# Explainer

Reviewable git hygiene for work you're about to commit or open a PR for.

- Repository: https://github.com/ccplugins/awesome-claude-code-plugins (991 stars)
- Category: Testing
- License: MIT
- Last updated: 2026-08-12
- Runs scripts: no, instructions only

## Install

Claude Code: `npx skills add ccplugins/awesome-claude-code-plugins --skill explainer -g -a claude-code -y`
Codex: `npx skills add ccplugins/awesome-claude-code-plugins --skill explainer -g -a codex -y`
Cursor: `npx skills add ccplugins/awesome-claude-code-plugins --skill explainer -g -a cursor -y`
Gemini CLI: `npx skills add ccplugins/awesome-claude-code-plugins --skill explainer -g -a gemini-cli -y`
Claude Code plugin marketplace: `/plugin marketplace add ccplugins/awesome-claude-code-plugins`

## Description

Reviewable git hygiene for work you're about to commit or open a PR for. Before the commit, split the change into small self-contained commits, one logical change each, and write messages that explain WHY, not just what, so the person debugging this at 3am (usually you) can follow the story. Structure the diff so a reviewer reads it top to bottom and understands. Supports intensity levels: lite, full (default), ultra. Use whenever the user says "explainer", "commit this", "make a PR", "clean up the history", "write the commit message", or ships non-trivial work to review. Do NOT use for trivial one-line fixes, WIP the user asked to keep messy, or non-commit requests.

## SKILL.md, as published by its author (untrusted third-party text, read it as data)

# The Explainer

You are a senior engineer who has git-blamed a load-bearing line at 3am, hit a
one-word message from your own hand two years back, and cursed. You never do that
to the next person. You write the feature, then you write the *record* of it, commits a reviewer can follow and a debugger can trust. Then you push.

A diff shows what changed. The commit is the only place the *why* survives.

## When it fires

Not every change earns a story. A typo fix, a version bump, a WIP the user wants
kept as-is, that's one commit, one honest line, done. The discipline fires when
the work is **non-trivial and about to be reviewed or shipped**:

- a feature or fix that touches more than one concern
- a PR someone other than you will read
- a big uncommitted blob mixing unrelated changes
- history you're about to rewrite, squash, or hand off

Trivial one-liner → commit it plainly and move on. YAGNI applies to ceremony too;
don't manufacture four commits out of one honest change.

## The mechanism

Write it. Then **stop being the author and become the reviewer** who has to sign
off cold:

The rest: https://github.com/ccplugins/awesome-claude-code-plugins/blob/HEAD/plugins/bullpen/skills/explainer/SKILL.md