How do I install the Kata Map Codebase skill?

Run npx skillmds@latest add gannonh-kata-skills/kata-map-codebase in your terminal (requires Node.js), paste this page's agent-chat prompt into Claude, Cursor, or any MCP-connected agent, or download the SKILL.md file and copy it into your agent's skills directory.

Is Kata Map Codebase safe to use?

This skill has not completed SkillMD's automated safety review yet. Capability flags: executes scripts. SkillMD never runs a skill's scripts for you; review the SKILL.md before installing.

Which AI agents work with Kata Map Codebase?

This skill is tagged as working with Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex. SKILL.md is an open format, so most agents that read a skills directory can load it too.

Is Kata Map Codebase free to use?

Yes. Installing skills from SkillMD is free, and the skill stays under its author's original license.

Who published Kata Map Codebase?

gannonh (@gannonh-kata-skills) published this skill. Their other Agent Skills are listed on their SkillMD profile.

Kata Map Codebase by gannonh-kata-skills

Name: Kata Map Codebase
Rating: 4.2 (5 reviews)
Author: gannonh

Kata Map Codebase

Analyze an existing codebase with parallel mapper agents, creating codebase documentation, understanding brownfield projects, or mapping code structure. Triggers include "map codebase", "analyze codebase", "create project context", "document codebase", "understand code", and "codebase map".

gannonh Updated Sep 10, 2026

File contents

Each mapper agent explores a focus area and writes documents directly to .planning/codebase/. The orchestrator only receives confirmations, keeping context usage minimal.

Output: .planning/codebase/ folder with 7 structured documents, plus .planning/intel/ with compressed agent-readable artifacts (doc-derived summary + code-scanned index and conventions).

Load project state if exists: Check for .planning/STATE.md - loads context if project already initialized

This command can run:

Before /kata-new-project (brownfield codebases) - creates codebase map first
After /kata-new-project (greenfield codebases) - updates codebase map as code evolves
Anytime to refresh codebase understanding

Skip project-analyze for:

Greenfield projects with no code yet (nothing to map)
Trivial codebases (<5 files)

---name: kata-map-codebasedescription: Analyze an existing codebase with parallel mapper agents, creating codebase documentation, understanding brownfield projects, or mapping code structure. Triggers include "map codebase", "analyze codebase", "create project context", "document codebase", "understand code", and "codebase map".---<objective>Analyze existing codebase using parallel kata-codebase-mapper agents to produce structured codebase documents.Each mapper agent explores a focus area and **writes documents directly** to `.planning/codebase/`. The orchestrator only receives confirmations, keeping context usage minimal.Output: .planning/codebase/ folder with 7 structured documents, plus .planning/intel/ with compressed agent-readable artifacts (doc-derived summary + code-scanned index and conventions).</objective><execution_context>@./references/project-analyze.md</execution_context><context>Focus area: $ARGUMENTS (optional - if provided, tells agents to focus on specific subsystem)**Load project state if exists:**Check for .planning/STATE.md - loads context if project already initialized**This command can run:**- Before /kata-new-project (brownfield codebases) - creates codebase map first- After /kata-new-project (greenfield codebases) - updates codebase map as code evolves- Anytime to refresh codebase understanding</context><when_to_use>**Use project-analyze for:**- Brownfield projects before initialization (understand existing code first)- Refreshing codebase map after significant changes- Onboarding to an unfamiliar codebase- Before major refactoring (understand current state)- When STATE.md references outdated codebase info**Skip project-analyze for:**- Greenfield projects with no code yet (nothing to map)- Trivial codebases (<5 files)</when_to_use><process>1. Check if .planning/codebase/ already exists (offer to refresh or skip)2. Create .planning/codebase/ directory structure3. Spawn 4 parallel kata-codebase-mapper agents: - Agent 1: tech focus → writes STACK.md, INTEGRATIONS.md - Agent 2: arch focus → writes ARCHITECTURE.md, STRUCTURE.md - Agent 3: quality focus → writes CONVENTIONS.md, TESTING.md - Agent 4: concerns focus → writes CONCERNS.md4. Wait for agents to complete, collect confirmations (NOT document contents)5. Verify all 7 documents exist with line counts5.5. Generate codebase intelligence artifacts - Run the intel generator script: ```bash node scripts/generate-intel.js ``` - If script fails, show the error to the user and continue (non-blocking) - Verify artifacts exist: ```bash ls .planning/intel/summary.md .planning/intel/index.json .planning/intel/conventions.json ```5.6. Scan source code for structured index Run the code scanner to produce code-derived index.json and conventions.json: ```bash node scripts/scan-codebase.cjs ``` This overwrites the doc-derived index.json and conventions.json from step 5.5 with code-derived data (version 2 schema with per-file imports/exports, naming detection, directory purposes). If the script fails, show the error to the user and continue (non-blocking). Verify code-scan artifacts: ```bash node -e "const j=JSON.parse(require('fs').readFileSync('.planning/intel/index.json','utf8')); console.log('index version:', j.version, 'files:', Object.keys(j.files).length)" ```6. Commit codebase map and intel artifacts (`.planning/codebase/` + `.planning/intel/`)7. Offer next steps (typically: /kata-new-project or /kata-plan-phase)</process><success_criteria>- [ ] .planning/codebase/ directory created- [ ] .planning/intel/ directory created with summary.md, index.json, conventions.json- [ ] All 7 codebase documents written by mapper agents- [ ] Documents follow template structure- [ ] Parallel agents completed without errors- [ ] User knows next steps</success_criteria>

Frequently asked questions