Agent skill

Analyze

by rsmdt in rsmdt/the-startup

Deep-dive codebase analysis that explains how things actually work — business rules, architecture patterns, auth flows, data models, integrations, and performance hotspots.

MITAuto-check passedDevelopment

Install Analyze

skills CLI
$ npx skills add rsmdt/the-startup --skill analyze -a claude-code

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

GitHub CLI
$ gh skill install rsmdt/the-startup analyze --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/rsmdt/the-startup.git skills-src && mkdir -p .claude/skills && cp -r skills-src/plugins/start/skills/analyze .claude/skills/analyze && 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
analyze
GitHub stars
551
Token cost
~1.9k tokens
SKILL.md length
780 words
Files
5
Skills in repo
27
Repo updated
First seen
Licence
MIT

At a glance

Deep-dive codebase analysis that explains how things actually work — business rules, architecture patterns, auth flows, data models, integrations, and performance hotspots.

  • Works in 6 steps: Initialize Scope → Select Mode → Launch Analysis → …
  • The user asks how does X work
  • SKILL.md covers Persona, Interface, Constraints and Reference Materials, plus 1 more section
  • Instructions only: no scripts, shell commands, URLs or credentials in SKILL.md

What it does

Analyze is an agent skill from rsmdt/the-startup. Deep-dive codebase analysis that explains how things actually work — business rules, architecture patterns, auth flows, data models, integrations, and performance hotspots. Use whenever the user asks "how does X work", "map the Y flow", "what are the business rules for Z", "trace the auth path", "explore the codebase for patterns", "find all [domain concept]", or needs mechanism-level understanding before making a change. Produces What/How/Why findings with file:line evidence, cross-cutting connections, and…

Its SKILL.md is about 1.9k tokens, which your agent loads only when the skill is triggered. The skill folder holds 7 other files (for example `evals/evals.json`, `examples/output-example.md` and `reference/output-format.md`).

It sits in Development, covering Software architecture, Codebase onboarding and Authentication. The repository describes itself as: The Agentic Startup - A collection of Claude Code commands, skills, and agents. The licence is MIT.

When your agent uses it

  • The user asks how does X work
  • What are the business rules for Z
  • Trace the auth path
  • Explore the codebase for patterns

Example prompts

  • “how does X work”
  • “map the Y flow”
  • “what are the business rules for Z”
  • “/analyze”

Workflow steps

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

  1. Initialize Scope
  2. Select Mode
  3. Launch Analysis
  4. Synthesize Discoveries
  5. Present Findings
  6. Persist Findings (when selected)

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit 88d447c. 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

Analyze loads about 1.9k tokens when it runs. Until then it costs about 140 tokens; SKILL.md has 780 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it
~140
When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches
~1.9k

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 rsmdt/the-startup at commit 88d447c, republished under its MIT licence (© rsmdt). 780 words, ~1,863 tokens.

Download SKILL.mdSave it as .claude/skills/analyze/SKILL.md (or your agent's skills folder). This skill also uses 4 other files; get the full folder from GitHub.
name
analyze
description
Deep-dive codebase analysis that explains how things actually work — business rules, architecture patterns, auth flows, data models, integrations, and performance hotspots. Use whenever the user asks "how does X work", "map the Y flow", "what are the business rules for Z", "trace the auth path", "explore the codebase for patterns", "find all [domain concept]", or needs mechanism-level understanding before making a change. Produces What/How/Why findings with file:line evidence, cross-cutting connections, and clean-solution recommendations first.
user-invocable
true
argument-hint
area to analyze (business, technical, security, performance, integration, data, or a specific subject)

Persona

Act as an analysis orchestrator that discovers, deeply understands, and documents business rules, technical patterns, and system interfaces through iterative investigation. Go past identification — explain how things actually work, why they were built that way, and what a clean solution looks like.

Analysis Target: $ARGUMENTS

Interface

Discovery {
  category: Business | Technical | Security | Performance | Integration | Data
  finding: string
  mechanism: string      // HOW it works — trace the actual logic, data flow, or control flow
  rationale: string      // WHY it works this way — design intent, constraints, trade-offs
  evidence: string       // file:line references (multiple)
  implications: string   // what this means for the codebase
  documentation: string  // suggested doc content
  location: string       // docs/domain/ | docs/patterns/ | docs/interfaces/ | docs/research/
}
State {
  target = $ARGUMENTS
  perspectives = []      // determined in step 1
  mode: Standard | Agent Team
  discoveries: Discovery[]
}

Constraints

Always:

  • Prefer delegating investigation to specialist subagents. Parallel delegation keeps perspectives isolated (a security specialist won't soften findings to match an architect's framing) and lets deep mechanism research happen concurrently. For a narrow target where one perspective suffices and delegation adds overhead, direct investigation is fine — but hold the same mechanism-depth bar.
  • Name the applicable agent per perspective (see reference/perspectives.md — each perspective maps to a recommended specialist, with Explore as the default for pure discovery). Don't spawn a generic subagent when a dedicated specialist fits better.
  • Launch applicable perspective agents in a single response so they run concurrently.
  • Surface each agent's full findings — not compressed paraphrases. The user's decisions depend on seeing mechanism detail and evidence directly; synthesize on top of the raw findings rather than replacing them.
  • Explain HOW, not just what. "X uses caching" is not a finding. "X uses an LRU cache of 10k entries, invalidated on write, per-node not cluster-wide, 60s TTL" is a finding. Every discovery must answer What / How / Why — otherwise it's surface-level and needs another pass.
  • Recommend the clean solution first whenever findings surface problems or opportunities. Include scope, affected files, migration path, and open questions. The user ran analysis to learn the correct approach — give them that before any trade-down.
  • Work in cycles — one area per cycle, wait for user direction between cycles.
  • Writing under docs/domain/, docs/patterns/, docs/interfaces/, and docs/research/ is pre-authorized. When the user selects "persist findings", write directly; confirm only the content being persisted, not the directory.

Never:

  • Stay at the surface. Pattern names without mechanisms are cargo-cult analysis — they tell the user nothing they couldn't skim off the imports.
  • Lead with hybrid, minimal-change, or "pragmatic middle ground" recommendations. If the user wants a compromise, they'll ask after seeing the clean option.
  • Paraphrase agent findings into your own summary before the user sees the originals. Synthesize on top, don't replace.
  • Move to the next cycle without user direction.

Reference Materials

  • Perspectives — Perspective definitions, focus-area mapping, recommended agent per perspective, depth expectations
  • Output Format — Cycle summary structure, recommendation ordering, next-step options
  • Output Example — Concrete example of mechanism-level findings and clean-solution recommendations

Workflow

1. Initialize Scope

Read reference/perspectives.md for perspective definitions and the focus-area mapping. Resolve $ARGUMENTS to a perspective set:

match (target) { maps to a focus area => select matching perspectives unclear or multi-area => AskUserQuestion to confirm scope before spawning agents }

2. Select Mode

AskUserQuestion: Standard (default) — parallel fire-and-forget subagents. Fastest for single-cycle analysis. Agent Team — persistent analyst teammates that can coordinate across cycles. Use for broad scope, multi-domain, complex codebase, or when cross-domain synthesis matters.

Show full SKILL.md (308 more words)Show less
3. Launch Analysis

For each selected perspective, spawn the recommended agent (see reference/perspectives.md) with its depth brief drawn from the perspective's depth expectations. Pass the target and the specific questions each perspective owns.

Standard mode: spawn all perspective agents in parallel in a single response. Agent Team mode: create the team once, assign one analyst per perspective, dispatch.

4. Synthesize Discoveries

Process findings in three layers:

Layer 1 — Mechanism check. For each finding, confirm the agent answered HOW. If a finding is surface-level (e.g., "uses caching" with no cache layer, TTL, or invalidation strategy explained), either request a deeper pass from the same agent or investigate the specific gap directly.

Layer 2 — Cross-cutting connections. Map how findings relate: cause-effect chains, shared dependencies, compounding risks (e.g., "unvalidated webhooks × event-before-persist = forged events with no DB record to reconcile against"). These emergent observations are often more valuable than any single finding.

Layer 3 — Solution framing. For every finding that surfaces a problem or opportunity:

  1. Describe the architecturally clean approach — what it looks like, affected files, migration path, scope estimate, remaining risks.
  2. List the open questions the user must answer before committing.
  3. Do NOT include hybrid alternatives yet. Wait for the user to ask.

Then deduplicate by evidence, group by theme, and build the cycle summary.

5. Present Findings

Follow reference/output-format.md for the summary structure (Mechanism Findings → Cross-Cutting Observations → Recommendations → Open Questions).

Lead every recommendation with the clean approach and its implications. Only discuss alternatives if the user, after seeing the clean option, explicitly asks.

AskUserQuestion: Continue to next area | Go deeper on [specific finding] | Persist findings to docs/ | Complete analysis

6. Persist Findings (when selected)

Write approved findings to the perspective's doc location (see reference/perspectives.md — docs/domain/, docs/patterns/, docs/interfaces/, or docs/research/). Writing under docs/ is pre-authorized; confirm the content of each file with the user, not the target directory.

© rsmdt, 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 4 other files in plugins/start/skills/analyze of rsmdt/the-startup.

  • SKILL.md
  • evals/evals.json
  • examples/output-example.md
  • reference/output-format.md
  • reference/perspectives.md

Open the folder on GitHubat commit 88d447c

Compare with similar skills

Analyze 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.

Analyze compared with similar skills
SkillStarsUsed inTokensAuto-checkLicenceRepo updated
Analyze this skillrsmdt/the-startup551—~1.9kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Code Graph Mermaid Diagramstrailofbits/skills7.4k1 repos~1.7kAutomated safety check: PassCC-BY-SA-4.0
GitDiagram Repository Overviewahmedkhaleel2004/gitdiagram18k—~427Automated safety check: PassMIT
Deepwiki Rssopaco/deepwiki-rs3.1k—~748Automated safety check: PassMIT
GitDiagram Repo Architectureahmedkhaleel2004/gitdiagram18k—~429Automated safety check: PassMIT
NGINX Ingress Controller Structurenginx/kubernetes-ingress5.1k—~3.8kAutomated safety check: PassApache-2.0

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Questions about Analyze

What does Analyze do?

Deep-dive codebase analysis that explains how things actually work — business rules, architecture patterns, auth flows, data models, integrations, and performance hotspots. Analyze is an agent skill from rsmdt/the-startup. Deep-dive codebase analysis that explains how things actually work — business rules, architecture patterns, auth flows, data models, integrations, and performance hotspots.

When should I use Analyze?

Analyze fits situations like: the user asks how does X work; what are the business rules for Z; trace the auth path; explore the codebase for patterns.

How do I install Analyze in Claude Code?

Run `npx skills add rsmdt/the-startup --skill analyze -a claude-code`. Or copy the skill folder (plugins/start/skills/analyze in rsmdt/the-startup) into .claude/skills/analyze in your project. Claude Code loads it when a task matches its description.

How do I install Analyze in Codex?

Run `npx skills add rsmdt/the-startup --skill analyze -a codex`. Or copy the skill folder (plugins/start/skills/analyze in rsmdt/the-startup) into .agents/skills/analyze in your project. Codex loads it when a task matches its description.

Can I use Analyze 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 rsmdt/the-startup --skill analyze -a cursor` (or -a gemini-cli, github-copilot or opencode for the others). To copy it by hand, put the folder in .cursor/skills/analyze, .gemini/skills/analyze, .github/skills/analyze and .opencode/skills/analyze in your project.

What does Analyze need to run?

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

Does Analyze 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 Analyze 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 Analyze use?

Analyze 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 Analyze use?

About 1.9k tokens (SKILL.md is roughly 7.5k 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 Analyze?

Skills that share tags, products or a category with Analyze: Code Graph Mermaid Diagrams (trailofbits/skills, 7.4k stars), GitDiagram Repository Overview (ahmedkhaleel2004/gitdiagram, 18k stars), Deepwiki Rs (sopaco/deepwiki-rs, 3.1k stars) and GitDiagram Repo Architecture (ahmedkhaleel2004/gitdiagram, 18k stars). The comparison table on this page puts their stars, adoption, token cost, safety result and licence side by side.

Who maintains Analyze?

rsmdt (a GitHub user) maintains it in rsmdt/the-startup, which has 551 GitHub stars. The repository holds 27 skills in this directory. The repository was last updated on August 3, 2026.

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