exploring-codebaselisted

# Exploring Codebase ## Overview This skill produces a structured mental model before any code changes begin. The output is a Markdown document — saved to `.claude/project-notes.md` — that gives you and your Claude Code sessions a working map of the repo, so future sessions start from it instead of re-exploring from scratch. Team-level facts that belong to everyone (architecture, conventions, gotchas) get promoted into the repo's committed `CLAUDE.md`; the personal notes file is your own working memory. See the Save Location section for how to split the two. This skill is not about reading every file. It is about tracing the shape of the system: where things start, where they go, how they are tested, and what the gotchas are. ## Process Work through these steps in order. Each step builds on the previous. ### Step 1: Read README and CLAUDE.md First Before looking at any source code: 1. Read `README.md` — understand the project's stated purpose, setup instructions, and any known caveats. 2. Read `CLAUDE.md` — this is the fastest path to conventions. If it's thorough, steps 3-5 may be quick confirmations rather than discoveries. 3. Note any sections marked as "Overrides" in CLAUDE.md — these are intentional departures from defaults that you'll need to respect. If CLAUDE.md doesn't exist, note this as a gap and suggest running `exloom:authoring-claude-md` after the exploration is complete. ### Step 2: Identify Entry Points Find where the system starts. Entry points va