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Claude Code: Explain This Repo Before Changing Anything

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The prompt

I'm new to this repo and I don't want you to change anything yet. Before we touch any code, read it and explain it to me. This is a read-only pass. Don't edit, create or delete files. Don't install anything, run migrations, or run anything that writes to a database or calls an outside service. Reading files, searching, and running the existing tests or a build are fine. If a command might change something, ask me first. Start with what's already written down: the README, CLAUDE.md or AGENTS.md if there is one, the package or build files, and the CI config. Then look at the code itself. Tell me: 1. What this project does, in two or three plain sentences. 2. How it's laid out: the main folders and what lives in each one. Skip anything generated or vendored. 3. Where things start: the entry points, and how one normal request or command moves through the code. Pick one real path and walk me through it with file names. 4. How to run it, test it and build it, based on what the repo actually says. If you ran the tests, tell me what passed and what failed. 5. The parts that look risky or confusing: odd patterns, big files everyone probably avoids, TODOs that matter, anything that looks half finished. 6. What you'd want to ask the person who wrote it. Point to the file (and line, when it helps) for anything you claim. If you're guessing, say it's a guess. If the docs and the code disagree, tell me which one you believe and why. My first task here will be: [what you plan to work on, or "not sure yet"]. At the end, tell me which files I should read first for that, and what I should be careful not to break.

Why this prompt

• Hand-picked, editorially reviewed prompt
• Written for Claude Code

Source

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