Official agent skill

Repo Story Time

by github in github/awesome-copilot

Generate a comprehensive repository summary and narrative story from commit history

OfficialMITAuto-check passedDevelopment

Install Repo Story Time

skills CLI
$ npx skills add github/awesome-copilot --skill repo-story-time -a claude-code

Project install by default; add -g for ~/.claude/skills/.

GitHub CLI
$ gh skill install github/awesome-copilot repo-story-time --agent claude-code

Project scope by default; add --scope user for a personal install. Needs GitHub CLI 2.90.0 or later (public preview).

Manual copy
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/github/awesome-copilot.git skills-src && mkdir -p .claude/skills && cp -r skills-src/skills/repo-story-time .claude/skills/repo-story-time && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.claude/skills/ instead of .claude/skills for a personal install. The folder must contain SKILL.md.

Claude Code skills documentation · loads skills from .claude/skills/

Facts

Skill name
repo-story-time
GitHub stars
40k
Used in
1 other repo
Token cost
~1.7k tokens
SKILL.md length
678 words
Files
1
Skills in repo
417
Repo updated
First seen
Licence
MIT

At a glance

Generate a comprehensive repository summary and narrative story from commit history

  • Works in 4 steps: Repository Exploration → Technical Deep Dive → Commit History Analysis → …
  • Development work in your project
  • SKILL.md covers Role, Task, Methodology and Output Format, plus 3 more sections
  • Calls git

What it does

Repo Story Time is an agent skill from github/awesome-copilot, published by the product's own GitHub organization. Generate a comprehensive repository summary and narrative story from commit history

Its SKILL.md is about 1.7k tokens, which your agent loads only when the skill is triggered. It is a single SKILL.md file with no bundled scripts.

It sits in Development. It works with Git. The repository describes itself as: Community-contributed instructions, agents, skills, and configurations to help you make the most of GitHub Copilot. The licence is MIT.

When your agent uses it

  • Development work in your project

Example prompts

  • “/repo-story-time”

Workflow steps

4 steps, taken from the step headings in SKILL.md.

  1. Repository Exploration
  2. Technical Deep Dive
  3. Commit History Analysis
  4. Pattern Recognition

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit 82701c2. It shows what the files ask for, not the result of running them.

  • Tool permissions

    Pre-approves nothing: there is no allowed-tools line, so your agent's usual permission prompts apply.

    From allowed-tools in the SKILL.md frontmatter.

  • Runs code

    Shell commands in SKILL.md call:

    • git

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

  • Network

    No URLs in SKILL.md. Its commands use git, 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.

Context cost

Repo Story Time loads about 1.7k tokens when it runs. Until then it costs about 25 tokens; SKILL.md has 678 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it
~25
When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches
~1.7k

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

Auto-check passed

The automated check found no risky patterns in SKILL.md.

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); files beside SKILL.md are not scanned.

SKILL.md

The full file from github/awesome-copilot at commit 82701c2, republished under its MIT licence (© github). 678 words, ~1,669 tokens.

Download SKILL.mdSave it as .claude/skills/repo-story-time/SKILL.md (or your agent's skills folder).
name
repo-story-time
description
Generate a comprehensive repository summary and narrative story from commit history

Role

You're a senior technical analyst and storyteller with expertise in repository archaeology, code pattern analysis, and narrative synthesis. Your mission is to transform raw repository data into compelling technical narratives that reveal the human stories behind the code.

Task

Transform any repository into a comprehensive analysis with two deliverables:

  1. REPOSITORY_SUMMARY.md - Technical architecture and purpose overview
  2. THE_STORY_OF_THIS_REPO.md - Narrative story from commit history analysis

CRITICAL: You must CREATE and WRITE these files with complete markdown content. Do NOT output the markdown content in the chat - use the editFiles tool to create the actual files in the repository root directory.

Methodology

Phase 1: Repository Exploration

EXECUTE these commands immediately to understand the repository structure and purpose:

  1. Get repository overview by running: Get-ChildItem -Recurse -Include "*.md","*.json","*.yaml","*.yml" | Select-Object -First 20 | Select-Object Name, DirectoryName

  2. Understand project structure by running: Get-ChildItem -Recurse -Directory | Where-Object {$_.Name -notmatch "(node_modules|\.git|bin|obj)"} | Select-Object -First 30 | Format-Table Name, FullName

After executing these commands, use semantic search to understand key concepts and technologies. Look for:

  • Configuration files (package.json, pom.xml, requirements.txt, etc.)
  • README files and documentation
  • Main source directories
  • Test directories
  • Build/deployment configurations
Phase 2: Technical Deep Dive

Create comprehensive technical inventory:

  • Purpose: What problem does this repository solve?
  • Architecture: How is the code organized?
  • Technologies: What languages, frameworks, and tools are used?
  • Key Components: What are the main modules/services/features?
  • Data Flow: How does information move through the system?
Phase 3: Commit History Analysis

EXECUTE these git commands systematically to understand repository evolution:

Step 1: Basic Statistics - Run these commands to get repository metrics:

  • git rev-list --all --count (total commit count)
  • (git log --oneline --since="1 year ago").Count (commits in last year)

Step 2: Contributor Analysis - Run this command:

  • git shortlog -sn --since="1 year ago" | Select-Object -First 20

Step 3: Activity Patterns - Run this command:

  • git log --since="1 year ago" --format="%ai" | ForEach-Object { $_.Substring(0,7) } | Group-Object | Sort-Object Count -Descending | Select-Object -First 12

Step 4: Change Pattern Analysis - Run these commands:

  • git log --since="1 year ago" --oneline --grep="feat|fix|update|add|remove" | Select-Object -First 50
  • git log --since="1 year ago" --name-only --oneline | Where-Object { $_ -notmatch "^[a-f0-9]" } | Group-Object | Sort-Object Count -Descending | Select-Object -First 20

Step 5: Collaboration Patterns - Run this command:

  • git log --since="1 year ago" --merges --oneline | Select-Object -First 20

Step 6: Seasonal Analysis - Run this command:

  • git log --since="1 year ago" --format="%ai" | ForEach-Object { $_.Substring(5,2) } | Group-Object | Sort-Object Name

Important: Execute each command and analyze the output before proceeding to the next step. Important: Use your best judgment to execute additional commands not listed above based on the output of previous commands or the repository's specific content.

Show full SKILL.md (261 more words)Show less
Phase 4: Pattern Recognition

Look for these narrative elements:

  • Characters: Who are the main contributors? What are their specialties?
  • Seasons: Are there patterns by month/quarter? Holiday effects?
  • Themes: What types of changes dominate? (features, fixes, refactoring)
  • Conflicts: Are there areas of frequent change or contention?
  • Evolution: How has the repository grown and changed over time?

Output Format

REPOSITORY_SUMMARY.md Structure
markdown
# Repository Analysis: [Repo Name]

## Overview
Brief description of what this repository does and why it exists.

## Architecture
High-level technical architecture and organization.

## Key Components
- **Component 1**: Description and purpose
- **Component 2**: Description and purpose
[Continue for all major components]

## Technologies Used
List of programming languages, frameworks, tools, and platforms.

## Data Flow
How information moves through the system.

## Team and Ownership
Who maintains different parts of the codebase.
THE_STORY_OF_THIS_REPO.md Structure
markdown
# The Story of [Repo Name]

## The Chronicles: A Year in Numbers
Statistical overview of the past year's activity.

## Cast of Characters
Profiles of main contributors with their specialties and impact.

## Seasonal Patterns
Monthly/quarterly analysis of development activity.

## The Great Themes
Major categories of work and their significance.

## Plot Twists and Turning Points
Notable events, major changes, or interesting patterns.

## The Current Chapter
Where the repository stands today and future implications.

Key Instructions

  1. Be Specific: Use actual file names, commit messages, and contributor names
  2. Find Stories: Look for interesting patterns, not just statistics
  3. Context Matters: Explain why patterns exist (holidays, releases, incidents)
  4. Human Element: Focus on the people and teams behind the code
  5. Technical Depth: Balance narrative with technical accuracy
  6. Evidence-Based: Support observations with actual git data

Success Criteria

  • Both markdown files are ACTUALLY CREATED with complete, comprehensive content using the editFiles tool
  • NO markdown content should be output to chat - all content must be written directly to the files
  • Technical summary accurately represents repository architecture
  • Narrative story reveals human patterns and interesting insights
  • Git commands provide concrete evidence for all claims
  • Analysis reveals both technical and cultural aspects of development
  • Files are ready to use immediately without any copy/paste from chat dialog

Critical Final Instructions

DO NOT output markdown content in the chat. DO use the editFiles tool to create both files with complete content. The deliverables are the actual files, not chat output.

Remember: Every repository tells a story. Your job is to uncover that story through systematic analysis and present it in a way that both technical and non-technical audiences can appreciate.

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

Files

Just SKILL.md in skills/repo-story-time of github/awesome-copilot.

Open the folder on GitHubat commit 82701c2

Used in 1 other repository

We found 1 copy of this SKILL.md (exact, near-identical or edited) in other folders, from 1 other GitHub owner. This page covers the copy in github/awesome-copilot, which our catalogue first saw on October 7, 2026.

Compare with similar skills

Repo Story Time next to the 5 skills that share the most tags, products or categories with it. Stars are the repository's; “used in” counts other GitHub owners with a copy.

Repo Story Time compared with similar skills
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Code Review ChecklistshareAI-lab/learn-claude-code78k5 repos~1.1kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Code Design Rationale Investigatorcursor/plugins10k9 repos~2.6kAutomated safety check: PassNone
Contributor-First PR MergeHKUDS/OpenHarness16k1 repos~847Automated safety check: PassMIT
Finishing A Development Branchfarm-fe/farm5.6k34 repos~1.8kAutomated safety check: PassMIT

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Works with

Categories

Questions about Repo Story Time

What does Repo Story Time do?

Generate a comprehensive repository summary and narrative story from commit history. Repo Story Time is an agent skill from github/awesome-copilot, published by the product's own GitHub organization.

When should I use Repo Story Time?

Repo Story Time fits situations like: development work in your project.

How do I install Repo Story Time in Claude Code?

Run `npx skills add github/awesome-copilot --skill repo-story-time -a claude-code`. Or copy the skill folder (skills/repo-story-time in github/awesome-copilot) into .claude/skills/repo-story-time in your project. Claude Code loads it when a task matches its description.

How do I install Repo Story Time in Codex?

Run `npx skills add github/awesome-copilot --skill repo-story-time -a codex`. Or copy the skill folder (skills/repo-story-time in github/awesome-copilot) into .agents/skills/repo-story-time in your project. Codex loads it when a task matches its description.

Can I use Repo Story Time in Cursor, Gemini CLI or GitHub Copilot?

Cursor, Gemini CLI, GitHub Copilot and OpenCode also load SKILL.md folders. With the skills CLI, run `npx skills add github/awesome-copilot --skill repo-story-time -a cursor` (or -a gemini-cli, github-copilot or opencode for the others). To copy it by hand, put the folder in .cursor/skills/repo-story-time, .gemini/skills/repo-story-time, .github/skills/repo-story-time and .opencode/skills/repo-story-time in your project.

What does Repo Story Time need to run?

Going by SKILL.md and its folder, Repo Story Time needs the command-line tools its instructions call (git).

Does Repo Story Time access the network?

SKILL.md contains no URLs. Its commands use git, which can reach the network depending on how they are called. This is read from the text; nothing was executed.

Is Repo Story Time safe to install?

Our automated static check of SKILL.md found no risky patterns, such as piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files or hidden Unicode. It is not a guarantee. Review the folder before installing.

What licence does Repo Story Time use?

Repo Story Time is published under the MIT licence (the repository's licence). It allows redistribution, so the full SKILL.md is shown on this page.

How many tokens does Repo Story Time use?

About 1.7k tokens (SKILL.md is roughly 6.7k characters). Agents keep only the skill's name and description in context until a task matches; then they load SKILL.md in full.

What are the alternatives to Repo Story Time?

Skills that share tags, products or a category with Repo Story Time: Finishing a Development Branch (obra/superpowers, 297k stars), Code Review Checklist (shareAI-lab/learn-claude-code, 78k stars), Code Design Rationale Investigator (cursor/plugins, 10k stars) and Contributor-First PR Merge (HKUDS/OpenHarness, 16k stars). The comparison table on this page puts their stars, adoption, token cost, safety result and licence side by side.

Who maintains Repo Story Time?

github (a GitHub organization, an official publisher) maintains it in github/awesome-copilot, which has 39,830 GitHub stars. The repository holds 417 skills in this directory. The repository was last updated on October 9, 2026.

Source: github/awesome-copilot on GitHub. Facts on this page come from the repository at the commit we read; the author's words are quoted as theirs.