Analyze a codebase and generate onboarding documentation for engineers, tech leads, and contractors. Fast fact-gathering and repeatable onboarding outputs. Use when onboarding a new engineer, writing architecture-overview docs for a new project, or producing tech-lead briefings for unfamiliar repos.
Install with the open skills CLI (global, non-interactive — available in every Claude Code session):
npx skills add alirezarezvani/claude-skills --skill "codebase-onboarding" -g -a claude-code -yOr manually — clone and copy the skill directory (SKILL.md + companion files):
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/alirezarezvani/claude-skills /tmp/claude-skills && cp -r /tmp/claude-skills/engineering/skills/codebase-onboarding ~/.claude/skills/codebase-onboarding-alirezarezvani-2This skill is a directory: SKILL.md is the entry point; the files below ship with it.
---
name: "codebase-onboarding"
description: "Analyze a codebase and generate onboarding documentation for engineers, tech leads, and contractors. Fast fact-gathering and repeatable onboarding outputs. Use when onboarding a new engineer, writing architecture-overview docs for a new project, or producing tech-lead briefings for unfamiliar repos."
---
# Codebase Onboarding
**Tier:** POWERFUL
**Category:** Engineering
**Domain:** Documentation / Developer Experience
---
## Overview
Analyze a codebase and generate onboarding documentation for engineers, tech leads, and contractors. This skill is optimized for fast fact-gathering and repeatable onboarding outputs.
## Core Capabilities
- Architecture and stack discovery from repository signals
- Key file and config inventory for new contributors
- Local setup and common-task guidance generation
- Audience-aware documentation framing
- Debugging and contribution checklist scaffolding
---
## When to Use
- Onboarding a new team member or contractor
- Rebuilding stale project docs after large refactors
- Preparing internal handoff documentation
- Creating a standardized onboarding packet for services
---
## Quick Start
```bash
# 1) Gather codebase facts
python3 scripts/codebase_analyzer.py /path/to/repo
# 2) Export machine-readable output
python3 scripts/codebase_analyzer.py /path/to/repo --json
# 3) Use the template to draft onboarding docs
# See references/onboarding-template.md
```
---
## Recommended Workflow
1. Run `scripts/codebase_analyzer.py` against the target repository.
2. Capture key signals: file counts, detected languages, config files, top-level structure.
3. Fill the onboarding template in `references/onboarding-template.md`.
4. Tailor output depth by audience:
- Junior: setup + guardrails
- Senior: architecture + operational concerns
- Contractor: scoped ownership + integration boundaries
---
## Onboarding Document Template
Detailed template and section examples live in:
- `references/onboarding-template.md`
- `references/output-format-templates.md`
---
## Common Pitfalls
- Writing docs without validating setup commands on a clean environment
- Mixing architecture deep-dives into contractor-oriented docs
- Omitting troubleshooting and verification steps
- Letting onboarding docs drift from current repo state
## Best Practices
1. Keep setup instructions executable and time-bounded.
2. Document the "why" for key architectural decisions.
3. Update docs in the same PR as behavior changes.
4. Treat onboarding docs as living operational assets, not one-time deliverables.
You MUST use this before any creative work - creating features, building components, adding functionality, or modifying behavior. Explores user intent, requirements and design before implementation.
Use when you have a written implementation plan to execute in a separate session with review checkpoints
Use when executing implementation plans with independent tasks in the current session