researching-external-repositories SKILL.md skillA
researching-external-repositories from ampcode/official-plugins is an agent skill: a SKILL.md folder an AI agent loads when a task calls for it.
mdr add ampcode/official-plugins/researching-external-repositories@git:20261023.acb8c9dPins git:20261023.acb8c9d in mdr.lock. Pin the fingerprint instead.
- Audit grade
- A, 17 of 17 checks passed
- Kind
- SKILL.md skill
- Repository
- ampcode/official-plugins
- Path
skills/researching-external-repositories/SKILL.md- Versions recorded
- 1
- Latest version
- git:20261023.acb8c9d, committed Oct 23, 2026
- Size
- 5,830 bytes
- Repository stars
- 21
- License
- none declared
Answers questions about another repository or a dependency by cloning it under a temporary directory and reading its source, docs, and history, and reports findings linked to GitHub at that revision. Use when the task is to learn how a dependency or upstream project works, why something changed in it, or how it compares with local code.
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
# Researching external repositories Answer the brief's question from the repository's own source, not from memory. Clone what you need, read it, and report findings the caller can verify from the links and from the local clones you leave behind. Where to look depends on the question. How it works: the source. How to use it: the docs for that version, and the source when the docs are unclear. Why or when it changed: `git log` and `git blame`, then the issues and pull requests the commits mention. A copy inside the workspace, such as `node_modules` or a vendored directory, tells you the version; read the code in the clone. ## Cloning Run git with `shell_command`, always with `workdir` set. Clone every repository you study into its own directory under `/tmp/amp-librarian/` named `<owner>__<repo>` (on Windows, under `%TEMP%\amp-librarian\`). Reuse the directory when it already exists (`test -d "$dir/.git"`). For `owner/repo` or a github.com URL, clone `https://github.com/<owner>/<repo>.git`; for another host, clone the URL as given. Private repositories the user can reach clone with the environment's git credentials; if a clone is denied, report that instead of guessing at the… …
Read the whole file at its exact version.
How to install
mdr add ampcode/official-plugins/researching-external-repositories@sha256:17cf71c07f8ee3cbThe line at the top of this page pins the label git:20261023.acb8c9d, 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_wuyzco5vevfonhak)
2 badge image fetches in 30 days. What the badge shows.
Versions
The registry has recorded 1 version of this file, committed on Oct 23, 2026.
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 (5830 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
ampcode/official-plugins · 21 stars · license none declared · pushed 2026-11-01 · branch main
API
GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/artifacts/art_wuyzco5vevfonhak GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/resolve?ref=ampcode/official-plugins/researching-external-repositories GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/blob/17cf71c07f8ee3cbefde3b36307e46544c18bc68a0da905ff80ab3f9b52b522a
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.