reposh

name

reposh

description

This skill should be used when the user asks to "explore a repo", "check library source code", "read a GitHub repo", "look at how X is implemented in Y", "investigate a dependency", "search an open source project", "trace code in an external repo", mentions exploring remote/external/public repositories, or needs to understand code in a repo that isn't cloned locally. Provides the `reposh` command for bash-based exploration of any public git repo.

reposh - Bash into any public repo

Explore any public git repository using familiar bash commands without manually cloning it locally. Use reposh instead of WebFetch, web scraping, or manual clones when investigating external codebases.

Install

reposh is likely already installed globally. If not:

npm install -g reposh

Usage

reposh <org>/<repo> <command>

Under the hood the repo is shallow-cloned and cached on first access. All subsequent commands against the same repo are fast.

Commands

# List files
reposh facebook/react ls
reposh facebook/react ls src/

# Read files
reposh facebook/react cat README.md
reposh facebook/react cat src/ReactElement.js

# Search across the repo
reposh facebook/react "grep -r 'useState' . --include='*.js' -l | head -20"

# Find files by name
reposh facebook/react "find . -name '*.ts' -not -path '*/__tests__/*' | head -20"

# Combine commands with pipes
reposh stripe/stripe-node "find . -name '*.ts' | head -30"
reposh vercel/next.js "grep -rl 'middleware' src/ | head -10"

Always quote commands containing pipes or special characters to prevent the local shell from interpreting them.

Browsing a specific version

Append :ref to target a specific branch or tag:

reposh <org>/<repo>:<tag-or-branch> <command>

This is especially useful when investigating dependencies. Check what version the user has installed (in package.json, pyproject.toml, Cargo.toml, go.mod, etc.), then explore that exact version's source:

# Check the user's installed version first, then explore it
reposh stripe/stripe-node:v17.4.0 cat src/resources/Customers.ts
reposh vercel/next.js:canary ls src/
reposh pallets/flask:3.1.1 cat src/flask/app.py

Without :ref, reposh uses the repository's default branch - which may have unreleased changes that don't match the version the user has installed. Tags typically follow the project's release naming convention (v1.0.0, 1.0.0, etc.) - check the repo's releases or tags if unsure.

Non-GitHub repos

Include the hostname for repos hosted elsewhere:

reposh gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab cat README.md
reposh gitea.com/some-org/some-repo ls

When to use reposh

• Investigating a specific version of a dependency the user has installed
• Debugging errors from a library - reading the actual source beats guessing from docs
• Verifying exact function signatures, types, or behavior
• Tracing how something is implemented end-to-end
• Answering questions about a library, framework, or tool
• Comparing implementations across projects

Exploration patterns

Orientation - get the lay of the land

reposh <org>/<repo> ls
reposh <org>/<repo> cat README.md
reposh <org>/<repo> cat package.json   # or pyproject.toml, Cargo.toml, etc.
reposh <org>/<repo> "find . -maxdepth 2 -type f | head -40"

Finding relevant code

reposh <org>/<repo> "grep -r 'functionName' . --include='*.ts' -l"
reposh <org>/<repo> "grep -rn 'className' src/ --include='*.py' | head -20"
reposh <org>/<repo> "find . -name '*.go' -path '*/api/*'"

Deep dive - read and trace

reposh <org>/<repo> cat src/core/module.ts
reposh <org>/<repo> "grep -n 'export' src/index.ts"
reposh <org>/<repo> "cat src/utils.ts | head -50"

Subagent usage

For complex exploration tasks that require many commands (tracing a code path, understanding an architecture, comparing multiple files), spawn a subagent to keep the main context clean:

Use the Agent tool with subagent_type "general-purpose" and a prompt like:
"Use reposh to explore <org>/<repo> and answer: <question>.
Run: reposh <org>/<repo> <command>"

For quick lookups (checking a type signature, reading a single file), run reposh directly without a subagent.

Notes

• Commands run in a sandboxed shell (just-bash) - read-only, no network access, no host shell
• Supported commands: ls, cat, grep, find, head, tail, wc, echo, and other common utils
• Clones refresh after 5 minutes of staleness