Understanding an unfamiliar repository
Get a reliable mental model of a codebase you inherited — entry points, data flow, hotspots and the questions you should ask a human.
BeginnerCOMMUNITY ANALYSISAny languageGit
Prompt
Analyse this repository. Produce: (1) a one-paragraph purpose statement, (2) the entry points, (3) a request/data flow walkthrough for the primary use case, (4) the five files most likely to need changes, (5) a list of open questions you cannot answer from the code alone.
Problem
Onboarding to an undocumented service costs days, and the knowledge lives with one person who is on holiday.
Scenario
You inherit a service two weeks before a production incident review.
Architecture
- Read-only analysis
- Output committed to the repo as ONBOARDING.md
Why Bob?
Breadth-first reading is where AI assistance is strongest and lowest risk — nothing is being changed.
Prompt
Use the prompt above from the repository root.
Bob Workflow
- Map the module graph
- Trace one request end to end
- Flag unknowns explicitly
Generated Result
An onboarding document plus a list of questions worth asking the previous maintainer.
Validation
- Verify the traced flow by adding one log line and running it
Security
Do not paste private repository content into tools your organisation has not approved.
Lessons Learned
- The 'open questions' list is the most valuable section
- Ask for file paths so every claim is checkable
Resources
- Your team's architecture decision records