About explain-code
A skill for developers who need a conceptual explanation of code behavior, architecture, or control flow. It produces a step-by-step account with key abstractions, assumptions, and edge cases, without targeting code edits or formal API documentation.
Key features
- 01Step-by-step code explanations
- 02Behavior, architecture, and control-flow coverage
- 03Key abstractions and assumptions
- 04Edge-case behavior
Use cases
- 01Understanding how a function behaves
- 02Reviewing code architecture
- 03Tracing control flow and edge cases
Install
Copy the command and run it in a terminal.
$
npx skills add https:/After installing, type/explain-codein Claude Code to confirm it loaded.
Details
From the project READMEExplain Code
Purpose
Get a detailed explanation of how code works
Routing
- Use when: Use when user asks for a conceptual explanation of function behavior, architecture, or control flow.
- Do not use when: Don't use when the task requires code edits or strict formal API docs.
- Outputs: Step-by-step explanation with key abstractions, assumptions, and edge-case behavior.
- Success criteria: Explanation matches code intent at requested level with minimal speculation and clear terminology.
Trigger Examples
Positive
- Use the explain-code skill for this request.
- Help me with explain code.
- Use when user asks for a conceptual explanation of function behavior, architecture, or control flow.
- Explain Code: provide an actionable result.
Negative
- Don't use when the task requires code edits or strict formal API docs.
- Do not use explain-code for unrelated requests.
- This request is outside explain code scope.
- This is conceptual discussion only; no tool workflow is needed.
Parameters
| Name | Type | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| path | string | Yes | Path to the file to explain |
| level | select | Yes | Explanation depth |
Runtime Prompt
- Current runtime prompt length: 268 characters.
- Runtime prompt is defined directly in
../explain-code.json.
Comments
Markdown supported