Agent skill

Why This Change

by toshimaru in toshimaru/rubocop-rails_config

A skill your agent uses when the user asks "why was this cop added/removed", "find upstream PR for a cop", "trace cop change in Rails", "what's the reason for this cop", or wants to find the…

MITAuto-check: notesBackend & APIs

Install Why This Change

skills CLI
$ npx skills add toshimaru/rubocop-rails_config --skill why-this-change -a claude-code

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

GitHub CLI
$ gh skill install toshimaru/rubocop-rails_config why-this-change --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/toshimaru/rubocop-rails_config.git skills-src && mkdir -p .claude/skills && cp -r skills-src/.agents/skills/why-this-change .claude/skills/why-this-change && 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
why-this-change
GitHub stars
149
Token cost
~372 tokens
SKILL.md length
121 words
Files
1
Skills in repo
2
Repo updated
First seen
Licence
MIT

At a glance

A skill your agent uses when the user asks "why was this cop added/removed", "find upstream PR for a cop", "trace cop change in Rails", "what's the reason for this cop", or wants to find the…

  • Works in 4 steps: Search rails/rails with gh CLI → Verify the match → Fallback: Web search → …
  • The user asks why was this cop added/removed
  • Calls gh and rails
  • Find upstream PR for a cop

What it does

Why This Change is an agent skill from toshimaru/rubocop-rails_config. Use when the user asks "why was this cop added/removed", "find upstream PR for a cop", "trace cop change in Rails", "what's the reason for this cop", or wants to find the rails/rails PR or commit that introduced or removed a specific RuboCop cop.

Its SKILL.md is about 370 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 Backend & APIs, covering Backend development. The repository describes itself as: RuboCop configuration which has the same code style checking as official Ruby on Rails. The licence is MIT.

When your agent uses it

  • The user asks why was this cop added/removed
  • Find upstream PR for a cop
  • Trace cop change in Rails
  • Whats the reason for this cop

Example prompts

  • “why was this cop added/removed”
  • “find upstream PR for a cop”
  • “trace cop change in Rails”
  • “/why-this-change”

Requirements

  • Pre-approved tools (allowed-tools): Bash, WebSearch, WebFetch

Workflow steps

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

  1. Search rails/rails with gh CLI
  2. Verify the match
  3. Fallback: Web search
  4. Report findings

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit 5ab79eb. 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
    • WebSearch
    • WebFetch

    From allowed-tools in the SKILL.md frontmatter.

  • Runs code

    Shell commands in SKILL.md call:

    • gh
    • rails

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

  • Network

    No URLs in SKILL.md. Its commands use 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.

Context cost

Why This Change loads about 372 tokens when it runs. Until then it costs about 66 tokens; SKILL.md has 121 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it
~66
When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches
~372

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: notes

The automated check noted patterns worth knowing about, such as sudo or a known installer.

  • NotePre-approves every shell command (allowed-tools: Bash)SKILL.md
    allowed-tools: Bash, WebSearch, WebFetch

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 toshimaru/rubocop-rails_config at commit 5ab79eb, republished under its MIT licence (© toshimaru). 121 words, ~372 tokens.

Download SKILL.mdSave it as .claude/skills/why-this-change/SKILL.md (or your agent's skills folder).
name
why-this-change
description
Use when the user asks "why was this cop added/removed", "find upstream PR for a cop", "trace cop change in Rails", "what's the reason for this cop", or wants to find the rails/rails PR or commit that introduced or removed a specific RuboCop cop.
allowed-tools
Bash, WebSearch, WebFetch
args
copName

Why This Change

Research the upstream rails/rails repository to find the PR or commit that introduced or removed the given RuboCop cop, and summarize why the change was made.

Steps

1. Search rails/rails with gh CLI

Search for PRs and commits mentioning the cop name:

bash
gh search prs "{copName}" --repo rails/rails --limit 5
gh search commits "{copName}" --repo rails/rails --limit 5
2. Verify the match

For the most relevant result, check the .rubocop.yml diff to confirm it actually adds or removes the cop:

bash
gh pr diff <PR_NUMBER> --repo rails/rails -- .rubocop.yml
# or for commits:
gh api repos/rails/rails/commits/<SHA> --jq '.files[] | select(.filename == ".rubocop.yml") | .patch'

If gh CLI doesn't return useful results, use WebSearch:

  • Query: site:github.com/rails/rails "{copName}" .rubocop.yml
4. Report findings

Present:

  • PR/Commit URL: The link to the upstream change
  • Summary: A brief explanation of why the cop was added or removed
  • Relevant quote (if available): Key excerpt from the PR description or commit message

© toshimaru, 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 .agents/skills/why-this-change of toshimaru/rubocop-rails_config.

Open the folder on GitHubat commit 5ab79eb

Compare with similar skills

Why This Change 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.

Why This Change compared with similar skills
SkillStarsUsed inTokensAuto-checkLicenceRepo updated
Why This Change this skilltoshimaru/rubocop-rails_config149—~372Automated safety check: NotesMIT
Configuring Horizoncoollabsio/coolify63k4 repos~898Automated safety check: PassMIT
Fortify Developmentcoollabsio/coolify63k4 repos~1.9kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Node Backend Development Guidelinesdiet103/claude-code-infrastructure-showcase10k2 repos~2kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Laravel Best Practicesanonaddy/anonaddy4.9k13 repos~1.2kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Laravel Actionscoollabsio/coolify63k—~2.4kAutomated safety check: PassApache-2.0

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More from toshimaru/rubocop-rails_config

  • Check Config Diff

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Categories

Questions about Why This Change

What does Why This Change do?

A skill your agent uses when the user asks "why was this cop added/removed", "find upstream PR for a cop", "trace cop change in Rails", "what's the reason for this cop", or wants to find the…. Why This Change is an agent skill from toshimaru/rubocop-rails_config. Use when the user asks "why was this cop added/removed", "find upstream PR for a cop", "trace cop change in Rails", "what's the reason for this cop", or wants to find the rails/rails PR or commit that introduced or removed a specific RuboCop cop.

When should I use Why This Change?

Why This Change fits situations like: the user asks why was this cop added/removed; find upstream PR for a cop; trace cop change in Rails; whats the reason for this cop.

How do I install Why This Change in Claude Code?

Run `npx skills add toshimaru/rubocop-rails_config --skill why-this-change -a claude-code`. Or copy the skill folder (.agents/skills/why-this-change in toshimaru/rubocop-rails_config) into .claude/skills/why-this-change in your project. Claude Code loads it when a task matches its description.

How do I install Why This Change in Codex?

Run `npx skills add toshimaru/rubocop-rails_config --skill why-this-change -a codex`. Or copy the skill folder (.agents/skills/why-this-change in toshimaru/rubocop-rails_config) into .agents/skills/why-this-change in your project. Codex loads it when a task matches its description.

Can I use Why This Change 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 toshimaru/rubocop-rails_config --skill why-this-change -a cursor` (or -a gemini-cli, github-copilot or opencode for the others). To copy it by hand, put the folder in .cursor/skills/why-this-change, .gemini/skills/why-this-change, .github/skills/why-this-change and .opencode/skills/why-this-change in your project.

What does Why This Change need to run?

Going by SKILL.md and its folder, Why This Change needs the command-line tools its instructions call (gh and rails). Its frontmatter pre-approves these tools: Bash, WebSearch, WebFetch.

Does Why This Change access the network?

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

Is Why This Change safe to install?

Our automated static check of SKILL.md found notes only (pre-approves every shell command (allowed-tools: bash)), nothing it rates as a warning. It is not a guarantee. Review the folder before installing.

What licence does Why This Change use?

Why This Change 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 Why This Change use?

About 372 tokens (SKILL.md is roughly 1.5k 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 Why This Change?

Skills that share tags, products or a category with Why This Change: Configuring Horizon (coollabsio/coolify, 63k stars), Fortify Development (coollabsio/coolify, 63k stars), Node Backend Development Guidelines (diet103/claude-code-infrastructure-showcase, 10k stars) and Laravel Best Practices (anonaddy/anonaddy, 4.9k stars). The comparison table on this page puts their stars, adoption, token cost, safety result and licence side by side.

Who maintains Why This Change?

toshimaru (a GitHub user) maintains it in toshimaru/rubocop-rails_config, which has 149 GitHub stars. The repository holds 2 skills in this directory. The repository was last updated on July 4, 2026.

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