Agent skill

Vibediff Explain

Explain a jj revision by fetching its diff and adding explanatory comments in VibeDiff to document WHY changes were made.

MITAuto-check passedDevelopment

Install Vibediff Explain

skills CLI

$ npx skills add meain/dotfiles --skill vibediff-explain -a claude-code

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

GitHub CLI

$ gh skill install meain/dotfiles vibediff-explain --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/meain/dotfiles.git skills-src && mkdir -p .claude/skills && cp -r skills-src/agents/.agents/skills/vibediff-explain .claude/skills/vibediff-explain && 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/

Paste into Claude Code

Install the "vibediff-explain" agent skill from https://github.com/meain/dotfiles/tree/master/agents/.agents/skills/vibediff-explain into .claude/skills/vibediff-explain/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "vibediff-explain", then confirm the skill loads.

Claude Code copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.

$skill-installer

$skill-installer install https://github.com/meain/dotfiles/tree/master/agents/.agents/skills/vibediff-explain

Type this inside Codex. $skill-installer <name> installs a curated skill from openai/skills. The installer writes to $CODEX_HOME/skills (default ~/.codex/skills). Restart Codex if the skill does not show up.

skills CLI

$ npx skills add meain/dotfiles --skill vibediff-explain -a codex

Project install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.codex/skills/.

GitHub CLI

$ gh skill install meain/dotfiles vibediff-explain --agent codex

Project scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.

Manual copy

$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/meain/dotfiles.git skills-src && mkdir -p .agents/skills && cp -r skills-src/agents/.agents/skills/vibediff-explain .agents/skills/vibediff-explain && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.agents/skills/ instead of .agents/skills for a personal install.

Codex skills documentation · loads skills from .agents/skills/

Paste into Codex

Install the "vibediff-explain" agent skill from https://github.com/meain/dotfiles/tree/master/agents/.agents/skills/vibediff-explain into .agents/skills/vibediff-explain/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "vibediff-explain", then confirm the skill loads.

Codex copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.

skills CLI

$ npx skills add meain/dotfiles --skill vibediff-explain -a cursor

Project install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.cursor/skills/.

GitHub CLI

$ gh skill install meain/dotfiles vibediff-explain --agent cursor

Project scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.

Manual copy

$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/meain/dotfiles.git skills-src && mkdir -p .cursor/skills && cp -r skills-src/agents/.agents/skills/vibediff-explain .cursor/skills/vibediff-explain && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.cursor/skills/ instead of .cursor/skills for a personal install.

Cursor skills documentation · loads skills from .cursor/skills/, .agents/skills/, .claude/skills/, .codex/skills/

Paste into Cursor

Install the "vibediff-explain" agent skill from https://github.com/meain/dotfiles/tree/master/agents/.agents/skills/vibediff-explain into .cursor/skills/vibediff-explain/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "vibediff-explain", then confirm the skill loads.

Cursor copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.

gemini skills install

$ gemini skills install https://github.com/meain/dotfiles.git --path agents/.agents/skills/vibediff-explain

--scope user (default) or --scope workspace; --path is the subfolder of the repo that holds the skill; --consent skips the security confirmation prompt.

skills CLI

$ npx skills add meain/dotfiles --skill vibediff-explain -a gemini-cli

Project install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.gemini/skills/.

GitHub CLI

$ gh skill install meain/dotfiles vibediff-explain --agent gemini-cli

Project scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.

Manual copy

$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/meain/dotfiles.git skills-src && mkdir -p .gemini/skills && cp -r skills-src/agents/.agents/skills/vibediff-explain .gemini/skills/vibediff-explain && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.gemini/skills/ instead of .gemini/skills for a personal install, then run /skills reload.

Gemini CLI skills documentation · loads skills from .gemini/skills/, .agents/skills/

Paste into Gemini CLI

Install the "vibediff-explain" agent skill from https://github.com/meain/dotfiles/tree/master/agents/.agents/skills/vibediff-explain into .gemini/skills/vibediff-explain/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "vibediff-explain", then confirm the skill loads.

Gemini CLI copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.

GitHub CLI

$ gh skill install meain/dotfiles vibediff-explain

Installs for Copilot at project scope by default; add --scope user for a personal install. Preview a skill first with gh skill preview. Needs GitHub CLI 2.90.0 or later (public preview).

skills CLI

$ npx skills add meain/dotfiles --skill vibediff-explain -a github-copilot

Project install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.copilot/skills/.

Manual copy

$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/meain/dotfiles.git skills-src && mkdir -p .github/skills && cp -r skills-src/agents/.agents/skills/vibediff-explain .github/skills/vibediff-explain && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.copilot/skills/ instead of .github/skills for a personal install. Commit .github/skills so cloud agent and code review can use it.

GitHub Copilot skills documentation · loads skills from .github/skills/, .claude/skills/, .agents/skills/

Paste into GitHub Copilot

Install the "vibediff-explain" agent skill from https://github.com/meain/dotfiles/tree/master/agents/.agents/skills/vibediff-explain into .github/skills/vibediff-explain/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "vibediff-explain", then confirm the skill loads.

GitHub Copilot copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.

skills CLI

$ npx skills add meain/dotfiles --skill vibediff-explain -a opencode

OpenCode documents no install command of its own. Project install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.config/opencode/skills/.

GitHub CLI

$ gh skill install meain/dotfiles vibediff-explain --agent opencode

Project scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.

Manual copy

$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/meain/dotfiles.git skills-src && mkdir -p .opencode/skills && cp -r skills-src/agents/.agents/skills/vibediff-explain .opencode/skills/vibediff-explain && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.config/opencode/skills/ instead of .opencode/skills for a personal install.

OpenCode skills documentation · loads skills from .opencode/skills/, .claude/skills/, .agents/skills/

Paste into OpenCode

Install the "vibediff-explain" agent skill from https://github.com/meain/dotfiles/tree/master/agents/.agents/skills/vibediff-explain into .opencode/skills/vibediff-explain/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "vibediff-explain", then confirm the skill loads.

OpenCode copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.

Facts

Skill name: vibediff-explain
GitHub stars: 285
Token cost: ~1.5k tokens
SKILL.md length: 404 words
Files: 1
Skills in repo: 35
Repo updated: Oct 8, 2026
First seen: Oct 7, 2026
Licence: MIT

At a glance

Explain a jj revision by fetching its diff and adding explanatory comments in VibeDiff to document WHY changes were made.

Works in 4 steps: Verify VibeDiff instance and find the… → Get revision information → Analyze the changes → …
The user says /vibediff-explain
SKILL.md covers When to use, How it works, Workflow and Comment placement strategy, plus 2 more sections
Calls curl and jq

What it does

Vibediff Explain is an agent skill from meain/dotfiles. Explain a jj revision by fetching its diff and adding explanatory comments in VibeDiff to document WHY changes were made. Use when the user says /vibediff-explain, "explain this commit in vibediff", "add comments to vibediff", "explain this revision in vibediff", or asks to annotate a diff with explanatory comments.

Its SKILL.md is about 1.5k 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. The repository describes itself as: If there is a shell, there is a way! The licence is MIT.

When your agent uses it

The user says /vibediff-explain
Explain this commit in vibediff
Add comments to vibediff
Explain this revision in vibediff

Example prompts

“explain this commit in vibediff”
“add comments to vibediff”
“explain this revision in vibediff”
“/vibediff-explain”

Workflow steps

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

Verify VibeDiff instance and find the project
Get revision information
Analyze the changes
Add explanatory comments

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit 3e336e2. 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:
- curl
- jq
From the folder's file list and the shell code blocks in SKILL.md.
Network
No URLs in SKILL.md. Its commands use curl, 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

Vibediff Explain loads about 1.5k tokens when it runs. Until then it costs about 84 tokens; SKILL.md has 404 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it: ~84
When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches: ~1.5k

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 meain/dotfiles at commit 3e336e2, republished under its MIT licence (© meain). 404 words, ~1,503 tokens.

Download SKILL.mdSave it as .claude/skills/vibediff-explain/SKILL.md (or your agent's skills folder).

name: vibediff-explain
description: Explain a jj revision by fetching its diff and adding explanatory comments in VibeDiff to document WHY changes were made. Use when the user says /vibediff-explain, "explain this commit in vibediff", "add comments to vibediff", "explain this revision in vibediff", or asks to annotate a diff with explanatory comments.

VibeDiff Explain Workflow

Explain a specific jj revision by fetching its diff and adding explanatory comments in VibeDiff to document the changes.

When to use

User says "explain this commit in vibediff", "add comments to vibediff", "explain this revision in vibediff"
User provides a jj revision ID and asks to document or explain changes
User asks to annotate a diff with explanatory comments

How it works

Verify VibeDiff is running and identify the project directory
Fetch the revision diff to understand the changes
Add explanatory comments to key lines explaining WHY changes were made
Focus on non-obvious rationale, cross-file impacts, and design decisions

Workflow

1. Verify VibeDiff instance and find the project

bash

# List registered directories
curl -s http://localhost:8888/api/directories

# Get backend info for the target repo
curl -s "http://localhost:8888/api/directory?directory=/path/to/repo"

If the target directory isn't registered yet, register it first:

bash

curl -s -X POST http://localhost:8888/api/directories \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{"directory":"/path/to/repo"}'

2. Get revision information

In a jj repo, VibeDiff uses jj change IDs (not git commit hashes). Always resolve the revision to a jj change ID:

bash

DIR="/path/to/repo"

# Get the jj change ID for a revision (use @ for working copy, or a change ID prefix)
REV=$(jj log --no-graph -r '<revision>' --template 'change_id' -R $DIR)

# Or for the working copy:
REV=$(jj log --no-graph -r '@' --template 'change_id' -R $DIR)

# Show the commit to understand context
jj show $REV -R $DIR

# Get the diff from VibeDiff (directory is required)
curl -s "http://localhost:8888/api/diff?directory=$DIR&revision=$REV" | jq '.'

You can also list recent revisions from VibeDiff to confirm the correct ID:

bash

curl -s "http://localhost:8888/api/revisions?directory=$DIR&limit=5"

3. Analyze the changes

Look at the diff structure:

Which files changed
What kind of changes (additions, modifications, deletions)
Size of changes (addition/deletion counts)

4. Add explanatory comments

directory is required in the comment body. Add comments to key lines explaining:

WHY the change was made (not what — the code shows that)
Non-obvious design decisions
Cross-file or cross-service impacts
Constraints or invariants being maintained
Workarounds for specific issues

bash

curl -s -X POST http://localhost:8888/api/review/comment \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{
    "directory": "/path/to/repo",
    "revision": "<revision-id>",
    "file": "path/to/file.go",
    "line": 42,
    "content": "Explanation of why this change was made",
    "author": "agent",
    "authorName": "explain"
  }'

Comment placement strategy

Show full SKILL.md (168 more words)Show less

Focus on:

New files: Add overview comment at line 1 explaining purpose
Key architectural changes: Explain the design decision
Non-obvious logic: Clarify intent
Cross-cutting changes: Explain how pieces connect
Refactoring patterns: Document the transformation

Avoid commenting:

Self-explanatory changes
Mechanical refactors (unless the pattern needs explanation)
Every single line (signal over noise)

Example flow

bash

DIR="/Users/meain/dev/veeam/control-plane-backend"

# 1. Ensure directory is registered
curl -s http://localhost:8888/api/directories | grep -q "$DIR" || \
  curl -s -X POST http://localhost:8888/api/directories \
    -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
    -d "{\"directory\":\"$DIR\"}"

# 2. Resolve jj change ID (VibeDiff uses change IDs, not git commit hashes)
REV=$(jj log --no-graph -r 'npuuvppmqwuksxpzwwrkovtsusvnvvrn' --template 'change_id' -R $DIR)

# 3. Get revision info
jj show $REV -R $DIR

# 4. Fetch diff
curl -s "http://localhost:8888/api/diff?directory=$DIR&revision=$REV" \
  | jq '.files[] | {path, additions, deletions}'

# 5. Add comment to new test file
curl -s -X POST http://localhost:8888/api/review/comment \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d "{
    \"directory\": \"$DIR\",
    \"revision\": \"$REV\",
    \"file\": \"services/earn/tests/earn-e2e/org-anchoring_test.go\",
    \"line\": 1,
    \"author\": \"agent\",
    \"authorName\": \"explain\",
    \"content\": \"E2E test suite validating EARN's org anchor geo routing behavior...\"
  }"

# 6. Add comment explaining a key change
curl -s -X POST http://localhost:8888/api/review/comment \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d "{
    \"directory\": \"$DIR\",
    \"revision\": \"$REV\",
    \"file\": \"services/earn/tests/earn-e2e/api.go\",
    \"line\": 53,
    \"author\": \"agent\",
    \"authorName\": \"explain\",
    \"content\": \"Added variadic opts parameter to allow passing additional HTTP client options...\"
  }"

Notes

Always set "author": "agent" and "authorName": "explain" in comment payloads — the backend only accepts "user" or "agent" for author; authorName is the tag for which kind of agent posted it, and the UI renders it as agent:explain
directory and file are required for root comments
Comments are persisted in ~/.config/vibediff/comments/<sha256-of-path>.json
Focus on WHY over WHAT — the code shows what changed
Aim for 10–20 comments per revision depending on complexity
Use the commit message and PR context to inform comment content
In jj repos, always use the jj change ID (from jj log --template 'change_id') as the revision field — never use the git commit hash. VibeDiff's /api/revisions endpoint lists change IDs; use it to confirm.

Files

Just SKILL.md in agents/.agents/skills/vibediff-explain of meain/dotfiles.

Open the folder on GitHubat commit 3e336e2

Compare with similar skills

Vibediff Explain 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.

Vibediff Explain compared with similar skills
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Vibediff Explain this skillmeain/dotfiles	285	—	~1.5k	Automated safety check: Pass	MIT	yesterday
Vercel Composition Patternssupabase/supabase	111k	58 repos	~726	Automated safety check: Pass	MIT	today
Finishing a Development Branchobra/superpowers	297k	5 repos	~1.9k	Automated safety check: Pass	MIT	today
Typescript Advanced Typesrolling-scopes/rsschool-app	10k	25 repos	~4.2k	Automated safety check: Pass	MPL-2.0	4 days ago
PR Babysitteropeninterpreter/openinterpreter	69k	3 repos	~4.2k	Automated safety check: Pass	Apache-2.0	2 days ago
Code Review ChecklistshareAI-lab/learn-claude-code	78k	5 repos	~1.1k	Automated safety check: Pass	MIT	10 days ago

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Questions about Vibediff Explain

What does Vibediff Explain do?

Explain a jj revision by fetching its diff and adding explanatory comments in VibeDiff to document WHY changes were made. Vibediff Explain is an agent skill from meain/dotfiles. Explain a jj revision by fetching its diff and adding explanatory comments in VibeDiff to document WHY changes were made.

When should I use Vibediff Explain?

Vibediff Explain fits situations like: the user says /vibediff-explain; explain this commit in vibediff; add comments to vibediff; explain this revision in vibediff.

How do I install Vibediff Explain in Claude Code?

Run `npx skills add meain/dotfiles --skill vibediff-explain -a claude-code`. Or copy the skill folder (agents/.agents/skills/vibediff-explain in meain/dotfiles) into .claude/skills/vibediff-explain in your project. Claude Code loads it when a task matches its description.

How do I install Vibediff Explain in Codex?

Run `npx skills add meain/dotfiles --skill vibediff-explain -a codex`. Or copy the skill folder (agents/.agents/skills/vibediff-explain in meain/dotfiles) into .agents/skills/vibediff-explain in your project. Codex loads it when a task matches its description.

Can I use Vibediff Explain 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 meain/dotfiles --skill vibediff-explain -a cursor` (or -a gemini-cli, github-copilot or opencode for the others). To copy it by hand, put the folder in .cursor/skills/vibediff-explain, .gemini/skills/vibediff-explain, .github/skills/vibediff-explain and .opencode/skills/vibediff-explain in your project.

What does Vibediff Explain need to run?

Going by SKILL.md and its folder, Vibediff Explain needs the command-line tools its instructions call (curl and jq).

Does Vibediff Explain access the network?

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

Is Vibediff Explain 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 Vibediff Explain use?

Vibediff Explain 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 Vibediff Explain use?

About 1.5k tokens (SKILL.md is roughly 6k 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 Vibediff Explain?

Skills that share tags, products or a category with Vibediff Explain: Vercel Composition Patterns (supabase/supabase, 111k stars), Finishing a Development Branch (obra/superpowers, 297k stars), Typescript Advanced Types (rolling-scopes/rsschool-app, 10k stars) and PR Babysitter (openinterpreter/openinterpreter, 69k stars). The comparison table on this page puts their stars, adoption, token cost, safety result and licence side by side.

Who maintains Vibediff Explain?

meain (a GitHub user) maintains it in meain/dotfiles, which has 285 GitHub stars. The repository holds 35 skills in this directory. The repository was last updated on October 8, 2026.

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

Install Vibediff Explain

Facts

At a glance

What it does

When your agent uses it

Example prompts

Workflow steps

What it can do on your machine

Tool permissions

Runs code

Network

Credentials

Context cost

Safety

SKILL.md

VibeDiff Explain Workflow

When to use

How it works

Workflow

1. Verify VibeDiff instance and find the project

2. Get revision information

3. Analyze the changes

4. Add explanatory comments

Comment placement strategy

Focus on:

Avoid commenting:

Example flow

Notes

Files

Compare with similar skills

Similar skills

More from meain/dotfiles

Related

Questions about Vibediff Explain