Codebase Onboarding

Codebase Onboarding

Analyze any codebase and generate production-quality onboarding documentation tailored to the audience. Produces architecture overviews with system diagrams, annotated key file maps, step-by-step local setup guides, common developer task runbooks, debugging guides with real error solutions, and contribution guidelines. Supports Markdown, Notion, and Confluence output formats.

Core Capabilities

• Architecture analysis — tech stack identification from manifests/lockfiles, system boundary mapping, Mermaid data-flow diagrams, dependency graphs, module ownership.
• Key file annotation — surface the 20 most important files and why they matter; mark entry points, config hubs, shared utilities, and files dangerous to modify without coordination.
• Setup guide generation — prerequisites with exact versions, git clone-to-tests steps, env-var docs, infra setup (Docker/DB/cache), and a verification checklist.
• Task runbooks — add an API endpoint, run/write tests, create & apply migrations, deploy to staging/production, add a dependency safely.
• Debugging guide — common errors with exact messages and fixes, log locations by environment, diagnostic SQL/CLI queries, local reproduction of production issues.
• Audience-aware output — tailored additions for junior developers, senior engineers, and contractors; Markdown / Notion / Confluence formats.

Keywords: codebase onboarding, developer experience, documentation, architecture overview, setup guide, debugging guide, contribution guidelines, code walkthrough, new hire onboarding

When to Use

• Onboarding a new team member (junior, senior, or contractor)
• After a major refactor that made existing docs stale
• Before open-sourcing a project
• Creating a team wiki page for a service you own
• Self-documenting before a long vacation or team transition
• Preparing for a compliance audit that requires documentation

Clarify First

Before generating the docs, confirm these inputs. If any is unknown or vague, ASK — do not assume:

• Target codebase path — which project to analyze (the input all three scripts scan)
• Audience — junior developer, senior engineer, or contractor (tailors which sections appear and at what depth)
• Output format — Markdown, Notion, or Confluence (sets the generated document format)

Stop rule: ask only the 2-3 that most change the output. If the user says "just draft it," proceed and list your assumptions at the top of the artifact.

Tools