explore

Explore Command

Read-only codebase orientation. Emit architecture, pattern, tooling, and dependency summaries for a repo-local task. Do NOT write, edit, or commit files.

When to Apply / NOT

Apply:

• Pre-implementation codebase orientation (feature, fix, refactor)
• File and symbol mapping — "where is X defined", "what uses Y"
• Architectural surveys — module boundaries, control flow, coupling
• Dependency tracing — import graphs, transitive deps, config files

NOT apply:

• External library docs, SDK APIs, or framework behavior — use a doc-retrieval workflow instead
• User wants a packed repo file as a deliverable artifact
• Implementation, editing, or committing anything

Process

1. Scope — parse the task. Identify files/dirs/concerns. State scope explicitly before dispatching.
2. Dispatch decision — for multi-file or uncertain tasks: dispatch Explore agent(s) instead of reading directly. Escalation: 1 agent for single-concern known scope; 3 agents for multiple concerns or unknown scope; 5 agents for cross-module or architectural survey. Auto-skip (direct reads allowed) only for single file under 50 LOC.
3. Discovery — token-efficient flags mandatory:
   • File discovery: fd -e <ext> --max-results 50
   • Symbol search: ast-grep run -p 'PATTERN' -l <lang> -C 1 or git --no-pager grep -n -C 2 'pattern'
   • Content preview: bat -P -p -n -r START:END file or Read -offset -limit
   • Directory structure: eza --tree --level=2
4. Synthesis — emit all Required Output sections. No file writes.
5. Heavy-codebase escape hatch — scope > 50 files: use a codebase-packing tool if available as an internal analysis aid (not handed to the user as output); search the packed output for targeted extraction.

Required Output

Emit all 8 sections. Omit a section only when genuinely not applicable; state why.

Task Understanding

Brief restatement of the task and identified scope boundaries.

Architecture Context

[Module/Layer Name]
- path/to/file.ts:L10-50 — [Purpose] — [Relevance]
- path/to/interface.ts — [Purpose] — [Relevance]