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Agent skill

Codebase Documenter

by mhattingpete in mhattingpete/claude-skills-marketplace

Generates comprehensive documentation explaining how a codebase works, including architecture, key components, data flow, and development guidelines.

Apache-2.0Auto-check passedDevelopment

Install Codebase Documenter

skills CLI
$ npx skills add mhattingpete/claude-skills-marketplace --skill codebase-documenter -a claude-code

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

GitHub CLI
$ gh skill install mhattingpete/claude-skills-marketplace codebase-documenter --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/mhattingpete/claude-skills-marketplace.git skills-src && mkdir -p .claude/skills && cp -r skills-src/productivity-skills-plugin/skills/codebase-documenter .claude/skills/codebase-documenter && 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
codebase-documenter
GitHub stars
680
Token cost
~940 tokens
SKILL.md length
336 words
Files
1
Skills in repo
16
Repo updated
First seen
Licence
Apache-2.0

At a glance

Generates comprehensive documentation explaining how a codebase works, including architecture, key components, data flow, and development guidelines.

  • Works in 10 steps: Project Overview → Architecture → Directory Structure → …
  • User wants to understand unfamiliar code
  • SKILL.md covers When to Use, What It Documents, Approach and Output, plus 5 more sections
  • Instructions only: no scripts, shell commands, URLs or credentials in SKILL.md

What it does

Codebase Documenter is an agent skill from mhattingpete/claude-skills-marketplace. Generates comprehensive documentation explaining how a codebase works, including architecture, key components, data flow, and development guidelines. Use when user wants to understand unfamiliar code, create onboarding docs, document architecture, or explain how the system works.

Its SKILL.md is about 940 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: Claude Code Skills for software engineering workflows - Git automation, testing, and code review. The licence is Apache-2.0.

When your agent uses it

  • User wants to understand unfamiliar code
  • Create onboarding docs
  • Document architecture
  • Explain how the system works

Example prompts

  • “Use the codebase-documenter skill to generate comprehensive documentation explaining how a codebase works, including architecture, key components…”
  • “/codebase-documenter”

Workflow steps

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

  1. Project Overview
  2. Architecture
  3. Directory Structure
  4. Key Components
  5. External Integrations
  6. Data Models
  7. Development Setup
  8. Development Guidelines
  9. Deployment
  10. Contributing

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit b5b34bc. 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

    No scripts in the folder and no shell commands in SKILL.md.

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

  • Network

    No URLs in SKILL.md.

    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

Codebase Documenter loads about 940 tokens when it runs. Until then it costs about 75 tokens; SKILL.md has 336 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it
~75
When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches
~940

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 mhattingpete/claude-skills-marketplace at commit b5b34bc, republished under its Apache-2.0 licence (© mhattingpete). 336 words, ~940 tokens.

Download SKILL.mdSave it as .claude/skills/codebase-documenter/SKILL.md (or your agent's skills folder).
name
codebase-documenter
description
Generates comprehensive documentation explaining how a codebase works, including architecture, key components, data flow, and development guidelines. Use when user wants to understand unfamiliar code, create onboarding docs, document architecture, or explain how the system works.

Codebase Documenter

Generates comprehensive documentation for codebases - architecture, components, data flow, development guidelines.

When to Use

  • "explain this codebase"
  • "document the architecture"
  • "how does this code work"
  • "create developer documentation"
  • "generate codebase overview"
  • "create onboarding docs"

What It Documents

1. Project Overview
  • Purpose & vision
  • Target users
  • Key features
  • Technology stack
  • Project status
2. Architecture
  • High-level structure
  • Design patterns
  • Data flow
  • Control flow
  • Diagrams (Mermaid)
  • Architectural decisions
3. Directory Structure
  • Organization purpose
  • Naming conventions
  • Entry points
  • Core modules
  • Configuration locations
4. Key Components
  • Major modules
  • Classes & functions
  • Responsibilities
  • Interactions
  • Extension points
  • Code examples
5. External Integrations
  • APIs consumed
  • Databases & schemas
  • Authentication
  • Caching
  • Message queues
  • File storage
6. Data Models
  • Database schema
  • Data structures
  • Validation
  • Migrations
  • Data transformations
7. Development Setup
  • Prerequisites
  • Installation steps
  • Configuration
  • Running the app
  • Testing
  • Debugging
  • Troubleshooting
8. Development Guidelines
  • Coding conventions
  • Testing approach
  • Error handling
  • Logging
  • Security practices
  • Performance patterns
9. Deployment
  • Build process
  • Deployment steps
  • Environments
  • Monitoring
  • Rollback procedures
10. Contributing
  • Development workflow
  • Code review guidelines
  • Testing requirements
  • Documentation updates

Approach

  1. Explore using Explore agent (thorough)
  2. Map structure with Glob
  3. Read critical files (README, entry points, core modules)
  4. Identify patterns with Grep (imports, exports)
  5. Trace execution paths
  6. Extract knowledge from docs, comments, tests
  7. Synthesize into cohesive documentation

Output

Creates markdown documentation:

docs/
├── README.md              # Overview and quick start
├── ARCHITECTURE.md        # System architecture
├── DEVELOPMENT.md         # Development guide
├── API.md                 # API documentation
├── DEPLOYMENT.md          # Deployment guide
└── CONTRIBUTING.md        # Contribution guidelines

Or single comprehensive doc if preferred.

Depth Levels

  • Quick: High-level overview (15-30 min)
  • Standard: Comprehensive coverage (30-60 min)
  • Deep: Exhaustive with examples (60+ min)

Visual Elements

  • Mermaid diagrams (architecture, flow charts, sequence)
  • Code examples from codebase
  • Specific file:line references
  • Tables for structured info
  • Lists for guidelines

Tools Used

  • Task (Explore agent): Codebase exploration
  • Glob: Map directory structure
  • Grep: Find patterns, imports, exports
  • Read: Analyze key files
  • Write: Create documentation
  • Bash: Extract metadata (git log, versions)

Success Criteria

  • Complete coverage of all areas
  • Clear explanations with examples
  • Visual diagrams for complex concepts
  • Specific file:line references
  • Actionable setup/development instructions
  • New developer can onboard using only docs
  • Organized, navigable structure
  • Accurate and current information

Integration

  • code-auditor: Includes quality/security context
  • project-bootstrapper: Documents bootstrap decisions
  • visual-html-creator: Create visual diagrams

© mhattingpete, Apache-2.0. 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 productivity-skills-plugin/skills/codebase-documenter of mhattingpete/claude-skills-marketplace.

Open the folder on GitHubat commit b5b34bc

Compare with similar skills

Codebase Documenter 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.

Codebase Documenter compared with similar skills
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Codebase Documenter this skillmhattingpete/claude-skills-marketplace680—~940Automated safety check: PassApache-2.0
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Typescript Advanced Typesrolling-scopes/rsschool-app10k24 repos~4.2kAutomated safety check: PassMPL-2.0
PR Babysitteropeninterpreter/openinterpreter69k3 repos~4.2kAutomated safety check: PassApache-2.0
Code Review ChecklistshareAI-lab/learn-claude-code78k5 repos~1.1kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Greplooponyx-dot-app/onyx32k4 repos~3.3kAutomated safety check: PassMIT

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Categories

Questions about Codebase Documenter

What does Codebase Documenter do?

Generates comprehensive documentation explaining how a codebase works, including architecture, key components, data flow, and development guidelines. Codebase Documenter is an agent skill from mhattingpete/claude-skills-marketplace. Generates comprehensive documentation explaining how a codebase works, including architecture, key components, data flow, and development guidelines.

When should I use Codebase Documenter?

Codebase Documenter fits situations like: user wants to understand unfamiliar code; create onboarding docs; document architecture; explain how the system works.

How do I install Codebase Documenter in Claude Code?

Run `npx skills add mhattingpete/claude-skills-marketplace --skill codebase-documenter -a claude-code`. Or copy the skill folder (productivity-skills-plugin/skills/codebase-documenter in mhattingpete/claude-skills-marketplace) into .claude/skills/codebase-documenter in your project. Claude Code loads it when a task matches its description.

How do I install Codebase Documenter in Codex?

Run `npx skills add mhattingpete/claude-skills-marketplace --skill codebase-documenter -a codex`. Or copy the skill folder (productivity-skills-plugin/skills/codebase-documenter in mhattingpete/claude-skills-marketplace) into .agents/skills/codebase-documenter in your project. Codex loads it when a task matches its description.

Can I use Codebase Documenter 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 mhattingpete/claude-skills-marketplace --skill codebase-documenter -a cursor` (or -a gemini-cli, github-copilot or opencode for the others). To copy it by hand, put the folder in .cursor/skills/codebase-documenter, .gemini/skills/codebase-documenter, .github/skills/codebase-documenter and .opencode/skills/codebase-documenter in your project.

What does Codebase Documenter need to run?

SKILL.md names no scripts, command-line tools or credentials: Codebase Documenter is instructions for the agent only.

Does Codebase Documenter access the network?

SKILL.md contains no URLs. Any network use would come from the scripts or tools the agent runs. This is read from the text; nothing was executed.

Is Codebase Documenter 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 Codebase Documenter use?

Codebase Documenter is published under the Apache-2.0 licence (the repository's licence). It allows redistribution, so the full SKILL.md is shown on this page.

How many tokens does Codebase Documenter use?

About 940 tokens (SKILL.md is roughly 3.8k 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 Codebase Documenter?

Skills that share tags, products or a category with Codebase Documenter: Finishing a Development Branch (obra/superpowers, 296k stars), Typescript Advanced Types (rolling-scopes/rsschool-app, 10k stars), PR Babysitter (openinterpreter/openinterpreter, 69k stars) and Code Review Checklist (shareAI-lab/learn-claude-code, 78k stars). The comparison table on this page puts their stars, adoption, token cost, safety result and licence side by side.

Who maintains Codebase Documenter?

mhattingpete (a GitHub user) maintains it in mhattingpete/claude-skills-marketplace, which has 680 GitHub stars. The repository holds 16 skills in this directory. The repository was last updated on July 25, 2026.

Source: mhattingpete/claude-skills-marketplace on GitHub. Facts on this page come from the repository at the commit we read; the author's words are quoted as theirs.