Explore Codebase Skill

Pattern for exploring codebases efficiently with parallel subagents.

When to Load This Skill

• You need to understand parts of the codebase
• You're gathering context before making decisions
• You need to find patterns, conventions, or existing implementations

Exploration Strategy

For Quick Searches (Do Yourself)

Glob("**/*{keyword}*")
Grep(pattern="functionName", type="ts")

Use when looking for a specific thing.

For Broad Understanding (Spawn Explorers)

Spawn parallel explorer subagents:

Task(
  subagent_type: "explorer",  # Custom dotagent agent (lowercase)
  model: "haiku",
  prompt: |
    Query: {specific question}
    Hints: {where to look}
    Scope: {limit if needed}

    Return structured YAML:
    - findings (location, relevance, summary)
    - patterns_observed
    - related_areas
    - gaps
)

Spawn multiple for different areas simultaneously.

Note: Use "explorer" (lowercase) for the custom dotagent agent defined in @.claude/agents/explorer.md. The built-in "Explore" (capitalized) is a different Claude Code agent with simpler behavior.

Synthesize Results

Combine explorer outputs into coherent understanding:

• Common patterns across areas
• Integration points
• Constraints discovered
• Gaps to note

Output Format

After exploration, summarize as:

codebase_context:
  architecture_summary: string
  existing_patterns: [string]
  integration_points: [string]
  constraints: [string]
  gaps: [string]

Principles

• Parallel over sequential - Spawn multiple explorers at once
• Breadth over depth - Explore broadly first
• Structured output - Always produce YAML summaries
• Note gaps - What you couldn't find matters