importing-a-codebase SKILL.md skillA
importing-a-codebase from jetbrains/thinkrail is an agent skill: a SKILL.md folder an AI agent loads when a task calls for it.
mdr add jetbrains/thinkrail/importing-a-codebase@git:20261013.ba8d9d8Pins git:20261013.ba8d9d8 in mdr.lock. Pin the fingerprint instead.
- Audit grade
- A, 17 of 17 checks passed
- Kind
- SKILL.md skill
- Repository
- jetbrains/thinkrail
- Path
packages/pi-thinkrail-workflow/skills/importing-a-codebase/SKILL.md- Versions recorded
- 6
- Latest version
- git:20261013.ba8d9d8, committed Oct 13, 2026
- First version recorded
- Jul 13, 2026
- Size
- 7,034 bytes
- Repository stars
- 7,127
- License
- Apache-2.0
Use when asked to create the initial spec graph for an existing codebase that has source code but no specs. Normally reached via setting-up-a-project.
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
# Importing a codebase The workspace holds real code but no specs. **Reverse-engineer the spec graph the project should have had.** When the repo already carries real spec-like documents, build the graph around them, not parallel to them. Do as much as possible yourself, from the files; ask the user only where the code genuinely can't tell you and the answer changes a spec. **Hold the writing-specs bar.** Read that concept skill before drafting — everything in this flow is inferred rather than confirmed, so its honesty rules (draft until the user reviews, unconfirmed marked inline) bind hardest here. ## 1. Read first, ask last Survey before you ask a single question. Read, in roughly this order: - **Agent files (mine these first — they state intent + conventions directly):** `AGENTS.md`, `CLAUDE.md`, `.cursor/rules/*`, `.cursorrules`, `.github/copilot-instructions.md`, `GEMINI.md`, `.windsurfrules`. - **Docs:** `README`, `docs/`, `CONTRIBUTING`, ADRs. - **Manifests & layout:** `package.json` / `pyproject.toml` / `go.mod` / `Cargo.toml`, workspace globs, `tree`-style structure, entry points, build/test scripts. …
Read the whole file at its exact version.
How to install
mdr add jetbrains/thinkrail/importing-a-codebase@sha256:b773b64c58e2ecc2The line at the top of this page pins the label git:20261013.ba8d9d8, 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_kn66e2bqmmpcgo6q)
3 badge image fetches in 30 days. What the badge shows.
Versions
The registry has recorded 6 versions of this file, between Jul 13, 2026 and Oct 13, 2026, about one every 18 days.
| version | committed | commit | size | audit | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| git:20261013.ba8d9d8 latest | 2026-10-13 | ba8d9d8 | 7,034 B | A | view · diff |
| git:20261003.09da7f1 | 2026-10-03 | 09da7f1 | 6,484 B | A | view · diff |
| git:20260929.fdbbc1d | 2026-09-29 | fdbbc1d | 6,470 B | A | view · diff |
| git:20260915.0a41d5d | 2026-09-15 | 0a41d5d | 6,367 B | A | view · diff |
| git:20260721.15052a8 | 2026-07-21 | 15052a8 | 6,411 B | A | view · diff |
| git:20260713.f2e4d5a | 2026-07-13 | f2e4d5a | 4,604 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 (7034 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
jetbrains/thinkrail · 7,127 stars · license Apache-2.0 · pushed 2026-11-02 · branch main
API
GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/artifacts/art_kn66e2bqmmpcgo6q GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/resolve?ref=jetbrains/thinkrail/importing-a-codebase GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/blob/b773b64c58e2ecc2879027f9511977a9255fdfa6945bc2dd0690df505879076f
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.