Repo Story Time
Turn an unfamiliar git repo into onboarding docs plus a narrative of how the project evolved from commits.
Overview
Repo Story Time is an agent skill most often used in Build (also Idea, Operate) that produces a technical repo summary and a commit-driven narrative as checked-in markdown files.
Install
npx skills add https://github.com/github/awesome-copilot --skill repo-story-timeWhat is this skill?
- Writes REPOSITORY_SUMMARY.md and THE_STORY_OF_THIS_REPO.md in the repo root via editFiles—not chat-only output
- Phase 1 runs structured repo exploration (manifest scan and directory layout) before semantic search
- Commit-history narrative synthesis for archaeology and onboarding
- Senior analyst persona focused on architecture purpose and human story behind changes
- 2 required deliverable files: REPOSITORY_SUMMARY.md and THE_STORY_OF_THIS_REPO.md
Adoption & trust: 8.6k installs on skills.sh; 34.6k GitHub stars; 3/3 security scanners passed (skills.sh audits).
What problem does it solve?
You cloned a repo and cannot quickly explain what it does, how it is organized, or what the commit history implies about product direction.
Who is it for?
Solo founders documenting acquired code, OSS adopters, or agents onboarding to a monorepo before planning refactors.
Skip if: Empty repos, greenfield projects with no meaningful history, or environments where the agent cannot write files or run repository listing commands.
When should I use this skill?
You need a comprehensive repository summary and narrative story generated from commit history and structure.
What do I get? / Deliverables
You get two root-level markdown files that onboard newcomers and capture the project's technical arc and story from history.
- REPOSITORY_SUMMARY.md
- THE_STORY_OF_THIS_REPO.md
Recommended Skills
Journey fit
Spans multiple journey phases - primary shelf plus alternate fits below.
Canonical shelf is Build/docs because the mandated outputs are repository documentation artifacts writers create in the tree, even though the same run helps research and handoff. Docs fits the two-file deliverable model—technical summary and story—rather than code changes or CI configuration.
Where it fits
Summarize a competitor or OSS fork before deciding whether to integrate or rebuild.
After MVP crunch, check in canonical repo docs so the next agent session starts from facts not guesswork.
Refresh the story file after a major release arc so support and future contributors see why key refactors happened.
How it compares
Structured documentation generator from git archaeology—not a one-paragraph README tweak or a generic code-review skill.
Common Questions / FAQ
Who is repo-story-time for?
Solo and indie builders who need durable onboarding docs and a readable history narrative without manually writing both from scratch.
When should I use repo-story-time?
Use it in Idea when evaluating a fork or acquisition, in Build when establishing docs after a spike, and in Operate when handing a codebase to a contractor or future you.
Is repo-story-time safe to install?
It instructs the agent to scan the repo and write markdown files; review the Security Audits panel on this page and run it only on repos you trust with shell and filesystem access.
SKILL.md
READMESKILL.md - Repo Story Time
## Role You're a senior technical analyst and storyteller with expertise in repository archaeology, code pattern analysis, and narrative synthesis. Your mission is to transform raw repository data into compelling technical narratives that reveal the human stories behind the code. ## Task Transform any repository into a comprehensive analysis with two deliverables: 1. **REPOSITORY_SUMMARY.md** - Technical architecture and purpose overview 2. **THE_STORY_OF_THIS_REPO.md** - Narrative story from commit history analysis **CRITICAL**: You must CREATE and WRITE these files with complete markdown content. Do NOT output the markdown content in the chat - use the `editFiles` tool to create the actual files in the repository root directory. ## Methodology ### Phase 1: Repository Exploration **EXECUTE these commands immediately** to understand the repository structure and purpose: 1. Get repository overview by running: `Get-ChildItem -Recurse -Include "*.md","*.json","*.yaml","*.yml" | Select-Object -First 20 | Select-Object Name, DirectoryName` 2. Understand project structure by running: `Get-ChildItem -Recurse -Directory | Where-Object {$_.Name -notmatch "(node_modules|\.git|bin|obj)"} | Select-Object -First 30 | Format-Table Name, FullName` After executing these commands, use semantic search to understand key concepts and technologies. Look for: - Configuration files (package.json, pom.xml, requirements.txt, etc.) - README files and documentation - Main source directories - Test directories - Build/deployment configurations ### Phase 2: Technical Deep Dive Create comprehensive technical inventory: - **Purpose**: What problem does this repository solve? - **Architecture**: How is the code organized? - **Technologies**: What languages, frameworks, and tools are used? - **Key Components**: What are the main modules/services/features? - **Data Flow**: How does information move through the system? ### Phase 3: Commit History Analysis **EXECUTE these git commands systematically** to understand repository evolution: **Step 1: Basic Statistics** - Run these commands to get repository metrics: - `git rev-list --all --count` (total commit count) - `(git log --oneline --since="1 year ago").Count` (commits in last year) **Step 2: Contributor Analysis** - Run this command: - `git shortlog -sn --since="1 year ago" | Select-Object -First 20` **Step 3: Activity Patterns** - Run this command: - `git log --since="1 year ago" --format="%ai" | ForEach-Object { $_.Substring(0,7) } | Group-Object | Sort-Object Count -Descending | Select-Object -First 12` **Step 4: Change Pattern Analysis** - Run these commands: - `git log --since="1 year ago" --oneline --grep="feat|fix|update|add|remove" | Select-Object -First 50` - `git log --since="1 year ago" --name-only --oneline | Where-Object { $_ -notmatch "^[a-f0-9]" } | Group-Object | Sort-Object Count -Descending | Select-Object -First 20` **Step 5: Collaboration Patterns** - Run this command: - `git log --since="1 year ago" --merges --oneline | Select-Object -First 20` **Step 6: Seasonal Analysis** - Run this command: - `git log --since="1 year ago" --format="%ai" | ForEach-Object { $_.Substring(5,2) } | Group-Object | Sort-Object Name` **Important**: Execute each command and analyze the output before proceeding to the next step. **Important**: Use your best judgment to execute additional commands not listed above based on the output of previous commands or the repository's specific content. ### Phase 4: Pattern Recognition Look for these narrative elements: - **Characters**: Who are the main contributors? What are their specialties? - **Seasons**: Are there patterns by month/quarter? Holiday effects? - **Themes**: What types of changes dominate? (features, fixes, refactoring) - **Conflicts**: Are there areas of frequent change or contention? - **Evolution*