codebase-domain-map
Codebase Domain Map
Overview
A repo-local, regeneratable snapshot of "what lives where" — two small files under .claude/project-snapshot/ that give domain/folder-level orientation in one read, instead of re-deriving the module map with find/grep every time. Read it first; it narrows where to look, then use normal search tools inside that narrowed scope for the actual line-level answer.
Applies to every repository you work in — not just ones where .claude/project-snapshot/ already exists, and independent of whatever any single project's own CLAUDE.md/rules happen to say about a "project snapshot." A project's own rules may instruct reading its own already-generated snapshot by that name — that project-local instruction is one instance of this general, portable technique, not the whole of it. This skill is a different, standing thing: it applies in any repository, including ones with no such rule at all. If the snapshot is missing in the current repo, the correct move is to generate it (Setup below), never to skip the technique because no project-local rule told you to use it here.
Red Flags — Do Not Skip
| Thought | Reality |
|---|---|
| "This project has a rule about a 'project snapshot' for a different repo, so that concept doesn't apply here" | That rule and this skill are not the same thing — this skill is a portable technique usable in any repo, with or without a matching project rule. Don't let a same-sounding project rule stand in for checking whether this skill applies |
"No .claude/project-snapshot/ here, so I can't use this" |
Missing means generate it, not skip it — that's what the bundled script is for |
| "This is someone else's/an unfamiliar repo, not mine" | Unfamiliar is exactly the case this technique is for — familiarity is not a prerequisite |
| "It's faster to just grep now" | The setup is a single script run; skipping it to grep blind is the slower path on anything past a handful of files, and it's the default a fresh agent reaches for anyway — that's the failure this skill exists to prevent |
What it narrows and what it doesn't: domain/app/folder granularity only — not line- or symbol-level results. After the snapshot points at a folder, still grep/read inside it for the actual content.