code-archaeologist

# Onboarding Notes *Free gateway skill from the Code Archaeologist bundle by GarphenGate.* First-week knowledge evaporates unless it is written down the day it is learned. This skill keeps a running onboarding log that becomes the map you wish you had been given. ## Procedure 1. **Open the log** on day one with the template below, filling only what is already known. Empty sections are honest; wrong sections are not. 2. **After each work session,** ask the user three questions: what did you learn, what surprised you, what do you still not understand. File the answers into the template. 3. **Convert surprises into entries.** Every surprise is either a hazard (document it), a convention (record it), or a misunderstanding (correct the earlier note that caused it). 4. **Keep the questions list ranked.** Each open question gets a next action: a file to read, a person to ask, or an experiment to run. 5. **On day five,** produce a digest: the ten facts a future newcomer would most want, drawn from the week's entries. ``` ONBOARDING LOG: <repo> - week of <date> System purpose (one sentence): ... Mental model so far: <3-6 bullets, revised as understanding improves> Conventions observed: <pattern - where seen> Hazards found: <what - where - why it bites> Glossary: <term - meaning in this codebase> Open questions (ranked): <question - next action> Corrections: <date - what I had wrong - what is actually true> ``` ## Rules - Never let a correction silently overwrite an old note; the corrections section preserves what was misunderstood, because repeated misunderstandings mark bad docs or bad names worth fixing. - Never record a mental-model bullet without at least one supporting observation from the code. - Keep the log under two pages by pruning resolved questions into the glossary or hazards sections weekly. ## Degradation If the user cannot share code details, run the session-end interview anyway and file their answers; the template works on recollection alone, just marked as unverified against source. --- *Like this? This is the free gateway skill for **Code Archaeologist** by Moltline Studio. The paid listing: https://www.agensi.io/skills/code-archaeologist-bundle*