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understand-explain — Deep Code Explainer

Explains a single file, function, or module in depth by combining a prebuilt knowledge graph with the actual source code.

Dev & CodingIntermediate★ 78,314⑂ 6,578AI score 7/10Last updated: Jul 30, 2026

What it does

Using the knowledge graph produced by the Understand-Anything plugin (.ua/knowledge-graph.json, or the legacy .understand-anything/ directory), this skill delivers a focused deep dive on one code component.

  • Greps for the target node and reads its type, summary, tags, and complexity
  • Follows incoming and outgoing edges (imports, calls, depends_on, contains) to map callers and dependencies
  • Identifies which architectural layer the component belongs to
  • Reads the real source file to describe internal structure and data flow (inputs → processing → outputs)
  • Compares the graph's commit hash against HEAD and the working tree, warning you when the graph is stale

The instructions explicitly tell the agent to grep only the needed slices of the JSON, which keeps context usage low on large repositories.

Who it's for

  • Developers onboarding onto a large, unfamiliar codebase one module at a time
  • Engineers tracing dependencies through undocumented legacy code
  • Reviewers reading code in a language they don't know well (explanations avoid assuming language knowledge)
  • Tech leads writing onboarding or architecture notes

Examples

  1. /understand-explain src/auth/login.ts → what the file does in the auth layer, the functions it contains, and which modules import it.
  2. /understand-explain src/auth/login.ts:verifyToken → a step-by-step walkthrough of the function's inputs, validation logic, return values, and call chain.
  3. /understand-explain src/payments/ → a summary of the payments module's internals plus its external service and endpoint dependencies, with a nudge to re-run /understand if the graph looks stale.

· · · Install guide · · ·

Install in the Claude app (no terminal)
  1. Download the ZIP with the button below.
  2. In Claude, open Settings → Capabilities and turn on 'Code execution and file creation'. (one time)
  3. Go to Customize → Skills → + → 'Upload a skill' and upload the ZIP.
↓ Download ZIP
Install in Claude Code

Let Claude do it — paste this into Claude Code

Install the skill I found on Claude Skill Mart.
Copy the understand-anything-plugin/skills/understand-explain folder from the GitHub repo Egonex-AI/Understand-Anything into my ~/.claude/skills/understand-explain/.
When it's done, tell me in one line what this skill can do.

Install with a command instead

git clone https://github.com/Egonex-AI/Understand-Anything.git && mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills && cp -r Understand-Anything/understand-anything-plugin/skills/* ~/.claude/skills/

⚠ This is a third-party skill. Check the source repository before installing.

  1. Open a terminal and change into a scratch working directory.
  2. Clone the repository: git clone https://github.com/Egonex-AI/Understand-Anything.git
  3. Create the skills directory: mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills
  4. Copy the plugin skills over: cp -r Understand-Anything/understand-anything-plugin/skills/* ~/.claude/skills/ (copy the whole set so you also get the /understand skill that builds the graph).
  5. Start Claude Code from inside the project you want to analyze.
  6. Run /understand first to generate .ua/knowledge-graph.json.
  7. Then call /understand-explain path/to/file.ts or path/to/file.ts:functionName.
  8. After significant code changes, re-run /understand to refresh the graph so explanations stay accurate.
View source on GitHub ↗License: MIT