Prompt Library
Coding

Codebase Onboarding Guide

Understand a new codebase file fast, with architecture context.

The Prompt
Explain this code as if onboarding a new teammate:
1. What it does in one sentence
2. Where it sits in a typical architecture (and what calls it / it calls)
3. The non-obvious decisions and why they might exist
4. What would you check before modifying it

[paste code]
Fill in before using
[code]

How to use it

  • → Paste the prompt into your model of choice — it works with any frontier model.
  • → Replace every bracketed placeholder with your specifics. Concrete inputs beat vague ones every time.
  • → If the model asks a clarifying question, answer it — these prompts are designed to invite that.
  • → Iterate on the output, not the prompt. The structure is already tuned.
onboardingreading code

More Coding prompts