explainshell SKILL.md skillA
explainshell from taracodlabs/aiden is an agent skill: a SKILL.md folder an AI agent loads when a task calls for it.
mdr add taracodlabs/aiden/explainshell@v1.0.0Pins v1.0.0 in mdr.lock. Pin the fingerprint instead.
- Audit grade
- A, 17 of 17 checks passed
- Kind
- SKILL.md skill
- Repository
- taracodlabs/aiden
- Path
skills/explainshell/SKILL.md- Versions recorded
- 3
- Latest version
- v1.0.0, committed May 6, 2026
- First version recorded
- Apr 22, 2026
- Size
- 3,459 bytes
- Repository stars
- 875
- License
- AGPL-3.0
Explain shell commands in plain English (explainshell.com).
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
# ExplainShell — Shell Command Explainer
Paste any shell command or one-liner and get a plain-English breakdown of every flag, argument, and pipe stage. Powered by explainshell.com, which maps commands to their man-page descriptions.
**No API key required.** Works immediately for any user.
## When to Use
- User pastes a cryptic command and asks "what does this do?"
- Reviewing an unfamiliar bash script or automation pipeline
- Learning: user wants to understand each part of a complex one-liner
- Documentation: need to annotate shell commands in runbooks
- User asks "explain this command", "what does this flag mean?", "break this down"
## How to Use
### Explain a single command (browser link)
```powershell
# The simplest approach — open the explanation in the browser
$command = "tar -xzf archive.tar.gz -C /tmp"
$encoded = [Uri]::EscapeDataString($command)
Start-Process "https://explainshell.com/explain?cmd=$encoded"
Write-Host "Opened: https://explainshell.com/explain?cmd=$encoded"
```
### Fetch explanation text directly (PowerShell)
```powershell
$command = "find . -type f -name '*.log' -mtime +7 -exec rm {} \;"
$encoded = [Uri]::EscapeDataString($command)
…Read the whole file at its exact version.
How to install
mdr add taracodlabs/aiden/explainshell@sha256:40ac2ed8e20c1ef6The line at the top of this page pins the label v1.0.0, 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_ddg44gmxqd7ciwuf)
3 badge image fetches in 30 days. What the badge shows.
Versions
The registry has recorded 3 versions of this file, between Apr 22, 2026 and May 6, 2026, about one every 7 days.
| version | committed | commit | size | audit | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| v1.0.0 latest | 2026-05-06 | ba6fa84 | 3,459 B | A | view · diff |
| v1.0.0 | 2026-05-03 | 73c32aa | 3,505 B | A | view · diff |
| v1.0.0 | 2026-04-22 | 4650031 | 3,485 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 (3459 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
taracodlabs/aiden · 875 stars · license AGPL-3.0 · pushed 2026-10-19 · branch main
API
GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/artifacts/art_ddg44gmxqd7ciwuf GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/resolve?ref=taracodlabs/aiden/explainshell GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/blob/40ac2ed8e20c1ef66c04148845809f3e477c259606a9fecbcaa34303ce81d1ff
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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