How do I install the Are Help skill?

Run npx skillmds@latest add tomevault-io/are-help 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.

What does the Are Help skill do?

Show available ARE commands and usage guide Use when this capability is needed. It is listed under Coding & Dev Tools on SkillMD.

Is Are Help safe to use?

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

Which AI agents work with Are Help?

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 Are Help free to use?

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

Who published Are Help?

tomevault-io (@tomevault-io) published this skill. Their other Agent Skills are listed on their SkillMD profile.

Are Help by tomevault-io — Agent Skill

Name: Are Help
Author: tomevault-io

First: Read .claude/ARE-VERSION → store as $VERSION. Show the user: agents-reverse-engineer v$VERSION

Then: Output ONLY the reference content below. Do NOT add:

Project-specific analysis
Git status or file context
Next-step suggestions
Any commentary beyond the reference

ARE generates AI-friendly documentation for codebases, creating structured summaries optimized for AI assistants.

Quick Start

/are-init — Create configuration file
/are-generate — Generate documentation for the codebase
/are-update — Keep docs in sync after code changes
/are-dashboard — View costs and telemetry

Commands Reference

`/are-init`

Initialize configuration in this project.

Creates .agents-reverse-engineer/config.yaml with customizable settings.

Usage: /are-init CLI: npx agents-reverse-engineer init

`/are-discover`

Discover files that would be analyzed for documentation.

Shows included files, excluded files with reasons, and generates a GENERATION-PLAN.md execution plan.

Options:

Flag	Description
`[path]`	Target directory (default: current directory)
`--debug`	Show verbose debug output
`--trace`	Enable concurrency tracing to `.agents-reverse-engineer/traces/`
Usage:

/are-discover — Discover files and generate execution plan

CLI:

npx agents-reverse-engineer discover
npx agents-reverse-engineer discover ./src

`/are-generate`

Generate comprehensive documentation for the codebase.

Options:

Flag	Description
`[path]`	Target directory (default: current directory)
`--concurrency N`	Number of concurrent AI calls (default: auto)
`--dry-run`	Show what would be generated without writing
`--eval`	Namespace output by backend.model for comparison
`--fail-fast`	Stop on first file analysis failure
`--debug`	Show AI prompts and backend details
`--trace`	Enable concurrency tracing to `.agents-reverse-engineer/traces/`
Usage:

/are-generate — Generate docs
/are-generate --dry-run — Preview without writing
/are-generate --eval — Generate variant docs for comparison
/are-generate --concurrency 3 — Limit parallel AI calls

CLI:

npx agents-reverse-engineer generate
npx agents-reverse-engineer generate --dry-run
npx agents-reverse-engineer generate ./my-project --concurrency 3
npx agents-reverse-engineer generate --debug --trace

How it works:

Discovers files, applies filters, analyzes each file via concurrent AI calls, writes .sum summary files
Generates AGENTS.md for each directory (post-order traversal) and writes CLAUDE.md pointers

`/are-update`

Incrementally update documentation for changed files.

Options:

Flag	Description
`[path]`	Target directory (default: current directory)
`--uncommitted`	Include staged but uncommitted changes
`--dry-run`	Show what would be updated without writing
`--eval`	Namespace output by backend.model for comparison
`--concurrency N`	Number of concurrent AI calls (default: auto)
`--fail-fast`	Stop on first file analysis failure
`--debug`	Show AI prompts and backend details
`--trace`	Enable concurrency tracing to `.agents-reverse-engineer/traces/`
Usage:

/are-update — Update docs for committed changes
/are-update --uncommitted — Include uncommitted changes

CLI:

npx agents-reverse-engineer update
npx agents-reverse-engineer update --uncommitted
npx agents-reverse-engineer update --dry-run
npx agents-reverse-engineer update ./my-project --concurrency 3

`/are-specify` (Experimental)

Generate a project specification from AGENTS.md documentation.

Collects all AGENTS.md files, synthesizes them via AI, and writes a comprehensive project specification. Auto-runs generate if no AGENTS.md files exist.

Options:

Flag	Description
`[path]`	Target directory (default: current directory)
`--output <path>`	Custom output path (default: specs/SPEC.md)
`--multi-file`	Split specification into multiple files
`--force`	Overwrite existing specification
`--dry-run`	Show input statistics without making AI calls
`--debug`	Show AI prompts and backend details
`--trace`	Enable concurrency tracing to `.agents-reverse-engineer/traces/`
Usage:

/are-specify — Generate specification
/are-specify --dry-run — Preview without calling AI
/are-specify --output ./docs/spec.md --force — Custom output path

CLI:

npx agents-reverse-engineer specify
npx agents-reverse-engineer specify --dry-run
npx agents-reverse-engineer specify --output ./docs/spec.md --force
npx agents-reverse-engineer specify --multi-file

`/are-rebuild` (Experimental)

Reconstruct a project from specification documents.

Reads spec files from specs/, partitions them into ordered rebuild units, processes each via AI, and writes generated source files to an output directory. Supports checkpoint-based session continuity for resumable long-running rebuilds.

Options:

Flag	Description
`[path]`	Target directory (default: current directory)
`--output <path>`	Output directory (default: rebuild/)
`--force`	Wipe output directory and start fresh
`--dry-run`	Show rebuild plan without making AI calls
`--concurrency N`	Number of concurrent AI calls (default: auto)
`--fail-fast`	Stop on first failure
`--debug`	Show AI prompts and backend details
`--trace`	Enable concurrency tracing to `.agents-reverse-engineer/traces/`
Usage:

/are-rebuild --dry-run — Preview rebuild plan
/are-rebuild --output ./out --force — Rebuild to custom directory

CLI:

npx agents-reverse-engineer rebuild --dry-run
npx agents-reverse-engineer rebuild --output ./out --force
npx agents-reverse-engineer rebuild --concurrency 3

How it works:

Reads all spec files from specs/ directory
Partitions specs into ordered rebuild units (from Build Plan phases or top-level headings)
Processes units in order: sequentially between groups, concurrently within each group
Accumulates context (export signatures) after each group for dependent phases
Writes generated source files via ===FILE:=== delimited output parsing

Exit codes: 0 (success), 1 (partial failure), 2 (total failure)

`/are-clean`

Remove all generated documentation artifacts.

Options:

Flag	Description
`--dry-run`	Show what would be deleted without deleting

What gets deleted:

.agents-reverse-engineer/GENERATION-PLAN.md
All *.sum files (including eval variant .sum files)
All AGENTS.md and AGENTS.*.md variant files
Pointers: CLAUDE.md

Usage:

/are-clean --dry-run — Preview deletions
/are-clean — Delete all artifacts

CLI:

npx agents-reverse-engineer clean --dry-run
npx agents-reverse-engineer clean

`/are-dashboard` (Experimental)

Show telemetry dashboard with cost analysis, token usage, and trace timelines.

Options:

Flag	Description
`--run <id>`	Per-entry drill-down for a specific run (partial timestamp match)
`--trace <id>`	ASCII timeline from trace file (partial timestamp match)
`--trends`	Cost & usage trends across all runs
`--format html`	Self-contained HTML report with Chart.js charts
`--format json`	Raw data as JSON

Usage:

/are-dashboard — Show run summary table
/are-dashboard --run 2026-02-14 — Drill into a specific run
/are-dashboard --trace 2026-02-14 — Show execution timeline
/are-dashboard --trends — Cost trends over time

CLI:

npx agents-reverse-engineer dashboard
npx agents-reverse-engineer dashboard --run 2026-02-14
npx agents-reverse-engineer dashboard --trace 2026-02-14
npx agents-reverse-engineer dashboard --trends
npx agents-reverse-engineer dashboard --format html > report.html

`/are-help`

Show this command reference.

CLI Installation

Install ARE commands to your AI assistant:

npx agents-reverse-engineer install              # Interactive mode
npx agents-reverse-engineer install --runtime claude -g  # Global Claude
npx agents-reverse-engineer install --runtime codex -g   # Global Codex
npx agents-reverse-engineer install --runtime claude -l  # Local project
npx agents-reverse-engineer install --runtime all -g     # All runtimes

Install/Uninstall Options:

Flag	Description
`--runtime <name>`	Target: `claude`, `codex`, `opencode`, `gemini`, `all`
`-g, --global`	Install to global config directory
`-l, --local`	Install to current project directory
`--force`	Overwrite existing files (install only)

Configuration

File: .agents-reverse-engineer/config.yaml

# Exclusion patterns
exclude:
  patterns:
    - "**/*.test.ts"
    - "**/__mocks__/**"
  vendorDirs:
    - node_modules
    - dist
    - .git
  binaryExtensions:
    - .png
    - .jpg
    - .pdf

# Options
options:
  followSymlinks: false
  maxFileSize: 100000

# Output settings
output:
  colors: true

Generated Files

Per Source File

*.sum — File summaries with YAML frontmatter + detailed prose.

---
file_type: service
generated_at: 2025-01-15T10:30:00Z
content_hash: abc123...
purpose: Handles user authentication and session management
public_interface: [login(), logout(), refreshToken(), AuthService]
dependencies: [express, jsonwebtoken, ./user-model]
patterns: [singleton, factory, observer]
related_files: [./types.ts, ./middleware.ts]
---

<300-500 word summary covering implementation, patterns, edge cases>

Per Directory

AGENTS.md — Directory overview synthesized from .sum files. Groups files by purpose and links to subdirectories.

Pointer Files

File	Purpose
`CLAUDE.md`	Project entry point — imports root AGENTS.md

Common Workflows

Initial documentation:

/are-init
/are-generate

After code changes:

/are-update

Full regeneration:

/are-clean
/are-generate

Preview before generating:

/are-discover                   # Check files and exclusions
/are-generate --dry-run         # Preview generation

Tips

Custom exclusions: Edit .agents-reverse-engineer/config.yaml to skip files
Context loading: Install creates a hook that auto-loads AGENTS.md context when reading project files
Total session costs: Use npx ccusage@latest (https://github.com/ryoppippi/ccusage) to see ALL Claude Code session costs, not just ARE subprocesses

Resources

Repository: https://github.com/GeoloeG-IsT/agents-reverse-engineer
Update: npx agents-reverse-engineer install --force

Converted and distributed by TomeVault — claim your Tome and manage your conversions.

Are Help

File contents

Quick Start

Commands Reference

`/are-init`

`/are-discover`

`/are-generate`

`/are-update`

`/are-specify` (Experimental)

`/are-rebuild` (Experimental)

`/are-clean`

`/are-dashboard` (Experimental)

`/are-help`

CLI Installation

Configuration

Generated Files

Per Source File

Per Directory

Pointer Files

Common Workflows

Tips

Resources

Frequently asked questions

Are Help

File contents

Quick Start

Commands Reference

/are-init

/are-discover

/are-generate

/are-update

/are-specify (Experimental)

/are-rebuild (Experimental)

/are-clean

/are-dashboard (Experimental)

/are-help

CLI Installation

Configuration

Generated Files

Per Source File

Per Directory

Pointer Files

Common Workflows

Tips

Resources

Related skills

Frequently asked questions

How do I install the Are Help skill?

What does the Are Help skill do?

Is Are Help safe to use?

Which AI agents work with Are Help?

Is Are Help free to use?

Who published Are Help?

`/are-init`

`/are-discover`

`/are-generate`

`/are-update`

`/are-specify` (Experimental)

`/are-rebuild` (Experimental)

`/are-clean`

`/are-dashboard` (Experimental)

`/are-help`