Investigating Repository History

What it does

When your agent uses it

• Asking why code exists
• Whether a change is safe
• What PR introduced behavior
• Before editing API

Example prompts

• “/investigating-repository-history”

Requirements

• Python 3
• Compatibility (from SKILL.md): Designed for Claude Code, Codex, and similar coding agents. Requires a local git clone; bundled scripts require Python 3.9+, git, and authenticated GitHub CLI `gh` for GitHub PR evidence.
• Pre-approved tools (allowed-tools): Bash(git:*), Bash(gh:*), Bash(python3:*), Read, Grep

Workflow steps

6 steps, taken from the first numbered list in SKILL.md.

1. 1What code scope was inspected?
2. 2Which commits and PRs are relevant?
3. 3Which review comments or PR discussions explain intent?
4. 4What constraints, risks, rejected approaches, or tests were found?
5. 5Is the evidence strong, weak, contradictory, stale, truncated, or unknown?
6. 6How should the implementation plan change?

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit 4cfeb10. It shows what the files ask for, not the result of running them.

• Tool permissions

  Pre-approves these tools, so the agent can use them without asking each time:

  • Bash(git:*)
  • Bash(gh:*)
  • Bash(python3:*)
  • Read
  • Grep

  From allowed-tools in the SKILL.md frontmatter.

• Runs code

  Ships 3 files in scripts/ (Python), which the agent can run.

  Shell commands in SKILL.md call:

  • python3
  • git
  • gh

  From the folder's file list and the shell code blocks in SKILL.md.

• Network

  No URLs in SKILL.md. Its commands use git and gh, which can reach the network depending on how they are called.

  From URLs in SKILL.md, links to its own repository left out.

• Credentials

  Names no API keys, tokens, secrets or passwords.

  From names ending in _API_KEY, _TOKEN, _SECRET, _KEY or _PASSWORD in SKILL.md.

• Compatibility

  Designed for Claude Code, Codex, and similar coding agents. Requires a local git clone; bundled scripts require Python 3.9+, git, and authenticated GitHub CLI `gh` for GitHub PR evidence.

  From compatibility in the SKILL.md frontmatter.

Context cost

Investigating Repository History loads about 2k tokens when it runs, and up to ~5.2k if it reads all its reference files. Until then it costs about 104 tokens; SKILL.md has 757 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it

~104

When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches

~2k

With references · SKILL.md plus every file in references/, read only if the agent opens them

~5.2k

Estimates: characters ÷ 4, the usual rule of thumb; real counts depend on the model's tokenizer. Scripts and assets cost tokens only if the agent reads them.

Safety

Automated static check — not a guarantee. Review scripts before installing. It scans the text of SKILL.md for risky patterns (piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files, hidden Unicode, destructive commands); the scripts in this folder are not scanned.

SKILL.md

The full file from CodeAlive-AI/ai-driven-development at commit 4cfeb10, republished under its MIT licence (© CodeAlive-AI). 757 words, ~1,952 tokens.

name

investigating-repository-history

description

Investigate GitHub repository history before risky code changes using git blame/log, GitHub PRs, review comments, squash/rebase/cherry-pick/rename heuristics, and cited evidence. Use when asking why code exists, whether a change is safe, what PR introduced behavior, or before editing API, compatibility, security, concurrency, persistence, migration, or performance-sensitive code.

allowed-tools

Bash(git:*), Bash(gh:*), Bash(python3:*), Read, Grep

compatibility

Designed for Claude Code, Codex, and similar coding agents. Requires a local git clone; bundled scripts require Python 3.9+, git, and authenticated GitHub CLI `gh` for GitHub PR evidence.

license

MIT

metadata.version

1.0.0

metadata.methodology

Provenance Mesh

python3 scripts/history_context.py inspect \
  --repo-dir /path/to/repo \
  --path path/to/file.ext \
  --start 120 --end 160 \
  --question "Can I remove this constraint?" \
  --format markdown

python3 scripts/history_context.py inspect \
  --repo-dir /path/to/repo \
  --path path/to/file.ext \
  --symbol SymbolOrFunctionName \
  --question "Why does this behavior exist?" \
  --format markdown

python3 scripts/history_context.py inspect \
  --repo-dir /path/to/repo \
  --path path/to/file.ext \
  --start 120 --end 160 \
  --symbol SymbolOrFunctionName \
  --question "What PR introduced this behavior?" \
  --format json \
  --output history-context.json

## History note

Scope inspected: [paths, lines, symbols]

Relevant evidence:
- PR #[n] — [relation: exact/squash-like/rename-lineage/search], [why relevant], [confidence]
- Commit [sha] — [what it changed], [relation]
- Review/comment — [constraint or concern]

Decision atoms:
- [constraint/risk/rejected approach/test requirement] — [claim] — evidence: [PR/comment/commit]

Risk: [low|medium|high|unknown]
Confidence: [0.00-1.00]
Unknowns/truncation: [none or list]
Plan impact: [proceed|modify plan|ask human|do not change]

© CodeAlive-AI, MIT. Rendered from Markdown: HTML in the file is shown as text, images as links, and headings moved down two levels. Raw file

Files

SKILL.md and 14 other files (scripts, references, assets) in skills/investigating-repository-history of CodeAlive-AI/ai-driven-development.

• SKILL.md
• LICENSE
• README.md
• agents/openai.yaml
• assets/history-note-template.md
• references/ANOMALIES.md
• references/DECISION_ATOMS.md
• references/EVALUATION.md
• references/GH_CLI.md
• references/OUTPUT_SCHEMA.md
• scripts/compact_pr.py
• scripts/history_context.py
• scripts/validate_skill.py
• tests/__init__.py
• tests/test_skill.py

Open the folder on GitHubat commit 4cfeb10