Codebase Onboarding

What the source does

• FilesystemNone observedNo reads or writes in the source
• NetworkNone observedNo outbound calls in the source
• ShellNone observedNo commands run in the source
• DependenciesPinnedNothing floats
• SecretsFoundSee the findings; values are never shown

Five audit layers

Gates applied: no behavioural pass.

.codex/skills/a11y-audit

.codex/skills/ab-test-setup

.codex/skills/account-executive

.codex/skills/ad-creative

.codex/skills/aeo

#   DATA…://…@localhost:5432/myapp

Audit 0.4.1 · source sha 6e3fcbdbb5cf · 19 Oct 2026Report an issue or request a re-scan

• Publisherborghei GitHub userOwner of the repository this skill is read from
• Source folderborghei/Claude-Skills/engineering/codebase-onboardingThe exact folder we audited
• LicenceNOASSERTIONAs the repository states it
• Commit pinned for this verdict6e3fcbdbb5cfA new audit runs when the source changes
• Repository statusNot archivedLast push 12 days ago
• Sandboxed runNot runSkills are read, not executed; layer L4 is skipped

Its description: Analyze a codebase and generate onboarding docs: architecture overviews, file maps, setup guides, runbooks, and debugging guides. Use when onboarding new team members, open-sourcing, or documenting after a major…

---
name: codebase-onboarding
description: >
  Analyze a codebase and generate onboarding docs: architecture overviews, file maps, setup
  guides, runbooks, and debugging guides. Use when onboarding new team members, open-sourcing,
  or documenting after a major refactor.
license: MIT + Commons Clause
metadata:
  version: 1.1.0
  author: borghei
  category: engineering
  domain: developer-experience
  tier: POWERFUL
  updated: 2026-06-17
  frameworks: markdown, notion, confluence
---
# Codebase Onboarding

Analyze any codebase and generate production-quality onboarding documentation tailored to the audience. Produces architecture overviews with system diagrams, annotated key file maps, step-by-step local setup guides, common developer task runbooks, debugging guides with real error solutions, and contribution guidelines. Supports Markdown, Notion, and Confluence output formats.

## Core Capabilities

- **Architecture analysis** — tech stack identification from manifests/lockfiles, system boundary mapping, Mermaid data-flow diagrams, dependency graphs, module ownership.
- **Key file annotation** — surface the 20 most important files and why they matter; mark entry points, config hubs, shared utilities, and files dangerous to modify without coordination.
- **Setup guide generation** — prerequisites with exact versions, `git clone`-to-tests steps, env-var docs, infra setup (Docker/DB/cache), and a verification checklist.
- **Task runbooks** — add an API endpoint, run/write tests, create & apply migrations, deploy to staging/production, add a dependency safely.
- **Debugging guide** — common errors with exact messages and fixes, log locations by environment, diagnostic SQL/CLI queries, local reproduction of production issues.
- **Audience-aware output** — tailored additions for junior developers, senior engineers, and contractors; Markdown / Notion / Confluence formats.

**Keywords:** codebase onboarding, developer experience, documentation, architecture overview, setup guide, debugging guide, contribution guidelines, code walkthrough, new hire onboarding

## When to Use

- Onboarding a new team member (junior, senior, or contractor)
- After a major refactor that made existing docs stale
- Before open-sourcing a project
- Creating a team wiki page for a service you own
- Self-documenting before a long vacation or team transition
- Preparing for a compliance audit that requires documentation

## Clarify First

Before generating the docs, confirm these inputs. If any is unknown or vague, ASK — do not assume:

- [ ] **Target codebase path** — which project to analyze (the input all three scripts scan)
- [ ] **Audience** — junior developer, senior engineer, or contractor (tailors which sections appear and at what depth)
- [ ] **Output format** — Markdown, Notion, or Confluence (sets the generated document format)

Stop rule: ask only the 2-3 that most change the output. If the user says "just draft it," proceed and list your assumptions at the top of the artifact.

## Tools

| Tool | Purpose | Command |
|------|---------|---------|
| `architecture_mapper.py` | Analyze project structure and generate a high-level architecture map | `python scripts/architecture_mapper.py /path/to/project --json` |
| `onboarding_generator.py` | Scan a project directory and generate an onboarding guide | `python scripts/onboarding_generator.py /path/to/project --json` |
| `setup_validator.py` | Validate a project's development setup completeness | `python scripts/setup_validator.py /path/to/project --json` |

All tools accept an optional `directory` argument (default: current directory) and `--json` for machine-readable output.

## References

Load the reference that matches the task — keep this file lean and pull detail on demand:

- **[references/fact-gathering-and-patterns.md](references/fact-gathering-and-patterns.md)** — the Phase 1 fact-gathering shell commands and the Phase 2 architecture-pattern classification table. Read when analyzing a codebase before writing docs.
- **[references/documentation-templates.md](references/documentation-templates.md)** — the architecture overview, key file map, local setup, and debugging guide templates plus audience-specific (junior/senior/contractor) additions. Read when generating the actual onboarding documents.
- **[references/quality-and-best-practices.md](references/quality-and-best-practices.md)** — quality verification checklist, common pitfalls, best practices, a troubleshooting matrix, and success criteria. Read before shipping onboarding docs.

## Scope & Limitations

**This skill covers:**
- Generating architecture overviews, key file maps, setup guides, task runbooks, and debugging guides from codebase analysis
- Audience-aware documentation tailored for junior developers, senior engineers, and contractors
- Output in Markdown, Notion, and Confluence formats
- Quality verification checklists and freshness audit processes

**This skill does NOT cover:**
- Automated API reference generation from code annotations — see `engineering/changelog-generator` for release-oriented docs or `engineering/api-design-reviewer` for API quality
- Continuous documentation pipelines or CI-triggered doc builds — see `engineering/ci-cd-pipeline-builder` for pipeline automation
- Security-focused documentation such as threat models or access control matrices — see `engineering/skill-security-auditor` for security auditing
- Runbook generation for incident response and production operations — see `engineering/runbook-generator` for operational runbooks

## Integration Points

| Skill | Integration | Data Flow |
|-------|------------|-----------|
| `engineering/runbook-generator` | Onboarding task runbooks can seed operational runbooks for production incident response | Onboarding runbook templates → Runbook Generator for ops-grade expansion |
| `engineering/api-design-reviewer` | API route analysis from Phase 1 feeds into API design quality reviews | Discovered API endpoints → API Desig

Excerpt, first 6,000 characters of SKILL.md, verbatim from the audited commit. It is text from someone else’s repository, quoted so you can judge it before your agent reads it.

git clone [repo-url]

git clone https://github.com/borghei/Claude-Skills
git -C Claude-Skills checkout 6e3fcbdbb5cf

Works in

1. 2026-10-19
   !CAUTION B 87 / 100

   first audit · source 6e3fcbdbb5cf

Questions about Codebase Onboarding

• github.com/borghei/Claude-Skills/tree/main/engineering/codebase- — the audited source at commit 6e3fcbdbb5cf and every finding aboveObserved · 19 Oct 2026

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