this question flow. Use AskUserQuestion for each phase.

Phase 0: Workflow Selection

question: "How would you like to explore?" header: "Explore" options:

• label: "Help me choose (Recommended)" description: "I'll ask questions to pick the right exploration depth"
• label: "Quick - fast overview" description: "Chain: tldr tree → tldr structure (~1 min)"
• label: "Deep - comprehensive analysis" description: "Chain: onboard → tldr → research → document (~5 min)"
• label: "Architecture - layers & dependencies" description: "Chain: tldr arch → call graph → layer mapping (~3 min)"

Mapping:

• "Help me choose" → Continue to Phase 1-4 questions

• "Quick" → Set depth=quick, skip to Phase 2 (scope)

• "Deep" → Set depth=deep, skip to Phase 2 (scope)

• "Architecture" → Set depth=architecture, skip to Phase 2 (scope)

If Answer is Unclear (via "Other"):

question: "I want to understand how deep you want to explore. Did you mean..." header: "Clarify" options:

• label: "Help me choose" description: "Not sure - guide me through questions"
• label: "Quick - fast overview" description: "Just want to see what's here"
• label: "Deep - comprehensive analysis" description: "Need thorough understanding"
• label: "Neither - let me explain differently" description: "I'll describe what I need"

Phase 1: Exploration Goal

question: "What are you trying to understand?" header: "Goal" options:

• label: "Get oriented in the codebase" description: "Quick overview of structure"
• label: "Understand how something works" description: "Deep dive into specific area"
• label: "Map the architecture" description: "Layers, dependencies, patterns"
• label: "Find where something is" description: "Locate specific code/functionality"

Mapping:

• "Get oriented" → quick depth

• "Understand how" → deep depth

• "Map architecture" → architecture depth

• "Find where" → quick with --focus

Phase 2: Scope

question: "What area should I focus on?" header: "Focus" options:

• label: "Entire codebase" description: "Explore everything"
• label: "Specific directory or module" description: "I'll specify the path"
• label: "Specific concept/feature" description: "e.g., 'authentication', 'API routes'"

If "Specific directory" or "Specific concept" → ask follow-up for the path/keyword.

Phase 3: Output Format

question: "What should I produce?" header: "Output" options:

• label: "Just tell me what you find" description: "Interactive summary in chat"
• label: "Create a documentation file" description: "Write to thoughts/shared/docs/"
• label: "Create handoff for implementation" description: "Prepare context for coding agent"

Mapping:

• "Documentation file" → --output doc

• "Handoff for implementation" → --output handoff

Phase 4: Entry Point (Architecture only)

If architecture depth selected:

question: "Where should I start the analysis?" header: "Entry point" options:

• label: "Auto-detect (main, cli, app)" description: "Find common entry points"
• label: "Specific function/file" description: "I'll specify the entry point"

Summary Before Execution

Based on your answers, I'll run:

Depth: deep Focus: "authentication" Output: handoff Path: src/

Proceed? [Yes / Adjust settings]

Depths

Depth Time What it does

quick

~1 min tldr-explorer only - fast structure overview

deep

~5 min onboard + tldr-explorer + research-codebase + write doc

architecture

~3 min tldr arch + call graph + layer mapping + circular dep detection

Options

Option Description Example

--focus "area"

Focus on specific area --focus "auth" , --focus "api"

--output handoff

Create handoff for next agent --output handoff

--output doc

Create documentation file --output doc

--entry "func"

Start from specific entry point --entry "main" , --entry "process_request"

Examples

Quick structure overview

/explore quick

Deep exploration focused on auth

/explore deep --focus "auth" --output doc

Architecture analysis from specific entry

/explore architecture --entry "cli" --output handoff

Quick focused exploration

/explore quick --focus "hooks"

Workflow Details

Quick Depth

Fast structure overview using tldr-explorer. Best for:

• Initial orientation

• Quick questions about structure

• Finding where things are

Steps:

• Run tldr tree for file structure

• Run tldr structure for codemaps

• If --focus provided, run tldr search for targeted results

• Return summary

Commands:

1. File tree

tldr tree ${PATH:-src/} --ext .py

2. Code structure

tldr structure ${PATH:-src/} --lang python

3. Focused search (if --focus provided)

tldr search "${FOCUS}" ${PATH:-src/}

Deep Depth

Comprehensive exploration with documentation output. Best for:

• First time in a codebase

• Preparing for major work

• Creating reference documentation

Steps:

• Check if onboarded (look for .claude/cache/tldr/ ), if not run onboard

• Run tldr-explorer for structure

• Spawn research-codebase agent for patterns

• Write findings to doc or handoff

Subprocess:

1. Onboard check

if [ ! -f .claude/cache/tldr/arch.json ]; then # Spawn onboard agent fi

2. Structure analysis

tldr structure src/ --lang python tldr calls src/

3. Research patterns (via scout agent)

Task: research-codebase → "Document existing patterns in ${FOCUS:-codebase}"

4. Write output

→ thoughts/shared/research/YYYY-MM-DD-explore-{focus}.md → OR thoughts/shared/handoffs/{session}/explore-{focus}.yaml

Architecture Depth

Architecture-focused analysis with layer detection. Best for:

• Understanding system boundaries

• Preparing for refactoring

• Identifying coupling issues

Steps:

• Run tldr arch for layer detection

• Run tldr calls for cross-file call graph

• Analyze entry/middle/leaf layers

• Detect circular dependencies

• Map architectural boundaries

Commands:

1. Architecture detection

tldr arch ${PATH:-src/}

Returns: entry_layer, middle_layer, leaf_layer, circular_deps

2. Call graph

tldr calls ${PATH:-src/}

Returns: edges, nodes

3. Impact analysis from entry point (if --entry provided)

tldr impact ${ENTRY} ${PATH:-src/} --depth 3

Output Structure:

layers: entry: [routes.py, cli.py, main.py] # Controllers/handlers middle: [services.py, auth.py] # Business logic leaf: [utils.py, helpers.py] # Utilities

call_graph: total_edges: 142 hot_paths: [process_request → validate → authorize]

circular_deps:

• [module_a, module_b] # A imports B, B imports A

boundaries:

• name: API layer files: [src/api/] calls_to: [src/services/]

Output Formats

--output doc

Creates: thoughts/shared/research/YYYY-MM-DD-explore-{focus}.md

date: {ISO timestamp} type: exploration depth: {quick|deep|architecture} focus: {focus area or "full"} commit: {git hash}

Codebase Exploration: {focus}

Summary

{High-level findings}

Structure

{File tree / codemaps}

Architecture

{Layer analysis - for architecture depth}

Key Components

{Important files and their roles}

Patterns Found

{Existing patterns - for deep depth}

References

• path/to/file.py:line - Description

--output handoff

Creates: thoughts/shared/handoffs/{session}/explore-{focus}.yaml

type: exploration ts: {ISO timestamp} depth: {quick|deep|architecture} focus: {focus area} commit: {git hash}

summary: {One-line summary of findings}

structure: entry_points: [{main.py}, {cli.py}] key_modules: [{auth.py}, {routes.py}] test_coverage: [{tests/}]

architecture: layers: entry: [{files}] middle: [{files}] leaf: [{files}] circular_deps: [{pairs}]

findings:

• {key finding with file:line}

next_steps:

• {Recommended action based on exploration}

refs:

• path: {file.py} role: {what it does}

Integration with /build

The explore skill is designed to feed into /build brownfield :

Step 1: Explore to understand

/explore architecture --output handoff

Step 2: Build with context from exploration

/build brownfield --from-handoff thoughts/shared/handoffs/session/explore-full.yaml

Implementation

When user invokes /explore <depth> [options] :

Parse Arguments

depth = args[0] # quick | deep | architecture focus = extract_option(args, "--focus") output = extract_option(args, "--output") # handoff | doc entry = extract_option(args, "--entry")

Execute Based on Depth

Quick:

Just tldr commands, no agents

tldr tree ${src_dir} --ext .py tldr structure ${src_dir} --lang python if [ -n "$focus" ]; then tldr search "$focus" ${src_dir} fi

Deep:

1. Check/run onboard

if [ ! -f .claude/cache/tldr/meta.json ]; then # Spawn onboard agent via Task tool fi

2. Structure

tldr structure src/ --lang python

3. Research (spawn scout agent)

Task tool with subagent_type: "scout"

Prompt: "Research patterns in ${focus:-codebase}"

4. Write output

→ doc or handoff based on --output

Architecture:

1. Arch detection

arch_output=$(tldr arch ${src_dir})

2. Call graph

calls_output=$(tldr calls ${src_dir})

3. Impact from entry (if provided)

if [ -n "$entry" ]; then impact_output=$(tldr impact $entry ${src_dir} --depth 3) fi

4. Synthesize and write output

Key Principles

• READ-ONLY - This skill never modifies code

• Uses scout, not Explore - Per project rules, scout (Sonnet) over Explore (Haiku)

• Token-efficient - Uses tldr commands (95% savings over raw reads)

• Outputs to shared locations - thoughts/shared/research/ or handoff directory

• Entry point to /build - Exploration handoffs feed into brownfield builds

Related Skills

Skill When to Use

tldr-explorer Direct tldr commands (used internally by explore)

tldr-code Specific analysis commands (cfg, dfg, slice)

onboard First-time project setup (used by deep depth)

research-codebase Pattern documentation (used by deep depth)

create_handoff Handoff format (used by --output handoff)

Troubleshooting

tldr not found:

Check if installed

which tldr

Install if missing

uv tool install llm-tldr

or: pip install llm-tldr

No Python files found:

Check language, adjust --lang

tldr structure src/ --lang typescript # or go, rust

Empty architecture output:

May need to specify src directory

tldr arch ./ # Current directory tldr arch src/ # Explicit src