Codebase Onboarding

Systematically analyze unfamiliar codebases to produce actionable onboarding artifacts.

When to Use

• Joining a new project or team
• Onboarding to an unfamiliar codebase
• Generating project documentation for new contributors
• Creating a starter CLAUDE.md for AI-assisted development

Phases

Phase 1: Reconnaissance

Gather initial signals without reading every file:

• Detect package manifests and frameworks
• Identify entry points and directory structure
• Find config files and test setup