Project Analysis Skill

Systematic analysis of any software project to understand stack, structure, and development workflow.

When to Use

•Before setting up Claude Code for a project
•When joining a new codebase
•When auditing project structure
•Before major refactoring

Quick Analysis Checklist

1. Identify Language & Package Manager

bash

# Check for config files
ls -la package.json pyproject.toml requirements.txt go.mod Cargo.toml composer.json pom.xml build.gradle 2>/dev/null

File Found	Language	Package Manager
`package.json`	JavaScript/TypeScript	npm/pnpm/bun/yarn
`pnpm-lock.yaml`	-	pnpm
`bun.lockb`	-	bun
`yarn.lock`	-	yarn
`pyproject.toml`	Python	poetry/pip
`requirements.txt`	Python	pip
`go.mod`	Go	go mod
`Cargo.toml`	Rust	cargo
`composer.json`	PHP	composer
`pom.xml`	Java	maven
`build.gradle`	Java/Kotlin	gradle

2. Detect Framework

Node.js - Check package.json dependencies:

•next → Next.js
•react → React (check for vite/CRA)
•vue → Vue.js
•express/fastify/hono → Backend
•electron → Desktop

Python - Check imports or dependencies:

•django → Django
•fastapi → FastAPI
•flask → Flask
•pytorch/tensorflow → ML

3. Identify Testing & Linting

bash

# Node.js
cat package.json | grep -E "(jest|vitest|mocha|eslint|prettier|biome)"

# Python
cat pyproject.toml | grep -E "(pytest|ruff|black|mypy)"

# Check for config files
ls -la jest.config* vitest.config* pytest.ini .eslintrc* .prettierrc* ruff.toml

4. Check Project Structure

bash

# Is it a monorepo?
ls -la turbo.json nx.json pnpm-workspace.yaml lerna.json 2>/dev/null

# Check directory structure
ls -la src/ app/ lib/ packages/ apps/ 2>/dev/null

Indicator	Type
`packages/` + `turbo.json`	Turborepo monorepo
`apps/` + `packages/`	Nx or similar
`pnpm-workspace.yaml`	pnpm workspace
Single `src/`	Standard single repo

5. Check CI/CD

bash

ls -la .github/workflows/ .gitlab-ci.yml .circleci/ Jenkinsfile 2>/dev/null

6. Read Existing Docs

bash

# Check for existing docs
cat README.md 2>/dev/null | head -100
cat CONTRIBUTING.md 2>/dev/null | head -50
cat CLAUDE.md 2>/dev/null
ls -la .claude/ 2>/dev/null

Output Template

After analysis, produce this summary:

markdown

## Project Analysis

### Stack
- **Language**: [X]
- **Framework**: [Y]
- **Package Manager**: [Z]
- **Runtime**: [Node vX / Python X.X / etc]

### Testing & Quality
- **Test Framework**: [jest/vitest/pytest/etc]
- **Linter**: [eslint/ruff/golangci-lint/etc]
- **Formatter**: [prettier/black/gofmt/etc]
- **Type Checking**: [TypeScript/mypy/etc]

### Structure
- **Type**: [monorepo/single]
- **Architecture**: [frontend/backend/fullstack]
- **Key Directories**: [list main dirs]

### Scripts Available
```bash
# From package.json/Makefile/etc
dev: [command]
test: [command]
build: [command]
lint: [command]

CI/CD

•Platform: [GitHub Actions/GitLab CI/etc]
•Key Workflows: [list]

Documentation Status

• README.md - [exists/missing] - [quality]
• CONTRIBUTING.md - [exists/missing]
• CLAUDE.md - [exists/missing]

Recommendations

•[First recommendation]
•[Second recommendation]

code


## Common Patterns by Stack

### Next.js App Router

app/ ├── layout.tsx ├── page.tsx ├── api/ └── components/

code


### Turborepo

apps/ ├── web/ └── docs/ packages/ ├── ui/ └── config/ turbo.json

code


### FastAPI

app/ ├── main.py ├── routers/ ├── models/ └── services/ tests/

code


### Go Standard

cmd/ ├── server/ internal/ ├── handlers/ ├── services/ pkg/ go.mod

code