mcpbeat

Analyzing Projects

cloudai-x/analyzing-projects

Analyzes codebases to understand structure, tech stack, patterns, and conventions. Use when onboarding to a new project, exploring unfamiliar code, or when asked "how does this work?" or "what's the architecture?

957 tokens
context cost
the whole folder, loaded on every use
1
files
instructions only
0
copies elsewhere
how many repositories repackaged it
1395
stars on the repo
on the repository, not the skill itself

Install

one command, takes just this skill from the repository 
npx skills add https://github.com/CloudAI-X/claude-workflow-v2 --skill analyzing-projects

The instruction itself

13 sections, as written by the author

Analyzing Projects

When to Load

  • Trigger: Onboarding to a new project, "how does this work" questions, codebase exploration, understanding unfamiliar code
  • Skip: Already familiar with the project structure and patterns

Project Analysis Workflow

Copy this checklist and track progress:

Project Analysis Progress:
- [ ] Step 1: Quick overview (README, root files)
- [ ] Step 2: Detect tech stack
- [ ] Step 3: Map project structure
- [ ] Step 4: Identify key patterns
- [ ] Step 5: Find development workflow
- [ ] Step 6: Generate summary report

Step 1: Quick Overview

# Check for common project markers
ls -la
cat README.md 2>/dev/null | head -50

Step 2: Tech Stack Detection

Package Managers & Dependencies

  • package.json → Node.js/JavaScript/TypeScript
  • requirements.txt / pyproject.toml / setup.py → Python
  • go.mod → Go
  • Cargo.toml → Rust
  • pom.xml / build.gradle → Java
  • Gemfile → Ruby

Frameworks (from dependencies)

  • React, Vue, Angular, Next.js, Nuxt
  • Express, FastAPI, Django, Flask, Rails
  • Spring Boot, Gin, Echo

Infrastructure

  • Dockerfile, docker-compose.yml → Containerized
  • kubernetes/, k8s/ → Kubernetes
  • terraform/, .tf files → IaC
  • serverless.yml → Serverless Framework
  • .github/workflows/ → GitHub Actions

Step 3: Project Structure Analysis

Present as a tree with annotations:

project/
├── src/              # Source code
│   ├── components/   # UI components (React/Vue)
│   ├── services/     # Business logic
│   ├── models/       # Data models
│   └── utils/        # Shared utilities
├── tests/            # Test files
├── docs/             # Documentation
└── config/           # Configuration

Step 4: Key Patterns Identification

Look for and report:

  • Architecture: Monolith, Microservices, Serverless, Monorepo
  • API Style: REST, GraphQL, gRPC, tRPC
  • State Management: Redux, Zustand, MobX, Context
  • Database: SQL, NoSQL, ORM used
  • Authentication: JWT, OAuth, Sessions
  • Testing: Jest, Pytest, Go test, etc.

Step 5: Development Workflow

Check for:

  • .eslintrc, .prettierrc → Linting/Formatting
  • .husky/ → Git hooks
  • Makefile → Build commands
  • scripts/ in package.json → NPM scripts

Step 6: Output Format

Generate a summary using this template:

# Project: [Name]

## Overview

[1-2 sentence description]

## Tech Stack

| Category  | Technology |
| --------- | ---------- |
| Language  | TypeScript |
| Framework | Next.js 14 |
| Database  | PostgreSQL |
| ...       | ...        |

## Architecture

[Description with simple ASCII diagram if helpful]

## Key Directories

- `src/` - [purpose]
- `lib/` - [purpose]

## Entry Points

- Main: `src/index.ts`
- API: `src/api/`
- Tests: `npm test`

## Conventions

- [Naming conventions]
- [File organization patterns]
- [Code style preferences]

## Quick Commands

| Action  | Command         |
| ------- | --------------- |
| Install | `npm install`   |
| Dev     | `npm run dev`   |
| Test    | `npm test`      |
| Build   | `npm run build` |

Analysis Validation

After completing analysis, verify:

Analysis Validation:
- [ ] All major directories explained
- [ ] Tech stack accurately identified
- [ ] Entry points documented
- [ ] Development commands verified working
- [ ] No assumptions made without evidence

If any items cannot be verified, note them as "needs clarification" in the report.

How to use it

Copy the folder

Take cloudai-x/analyzing-projects from the repository into ~/.claude/skills for personal use, or into .claude/skills inside a project.

Check the name does not clash

The agent identifies a skill by the name field in its header. Two skills with the same name cannot sit side by side — one of them will be ignored.

Install what it needs

The instructions reference npm. Without those the skill loads but fails at the first command.