exploring-repo

name	exploring-repo
description	Clones and inspects external repositories in a reusable local cache. Use when asked to read, grep, explore, inspect, investigate, debug, compare, or answer code/content questions about an external repository, including GitHub URLs and installed packages sourced from repos.

Exploring Repositories

Explore external repositories without cluttering the active workspace.

Use this skill for repository content exploration: reading files, grepping code, inspecting history, and comparing implementation details. For GitHub operations such as issues, PRs, actions, secrets, releases, or repo metadata, use gh directly instead.

Cache

Use this cache directory for cloned repositories:

mkdir -p ~/.cache/explored-repos
ls -la ~/.cache/explored-repos

Name checkouts with a stable owner__repo directory, for example:

git clone https://github.com/owner/repo.git ~/.cache/explored-repos/owner__repo

Workflow

1. Identify the target repository URL, owner, name, and branch if the user provided one.
2. List ~/.cache/explored-repos before cloning.
3. Reuse an existing owner__repo checkout when it matches the requested repository.
4. Clone the repository into ~/.cache/explored-repos/owner__repo when no matching checkout exists.
5. If the host supports adding external directories, add the checkout so repository instructions load.
6. Inspect the repository from the cached checkout, not from the active workspace.
7. Answer with clear paths relative to the checkout, plus commit or branch context when relevant.

Rules

• Do not clone into the current project unless the user explicitly asks.
• Do not overwrite an existing checkout. If it may be stale, fetch and report the current branch and commit before relying on it.
• Do not run install, build, test, or network-heavy commands inside the explored repository unless needed to answer the question.
• Prefer read-only inspection commands first: find, grep, git status, git branch --show-current, and git rev-parse HEAD.
• Keep repository-specific changes out of the cache unless the user asks for a patch or comparison.