understand-codebase

Installation
SKILL.md

Understand Codebase

Use when navigating code, tracing how functions/classes connect, finding where symbols are defined or called, or answering "how does this work" questions about a codebase.

Tool Selection

Need Tool
Structural patterns (functions, classes, syntax, call flows) sg (ast-grep)
Text patterns (strings, comments, names) rg (ripgrep)
File discovery by name/extension fd

Choose ripgrep (rg) for:

  • Text-based searches (strings, comments, variable names)
  • Fast, simple pattern matching across many files
  • When exact code structure doesn't matter
  • Regex searches with context lines
  • Searching binary files or non-code text
Related skills
Installs
13
Repository
vinta/hal-9000
GitHub Stars
114
First Seen
Jan 21, 2026