aside

aside is a command for Claude Code from kumaran-is/claude-code-onboarding. It costs 0 tokens per session (557 once invoked), scanned A, original, MIT.

A command that pauses an active coding task, handles a separate question, and then resumes the original task. It keeps track of where the main work stopped.

In plain words
What is it for?
Use it during a long implementation when you need a read-only explanation before continuing the main coding work.
Why use it?
It lets you ask an unrelated question without losing the current task's context or accidentally changing files during the detour.

Command for Claude Code

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/kumaran-is/claude-code-onboarding/aside
Clone the repo
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/kumaran-is/claude-code-onboarding

Made for: Claude Code.

Wrote this? Show the measurements

A badge with what this costs and how it scanned, read live from this page, so it follows the numbers instead of freezing them. Markdown for a README, HTML for a documentation site or a project page.

agentmods badge for aside

README.md
[![agentmods](https://agentmods.dev/badge/commands/kumaran-is/claude-code-onboarding/aside.svg)](https://agentmods.dev/commands/kumaran-is/claude-code-onboarding/aside)
Your own site
<a href="https://agentmods.dev/commands/kumaran-is/claude-code-onboarding/aside"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/commands/kumaran-is/claude-code-onboarding/aside.svg" alt="Measured on agentmods" height="20"></a>
Per session 0 Only the description is in the session, so the agent can decide to use it. The body loads when it is invoked.
When invoked 557 The whole file, excluding the scripts and references it only reads on demand.
Security scan A 0 findings. Scan, not verified.
Origin unknown 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 $0.00000 $0.00557
Opus 5 $0.00000 $0.00279
Sonnet 5 $0.00000 $0.00111
Haiku 4.5 $0.00000 $0.00056

Measured today against content hash ffb79439f757, method: parsed. Prices are Anthropic first-party input rates as of 2026-08-30, from the pricing page.

Security

Grade A, and why

aside 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 today.

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.

.claude/commands/aside.md · 81 lines

How it starts

The opening of the file, as written. The whole thing — 81 lines — stays where its author put it; the contents beside it link to each section on GitHub.

/aside — Answer a Side Question Without Losing Task State

Freeze current task state, answer the side question, then resume exactly where you left off.

Behavior

When /aside is invoked (or the user says "aside:" or "quick question:"):

  1. FREEZE — note the current task and last completed step
  2. READ-ONLY mode — do not write code, create files, or run destructive commands during the aside
  3. ANSWER — respond to the side question fully
  4. RESUME — end the response with the footer below

Every aside response MUST end with:

---
**— Back to task:** [task name] — next step: [specific next action]

Example

User is in the middle of implementing a NestJS auth guard when they ask:

aside: what's the difference between JWT and session auth?

Response structure:

[Full answer to the JWT vs session question]

---
**— Back to task:** NestJS JWT auth guard — next step: implement `canActivate()` method in `auth.guard.ts`

Edge Cases

No question provided

/aside

Response: "What's the side question? (Currently working on: [task])"

Question reveals a problem with current task

If the side question reveals that the current approach is wrong:

[Answer the question]

⚠️ This affects the current task: [explain impact]
Options:
A) Continue current approach with this caveat in mind
B) Stop and revise the approach before continuing
→ Which do you prefer?

---
**— Back to task:** [task name] — awaiting direction on approach

Question is actually a task redirect

If the "aside" is really a new task (e.g., "aside: actually, implement X instead"):

This sounds like a task change, not a side question.
Current task: [task name] (last completed: [step])

Options:
A) Abandon current task and start [new task]
B) Finish current task first, then do [new task]
C) Keep this as a genuine aside — just explain [concept], don't implement

→ Which do you prefer?

Constraints

  • Do NOT write files, run builds, or modify state during an aside
  • Do NOT lose track of the current task — always end with the resume footer
  • The aside answer must be complete — do not defer it to "after the task"
  • If the aside answer would take more than ~5 tool calls, flag it: "This aside is large — should we pause the task formally?"

Read the full file on GitHub · 81 lines

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. today First seen · 81 lines · 0 tokens per session scan A ffb79439f757

Subscribe to this mod's changes

aside is a command published in the GitHub repository kumaran-is/claude-code-onboarding (35 stars, last pushed 2mo ago), licensed MIT. It costs nothing until one of its globs matches a file; then it loads 557 tokens. 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 2026-09-03.