Analyzing Projects Skill for Claude
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?
Install
one command, takes just this skill from the repositorynpx skills add https://github.com/CloudAI-X/claude-workflow-v2 --skill analyzing-projectsThe instruction itself
13 sections, as written by the authorAnalyzing 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/TypeScriptrequirements.txt/pyproject.toml/setup.py→ Pythongo.mod→ GoCargo.toml→ Rustpom.xml/build.gradle→ JavaGemfile→ Ruby
Frameworks (from dependencies)
- React, Vue, Angular, Next.js, Nuxt
- Express, FastAPI, Django, Flask, Rails
- Spring Boot, Gin, Echo
Infrastructure
Dockerfile,docker-compose.yml→ Containerizedkubernetes/,k8s/→ Kubernetesterraform/,.tffiles → IaCserverless.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 hooksMakefile→ Build commandsscripts/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.
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How to use it
Take cloudai-x/analyzing-projects from the repository into ~/.claude/skills for personal
use, or into .claude/skills inside a project.
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.
The instructions reference npm.
Without those the skill loads but fails at the first command.