file-headers

A guide for adding short header comments to important source files, especially files longer than 200 lines. The comments record the file's role, related files, rules that must remain true, and verification commands.

In plain words
What is it for?
Creating and maintaining file headers that explain responsibilities, co-modified files, invariants, and ways to test or verify changes.
Why use it?
It preserves context that developers and coding agents need before changing large or critical files.

Skill for Claude CodeCodex

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 skills/tk-logl/sentinel/file-headers
Any agent
npx skills add tk-logl/sentinel --skill file-headers
Clone the repo
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/tk-logl/sentinel

Made for: Claude Code, Codex.

Per session 42 Skills are progressive disclosure: only the name and description are preloaded; the body loads when the skill is used.
When invoked 1,077 The whole file, excluding the scripts and references it only reads on demand.
Security scan A 1 finding. 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 $0.00042 $0.01077
Opus 5 $0.00021 $0.00539
Sonnet 5 $0.00008 $0.00215
Haiku 4.5 $0.00004 $0.00108

Measured 2d ago against content hash 505029237f8a, method: parsed. Prices are Anthropic first-party input rates as of 2026-08-30, from the pricing page.

Security

Grade A, and why

file-headers scanned grade A with 1 finding 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.

Makes network callslowCapability

Not a fault in itself. Listed so you know the mod talks to something, and to what.

Verify: pytest tests/test_app.py -x && curl -s localhost:8000/health | jq .status
skills/file-headers/SKILL.md · 138 lines

How it starts

The opening of the file, as written. The whole thing — 138 lines — stays where its author put it; the contents beside it link to each section on GitHub.

File Header System

Short, structured comments at the top of key source files that capture critical context.

Why Headers Exist

When AI assistants (or developers) edit a file, they often don't know:

  • What this file's actual role is in the system
  • Which other files MUST change together with it
  • What invariants must never be broken
  • How to verify changes work

Headers solve this in 5-12 lines, saving investigation time and preventing mistakes.

When to Add Headers

  • Files over 200 lines (configurable in sentinel.json: header_threshold_lines)
  • Files that are frequently co-modified with others
  • Files containing critical business logic or security code
  • Entry points (main.py, app.ts, index.js)

Header Format

Python

"""
app.py — Main application server with API routing and request handling.

Co-modify: services/auth.py, services/handler.py, utils/response.py
Invariants:
  - All endpoints must validate auth before processing
  - Responses must use consistent error format
  - Database connections must be properly closed on error
Verify: pytest tests/test_app.py -x && curl -s localhost:8000/health | jq .status
"""

TypeScript/JavaScript

/**
 * App.tsx — Root application component with routing and theme management.
 *
 * Co-modify: stores/authStore.ts, services/api.ts, components/layout/MainLayout.tsx
 * Invariants:
 *   - AuthProvider must wrap all routes (no unauthenticated renders)
 *   - Theme CSS variables must be set before first paint (no flash)
 *   - Error boundary must catch all route-level errors
 * Verify: npm run build && npm run test -- --run
 */

Go

// server.go — HTTP server with middleware chain and graceful shutdown.
//
// Co-modify: middleware/auth.go, handlers/api.go, config/config.go
// Invariants:
//   - Shutdown must drain all active connections (30s timeout)
//   - Auth middleware must run before any handler (middleware order matters)
//   - Config must be loaded before server starts (no lazy init)
// Verify: go test ./... && go build ./cmd/server

Read the full file on GitHub · 138 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. 2d ago First seen · 138 lines · 42 tokens per session scan A 505029237f8a

Subscribe to this mod's changes

file-headers is a skill published in the GitHub repository tk-logl/sentinel (4 stars, last pushed 5mo ago), licensed MIT. It adds 42 tokens to every session and 1,077 once invoked, about $0.0002 per session on Opus 5. A static security scan graded it A with 1 finding (makes network calls). No closer match exists in the catalogue, so it is treated as the original; first seen 2026-08-31.

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