Smart Codebase Exploration

Smart Codebase Exploration is a skill for Claude Code, Codex from GktuOktay/ai-skills. It costs 54 tokens per session (1,061 once invoked), scanned A, original, MIT.

A guide to exploring large or unfamiliar codebases by searching for relevant files, definitions, references, and entry points.

In plain words
What is it for?
Use it to locate functions and classes, trace references, exclude irrelevant folders, and understand application architecture.
Why use it?
It reduces the time and guesswork involved in finding where a feature starts and how its parts connect.

Skill for Claude CodeCodex

Written for no agent in particular: nothing here depends on one. Also seen: installed under .agents/ (shared by several agents).

Good fit Use it to locate functions and classes, trace references, exclude irrelevant folders, and understand application architecture.

Compare 6 skills from other repositories ↓
Install with agentmods
npx agentmods add skills/gktuoktay/ai-skills/smart-explore
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.

Any agent
npx skills add GktuOktay/ai-skills --skill smart-explore
Clone the repo
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/GktuOktay/ai-skills

Made for: Claude Code, Codex.

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 Smart Codebase Exploration

README.md
[![agentmods](https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/gktuoktay/ai-skills/smart-explore/github.svg)](https://agentmods.dev/skills/gktuoktay/ai-skills/smart-explore)
Your own site
<a href="https://agentmods.dev/skills/gktuoktay/ai-skills/smart-explore"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/gktuoktay/ai-skills/smart-explore/github.svg" alt="Measured on agentmods" height="20"></a>

Or the 80×15 button, for a site that already has a row of RSS and ATOM ones. Only the verdict fits; the numbers stay here.

agentmods 80×15 button for Smart Codebase Exploration

Your own site · 80×15
<a href="https://agentmods.dev/skills/gktuoktay/ai-skills/smart-explore"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/gktuoktay/ai-skills/smart-explore.svg" alt="Reviewed on agentmods" width="80" height="20"></a>
Per session 54 Skills are progressive disclosure: only the name and description are preloaded; the body loads when the skill is used.
When invoked 1,061 The whole file, excluding the scripts and references it only reads on demand.
Security scan A 0 findings. A grade says what 26 rules found in the file — not that it is safe.
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 5.1 $0.00054 $0.01061
Opus 5 $0.00027 $0.00531
Sonnet 5 $0.00011 $0.00212
Haiku 4.5 $0.00005 $0.00106

Measured 11d ago against content hash b685423392a7, method: parsed. Prices are Anthropic first-party input rates as of 2026-09-11, from the pricing page.

Security

Grade A, and why

Smart Codebase Exploration 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 11d 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.

.agents/skills/smart-explore/SKILL.md · 74 lines

How it starts

The opening of the file, as written. The whole thing — 74 lines — stays where its author put it; the contents beside it link to each section on GitHub.

Intelligent Codebase Exploration and Navigation

Navigating a large, unfamiliar codebase can be overwhelming. Relying solely on manual file browsing is inefficient. This guide covers strategies for rapidly understanding code architecture and finding specific logic.

1. Grep/Ripgrep Patterns for Finding Code

Ripgrep (rg) is the fastest tool for text-based searching.

  • Find Function Definitions: To find where a function is defined, search for keywords like def, class, or function.
    • rg "function processOrder" or rg "const processOrder ="
  • Find Class Definitions:
    • rg "class PaymentGateway"
  • Filter by File Type:
    • rg "TODO" -t py (Only search Python files)
  • Exclude Directories:
    • rg "password" --glob "!tests/*" --glob "!node_modules/*"
  • Case Insensitive:
    • rg -i "user_id"

2. AST-Based Exploration

While rg is fast, it lacks context. AST (Abstract Syntax Tree) tools understand code structure.

  • LSP (Language Server Protocol): Use IDE features (Go to Definition, Find All References). These are vastly superior to text search.
  • Tree-sitter: Used in modern editors (Neovim, Zed) for precise syntax highlighting and structural navigation.
  • AST Grep (sg): Allows searching code by structure rather than exact text matches (e.g., finding all try/catch blocks that silently ignore errors).

3. Finding Entry Points and Hot Paths

When starting in a new repository, find where execution begins.

  • Web Apps: Look for index.js, main.ts, App.tsx, wsgi.py, or main.go.
  • Routing: Search for router definitions (e.g., rg "react-router", rg "@app.route", rg "router.get"). This maps URLs to specific controllers.
  • Package Manifests: Check package.json, Cargo.toml, or Makefile for start commands (e.g., npm run start). The script defined there points to the entry point.

4. Tracing Function Call Chains

To understand a feature, trace its execution path.

  1. Identify the Trigger: Find the UI button click, API endpoint, or cron job schedule.
  2. Follow the Data: Look at the arguments passed to the controller.
  3. Drill Down: Use "Go to Definition" to jump through the service layer, repositories, and finally to the database queries.
  4. Take Notes: Maintain a scratchpad documenting the call stack (e.g., Route -> UserController -> AuthService -> DB).

Read the full file on GitHub · 74 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. 11d ago First seen · 74 lines · 54 tokens per session scan A b685423392a7

Subscribe to this mod's changes

Smart Codebase Exploration is a skill published in the GitHub repository GktuOktay/ai-skills (2 stars, last pushed 8d ago), licensed MIT. It adds 54 tokens to every session and 1,061 once invoked, about $0.0003 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 2026-08-31.