explain

A command that explains code, programming ideas, or the overall structure of a software system in increasing levels of detail.

In plain words
What is it for?
Use it to understand components, data flow, algorithms, design patterns, trade-offs, examples, and edge cases.
Why use it?
It helps turn unfamiliar code into a clear picture of its purpose, parts, execution flow, and design choices.

Command

Install

Getting it into your agent

One page per mod, every tool's command on it. A separate URL per tool would split the same page into five that compete with each other.

agentmods
npx agentmods add commands/dev-gom/claude-code-marketplace/explain
Clone the repo
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/Dev-GOM/claude-code-marketplace
Per session 10 Only the description is in the session, so the agent can decide to use it. The body loads when it is invoked.
When invoked 274 The whole file, excluding the scripts and references it only reads on demand.
Security scan A 0 findings. Scan, not verified.
Origin original No closer match found in the catalogue.
Token cost

What it costs to keep this loaded

Counted locally with the o200k_base tokenizer, which is exact for GPT models; Claude uses its own tokenizer and its counts differ. Treat this as one consistent yardstick across the catalogue rather than a bill. Prices are per million input tokens.

ModelPer sessionOnce invoked
Fable 5 $0.00010 $0.00274
Opus 5 $0.00005 $0.00137
Sonnet 5 $0.00002 $0.00055
Haiku 4.5 $0.00001 $0.00027

Measured 2d ago against content hash 9681b4944d81, method: parsed. Prices are Anthropic first-party input rates as of 2026-08-30, from the pricing page.

Security

Grade A, and why

explain scanned grade A with 0 findings against 26 rules in 11 categories — prompt injection, anti-refusal, data exfiltration, privilege escalation, supply chain, agent snooping, system-prompt leakage, SSRF and excessive agency — measured 2d ago.

A static scan of the body, not an audit. Every finding is printed with the line that produced it so you can judge whether it matters here. A mod is markdown that instructs an agent; that is exactly why what it instructs is worth reading.

Nothing flagged

None of the 26 patterns this scan looks for appear in this file: no shell pipes, no recursive deletes, no credential paths, no hidden text, no instruction-override or anti-refusal phrasing, no agent-config snooping. That is not a guarantee, it is the absence of the things that are checkable.

plugins/ai-pair-programming/commands/explain.md · 47 lines

What it actually says

Provide a clear, comprehensive explanation of the code, concept, or system architecture.

Explanation Style:

  1. Start with the Big Picture

    • What is this code/system for?
    • What problem does it solve?
    • How does it fit into the larger project?
  2. Break Down the Details

    • Explain each major component
    • Describe how components interact
    • Highlight key algorithms or patterns
  3. Walk Through the Flow

    • Trace execution paths
    • Show data transformations
    • Explain control flow
  4. Highlight Important Concepts

    • Design patterns used
    • Best practices applied
    • Trade-offs and decisions made
  5. Provide Examples

    • Show usage scenarios
    • Give concrete examples
    • Demonstrate edge cases
  6. Connect to Fundamentals

    • Link to underlying principles
    • Reference related concepts
    • Suggest further learning resources

Explanation Levels:

  • Beginner: Simple terms, lots of context
  • Intermediate: Technical details, common patterns
  • Expert: Advanced concepts, trade-offs, alternatives

Adjust explanation depth based on your needs. What would you like me to explain?

Changes

What this file has done since we first saw it

Hashed on every crawl. A supply-chain change to an agent config is a question of when, not whether, so the history is kept rather than the latest state alone.

  1. 2d ago First seen · 47 lines · 10 tokens per session scan A 9681b4944d81

Subscribe to this mod's changes

explain is a command published in the GitHub repository Dev-GOM/claude-code-marketplace (97 stars, last pushed 7mo ago), licensed Apache-2.0. It adds 10 tokens to every session and 274 once invoked, about $0.0001 per session on Opus 5. A static security scan graded it A with 0 findings. No closer match exists in the catalogue, so it is treated as the original; first seen 2026-08-30.