| name | using-entire |
| description | Use for any codebase exploration or understanding task — reads historical intent from Entire checkpoints instead of guessing. Orchestrates other Entire skills to give the agent provenance-backed answers about code.
|
Using Entire
Your default when exploring or understanding code should be: read the
recorded intent, don't guess.
Entire checkpoints capture the prompts, transcripts, and decisions behind every
agent-driven change. When you need to understand why code exists or how a module
evolved, look up the checkpoint history first. Only fall back to inference from
code structure when no history is available — and label that explicitly.
When This Skill Activates
Use this skill whenever the task involves:
- Exploring or understanding an unfamiliar module or file
- Preparing to refactor, extend, or debug code you didn't write
- Answering "why is this like this?" or "what was the intent?"
- Doing pre-work research before making changes
- Any codebase exploration where historical context would help
Do not use this skill for simple, well-understood edits where you already
have full context (e.g. "add a comment to line 5").
First Step: Check Repository Status
Before diving into specific lookups, check whether Entire is available and
the repository has checkpoint history:
entire status
This tells you whether Entire is enabled, which git hooks are installed, whether
the metadata branch is initialized, and any active sessions on the current
branch.
Scenario Routing
When this skill activates, determine which sub-skill best fits the user's need:
| Scenario | Typical user expressions | Delegate to |
|---|
| Code block provenance | "why is this like this" / "wtf is going on" / "what happened at src/auth.ts:42" / "tell me why this changed" | what-happened |
| Find prior work | "has anyone done X before" / "search past work for rate limiting" / "find the previous implementation" | search |
| Recall a task playbook | "have we done this before" / "recall how we did X" / "how did we do this last time" | recall |
| Replay feature history | "replay " / "walk me through how X was built" / "show me the journey of Y" | replay |
| Teach a repo topic | "teach me " / "how does work in this repo" / "give me a lesson on X" | teach |
| Understand original intent | "explain this function" / "explain parseConfig" / "what was the intent behind src/auth.ts" | explain |
| Generate a dispatch / summary | "summarize recent work" / "generate a dispatch" / "what was accomplished this week" | run entire dispatch directly |
| Code review with intent context | "review these changes" / "review this branch" / "audit before merging" | review |
| Hand off to another agent | "hand off this session" / "continue in another agent" / "pick up the codex session" | session-handoff |
| Convert session to skill | "turn this into a skill" / "make a skill from this session" | session-to-skill |
| Link session to other repos | "link session to other repos" / "attach session to the foo repo" | session-crosslink |
| General exploration | "understand this module" / "explore how auth works" / "help me understand the codebase" | (self — see below) |
If the scenario clearly maps to a sub-skill, delegate entirely to that skill's
workflow. Do not duplicate their steps here.
General Exploration Flow
When no specific sub-skill fits — e.g. the user asks to "understand this
module" or "explore how auth works" — use this flow:
-
Identify key files in the target area (entry points, main types, core
functions).
-
Check for checkpoint coverage on each key file:
git log --format='%H %s' -5 -- <file>
Look for Entire-Checkpoint: trailers in the commit bodies:
git log --format='%H %b' -5 -- <file> | grep -B1 'Entire-Checkpoint:'
- Read intent for covered commits — extract the checkpoint ID from the
trailer, then use JSON output for non-interactive consumption:
entire explain --checkpoint <checkpoint-id> --json --no-pager
If you only have a commit hash (not a checkpoint ID), use:
entire explain --commit <sha> --no-pager
-
Synthesize: combine the recorded intent (from checkpoints) with the
current code structure to build a comprehensive understanding.
-
Report your findings, clearly distinguishing:
- Facts backed by checkpoint transcripts (label as "recorded intent")
- Observations inferred from code alone (label as "inferred from code")
AI Agent Usage Notes
When running Entire commands from an agent subprocess:
- Always pass
--json for commands that support it and might prompt
interactively. --json implies non-interactive output.
- Always pass
--no-pager to prevent pager activation in subprocess
contexts.
- Always specify
--checkpoint <id> or --commit <sha> for
entire explain — without a locator, the command falls back to an
interactive picker.
When No Checkpoints Exist
If the target code predates Entire or has no checkpoint coverage:
- Say explicitly: "No Entire checkpoint history is available for this code."
- Proceed with standard code understanding (read source, check git log, trace
call sites).
- Label all explanations as "inferred from code — not backed by recorded
intent."
- If the user wants deeper history, suggest
search with related keywords —
there may be checkpoints on related work even if the specific file isn't
directly covered.
Transparency Principle
Always make it clear whether your answer comes from:
- Checkpoint-backed history — you read the actual session transcript and
know the developer's stated intent
- Code inference — you analyzed the code structure and are reasoning about
probable intent
Never present inferred intent as if it were recorded fact. The core value of
this workflow is that distinction.
References
For a deeper understanding of Entire's capabilities beyond what the sub-skills
cover, consult these resources:
