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SKILL.md
npx skills add repowise-dev/repowise --skill codebase-exploration
Use when exploring, understanding, or answering questions about a Repowise-indexed codebase, including architecture, where code is implemented, how a module works, or which files are relevant before reading source.
npx skills add repowise-dev/repowise --skill codebase-exploration
This project has a Repowise intelligence layer. Before grepping and reading raw source to understand the codebase, reach for the Repowise MCP tools — they return documentation, ownership, history, decisions, and graph structure that plain file reads don't, usually in one round-trip instead of many.
| You want… | Call |
|---|---|
| First orientation in an unfamiliar repo | get_overview() — architecture summary, key modules, entry points, git health, knowledge map. Skip it once you have the map. |
| A direct answer to "how/where/why does X work" | get_answer(question="…") — synthesised answer with citations + a retrieval_quality signal. Collapses the search → read → reason loop. |
| Find a symbol, file, or fuzzy concept | search_codebase(query="…") — hybrid search. mode="auto" routes an identifier to indexed symbol hits (symbol_id/line bounds → pipe into get_symbol), a path to file pages (→ get_context), and prose to semantic wiki search (each hit reports search_method: embedding vs bm25). Force a branch with mode=symbol|path|concept|hybrid; narrow symbols with symbol_kind. |
| A triage card for specific files/symbols | get_context(targets=[…]) — title, summary, signatures, hotspot bit, top callers, decision titles, symbol_ids (a row without one is path::name). Batch many targets in one call. |
| The actual source of one symbol | get_symbol("path/to/file.py::Name") — exact bytes with line bounds. Cheaper than Read + offset math. Use a symbol_id from get_context. |
get_overview() once.get_answer(question=…) first.
medium/low confidence → follow best_guesses[0].file or
fallback_targets[0] into get_context, then get_symbol for bytes.search_codebase(query="Name") /
search_codebase(query="path/to/file.py"); symbol hits pipe straight into
get_symbol, file hits into get_context.search_codebase, then get_context on the
hits (batched), then get_symbol only for the bodies you actually need.Fall back to your own file-reading and searching tools only when the indexed context doesn't cover the specific detail the user asked about.
_meta.stale_warning is present (the index has diverged from HEAD), orretrieval_quality is partial/weak, orsearch_method is bm25.Otherwise the response is current — act on it.
/prompts:repowise-init.
Add --no-editor-setup if this repo is a scratch clone, a fixture, or a
worktree: init otherwise repoints the user's single global repowise MCP
entry at it./prompts:repowise-ask, /prompts:repowise-context, /prompts:repowise-symbol,
/prompts:repowise-search) rather than grepping blind.get_answer/search_codebase come back empty → the repo may have a
template-rendered wiki. Fall back to get_context with explicit paths, and note
that model-written pages (repowise generate, or /prompts:repowise-init with an LLM
provider) unlock richer docs + semantic search.repowise binary may not be installed;
suggest /prompts:repowise-init.