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lengjingxulengjingxu/pstack-for-codex/skills/how/SKILL.md

how

Skill1 starsChanged 24 days agoMITView on GitHub

Use for \"how does X work\", code walkthroughs before changing something, and placement / ownership / layering questions (\"where should this live\", \"which package owns this\", \"is this the right layer\"). Explains subsystem architecture, runtime flow, onboarding mental models. Use why for motivation.

90 other projects use a version of this, 50 of them edited.

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Most recently taken up by

Used with

Projects with it also use ketchup-video, maintain-formal-verification-skill and 1 more.

Other files people use alongside this one.

Files found in the same public projects as a version of this one, more often than they turn up anywhere else. Each project counts once, large collections count for less, and this file's own repository is left out.
  • tristanphvnSkill

    ketchup-video

    Catch the user up like /keel:ketchup, with a short silent video of slides for what happened and the waiting calls as text under it. Use for /keel:ketchup-video.

    Also in 13 projects that use this

  • TheOnlyFusionCubeSkill

    maintain-formal-verification-skill

    Bring a project's formal verification back in line with the code after the code changes: find the commits that touched verified code, update the model, harness, or properties to describe the code as it is now, rerun, and say whether each failure is drift in the verification or a bug in the code. Use for /maintain-formal-verification-skill, \"is the model still true to the code\", or after merges and refactors that touched verified code without rechecking it.

    Also in 20 projects that use this

  • TheOnlyFusionCubeSkill

    statechart

    Draw what an app's user sees as a Mermaid statechart from a TLA+ model. States are gray if they work, red if still wrong, and green if fixed. Each bug TLC finds is a numbered path. Use for /statechart, \"show the PM the bug\", or to turn an agreed chart into a TLA+ skeleton.

    Also in 16 projects that use this

The file

We split this skill into the rules it gives an agent

2 rules. 0 are common, 2 are distinctive, and 0 are very specific to this project.

  • 0

    Common

    Most of the 89 edited versions we read keep these.

  • 2

    Distinctive

    This author's own choices. Worth a look.

  • 0

    Very specific

    Tied to their project's names, files or tools. Probably skip.

  • Common
  • Distinctive
  • Very specific
  1. Distinctive:

    If the scope is ambiguous, state your interpretation and explore.

    line 14
  2. Distinctive:

    When in doubt, take the simple path.

    line 19

“Common” is measured: kept by at least 6 in 10 of the 89 edited versions of this file we could read. “Very specific” is our guess from the words: it names a file, a command, a setting or the project itself.

Keep what fits and drop the rest. Your version, ready for your agents.
Files
SKILL.md

How

Explore the codebase to answer "how does X work?" questions. Produce architectural explanations at the level of a senior engineer onboarding onto a subsystem, enough to build a working mental model, not so much that it reads like annotated source code.

Every spawn is a read-only subagent. Explorers use the how explorer line in the ~/.codex/pstack-models.md file (default gpt-6.1-sol), and every explainer uses the how explainer line (default gpt-6-astra). Set model to that line's value, or to the default if the rule or the line is missing. Leave model unset when the value is auto or inherit-parent. If spawn_agent rejects a slug, use the default and say so. If it rejects the default, use the closest valid slug of the same family from its error message. Pick each subagent's reasoning effort for the job, per the Subagents section of the poteto-mode skill.

1. Assess complexity

If the scope is ambiguous, state your interpretation and explore. The user can redirect.

  • Simple (a single module, a small utility, a narrow question such as "how does function X work"): no explorers. Spawn one explainer that explores and explains in one pass, built from references/explainer-prompt.md without the explorer-findings section. Go to step 4.
  • Complex (a subsystem spanning multiple files or services, a cross-cutting feature, a full architectural overview): go to step 2.

When in doubt, take the simple path.

2. Explore (complex only)

Decompose the question into 2 to 4 angles, each a distinct slice of the subsystem. Spawn all explorers in a single message, each with references/explorer-prompt.md and its angle filled in.

3. Synthesize (complex only)

Once all explorers have returned, spawn one explainer with references/explainer-prompt.md and every explorer's findings filled in.

4. Present

Present the explainer's output. Light edits for clarity or context from the conversation are fine. Do not substantially rewrite it.

Output format

The explanation uses the sections defined in references/explainer-prompt.md, dropping any that do not apply: Overview, Key Concepts, How It Works, Where Things Live, Gotchas.

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