codebase-onboarding SKILL.md skillA
codebase-onboarding from ericrisco/rsc-harness is an agent skill: a SKILL.md folder an AI agent loads when a task calls for it.
mdr add ericrisco/rsc-harness/codebase-onboarding@git:20260729.3ecb845Pins git:20260729.3ecb845 in mdr.lock. Pin the fingerprint instead.
- Audit grade
- A, 17 of 17 checks passed
- Kind
- SKILL.md skill
- Repository
- ericrisco/rsc-harness
- Path
skills/codebase-onboarding/SKILL.md- Versions recorded
- 2
- Latest version
- git:20260729.3ecb845, committed Jul 29, 2026
- First version recorded
- Jun 2, 2026
- Size
- 9,539 bytes
- Repository stars
- 236
- License
- MIT
Use when you land in an unfamiliar or inherited codebase and must get productive fast: a breadth-first map of entry points, request flow, module ownership, hidden side effects (cron, webhooks, workers) and churn hotspots, committed as CODEBASE-MAP.md. NOT a deep audit of one module (that is `analyze`) or chasing one failure (that is `debug`).
Collected from public GitHub. Every version is saved exactly as it was and never changes. Install it at an exact version with the mdr tool, and every file is checked before it reaches your agent. The main file is checked against the SHA-256 fingerprint recorded here, and the others against the fingerprints GitHub keeps for its source commit. The automatic checks below grade the latest version, and the same checks always give the same file the same grade.
What the file says
# Codebase onboarding — get oriented fast, leave a map You have just landed in a codebase you did not write: a fresh clone, an inherited project, an acquired repo, an abandoned side project someone handed you. The instinct is to start reading files top-to-bottom. Resist it. That is how a week disappears and you still cannot answer "where does X happen". This skill runs a disciplined **breadth-first reconnaissance pass** and produces one durable artifact: a map a teammate can trust and you can re-read tomorrow. The payoff is measured. Engineers using AI to onboard reach the same milestones roughly **2x faster** — productive in 1–2 weeks instead of 4–6 — and the biggest gains are exactly in *searching for code, decoding undocumented patterns, and tracing data flows* (super-productivity.com, accessed 2026-06-02). That is what the recon pass below targets, in order. ## Lead with the deliverable Before you grep a single line, know the target: a single living file, `CODEBASE-MAP.md`, committed at the repo root. You work *backward* from its sections — every recon step fills one. Minimal schema: ```markdown # CODEBASE-MAP.md — <repo name> …
Read the whole file at its exact version.
How to install
mdr add ericrisco/rsc-harness/codebase-onboarding@sha256:ddf55cfff35b3511The line at the top of this page pins the label git:20260729.3ecb845, which is what most people want. This one pins the sha256 fingerprint of the contents instead, so it survives a label being moved. Either way the exact version is written to mdr.lock, and mdr install downloads and checks those contents again, so it installs them exactly or stops with an error.
[](https://markdownregistry.com/a/art_5bi4wnvrxruiz2gz)
3 badge image fetches in 30 days. What the badge shows.
Versions
The registry has recorded 2 versions of this file, between Jun 2, 2026 and Jul 29, 2026, about one every 57 days.
| version | committed | commit | size | audit | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| git:20260729.3ecb845 latest | 2026-07-29 | 3ecb845 | 9,539 B | A | view · diff |
| git:20260602.99b4be1 | 2026-06-02 | 99b4be1 | 10,175 B | A | view |
Audit of the latest version
- pass: Frontmatter block present
- pass: Frontmatter declares a name
- pass: Frontmatter declares a description
- pass: Size between 200 bytes and 200 KB (9539 bytes)
- pass: No zero-width or bidi control characters
- pass: No instruction hidden inside an HTML comment
- pass: No link to an exfiltration or paste host
- pass: No credential-shaped string
- pass: No instruction to send local credentials anywhere
- pass: No text hidden with inline styles
- pass: No prompt-injection phrasing
- pass: No curl or wget piped into a shell
- pass: No recursive delete of root, home or parent
- pass: No instruction to read or print local credentials
- pass: No base64 blob over 200 characters
- pass: No link to a raw IP address
- pass: No script tag
Source
ericrisco/rsc-harness · 236 stars · license MIT · pushed 2026-10-21 · branch main
API
GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/artifacts/art_5bi4wnvrxruiz2gz GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/resolve?ref=ericrisco/rsc-harness/codebase-onboarding GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/blob/ddf55cfff35b3511676307cf1748cdd4b3c96a7d8e1f8fbf6400ec559d4a7825
Your AI assistant does the legwork. You hear about the deals worth your word. Hand yours the standing instructions at modelranch.com and it joins the network that reads files like this one.
Guides: the SKILL.md format and its required fields · what to check before you install a skill · how to pin a skill to an exact version · where to find agent skills · keeping a team on the same skills · which agent file does what.
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