are-help

SkillAI & models

Show available ARE commands and usage guide

Available today. Use it from your connected AI after setup.

Connect ahel once, and every AI you use reads what you have installed.

Then ask your AI: use the are-help skill

What this skill tells your AI

The instructions your AI receives, as published by geoloeg-ist/agents-reverse-engineer in .claude/skills/are-help/SKILL.md and read by ahel’s review.

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

  1. /are-generate — Generate documentation for the codebase
  2. /are-update — Keep docs in sync after code changes
  3. /are-dashboard — View costs and telemetry

Configuration (.agents-reverse-engineer/config.yaml) is created automatically during installation.

Commands Reference

/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:

FlagDescription
[path]Target directory (default: current directory)
--debugShow verbose debug output
--traceEnable 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:

FlagDescription
[path]Target directory (default: current directory)
--concurrency NNumber of concurrent AI calls (default: auto)
--dry-runShow what would be generated without writing
--evalNamespace output by backend.model for comparison
--fail-fastStop on first file analysis failure
--debugShow AI prompts and backend details
--traceEnable 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:

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

/are-update

Incrementally update documentation for changed files.

Options:

FlagDescription
[path]Target directory (default: current directory)
--uncommittedInclude staged but uncommitted changes
--dry-runShow what would be updated without writing
--evalNamespace output by backend.model for comparison
--concurrency NNumber of concurrent AI calls (default: auto)
--fail-fastStop on first file analysis failure
--debugShow AI prompts and backend details
--traceEnable 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:

FlagDescription
[path]Target directory (default: current directory)
--output <path>Custom output path (default: specs/SPEC.md)
--multi-fileSplit specification into multiple files
--forceOverwrite existing specification
--dry-runShow input statistics without making AI calls
--debugShow AI prompts and backend details
--traceEnable 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:

FlagDescription
[path]Target directory (default: current directory)
--output <path>Output directory (default: rebuild/)
--forceWipe output directory and start fresh
--dry-runShow rebuild plan without making AI calls
--concurrency NNumber of concurrent AI calls (default: auto)
--fail-fastStop on first failure
--debugShow AI prompts and backend details
--traceEnable 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:

  1. Reads all spec files from specs/ directory
  2. Partitions specs into ordered rebuild units (from Build Plan phases or top-level headings)
  3. Processes units in order: sequentially between groups, concurrently within each group
  4. Accumulates context (export signatures) after each group for dependent phases
  5. 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:

FlagDescription
--dry-runShow 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:

FlagDescription
--run <id>Per-entry drill-down for a specific run (partial timestamp match)
--trace <id>ASCII timeline from trace file (partial timestamp match)
--trendsCost & usage trends across all runs
--format htmlSelf-contained HTML report with Chart.js charts
--format jsonRaw 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:

FlagDescription
--runtime <name>Target: claude, codex, opencode, gemini, all
-g, --globalInstall to global config directory
-l, --localInstall to current project directory
--forceOverwrite 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

FilePurpose
CLAUDE.mdProject entry point — imports root AGENTS.md

Common Workflows

Initial documentation:

/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

Signals

GitHub stars
20
Forks
5
Last commit
Aug 2026
Advanced
Catalog kind
skill
Gateway key
are-help
Source
github.com/geoloeg-ist/agents-reverse-engineer