# Zoom Out

Use when orienting in an unfamiliar area: fans out parallel explorers across structure...

- Repository: https://github.com/haowjy/creative-writing-skills (556 stars)
- Category: Engineering
- License: Apache-2.0
- Last updated: 2026-10-28
- Runs scripts: no, instructions only

## Install

Claude Code: `npx skills add haowjy/creative-writing-skills --skill zoom-out -g -a claude-code -y`
Codex: `npx skills add haowjy/creative-writing-skills --skill zoom-out -g -a codex -y`
Cursor: `npx skills add haowjy/creative-writing-skills --skill zoom-out -g -a cursor -y`
Gemini CLI: `npx skills add haowjy/creative-writing-skills --skill zoom-out -g -a gemini-cli -y`
Claude Code plugin marketplace: `/plugin marketplace add haowjy/creative-writing-skills`

## Description

Use when orienting in an unfamiliar area: fans out parallel explorers across structure, knowledge, and history, then synthesizes one orientation map.

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

# Zoom Out

Load `/creative-writing-skills:qi-layer` if it isn't already loaded.

Orient in an unfamiliar area by fanning out parallel explorers, each covering a different angle, then synthesizing their reports into one orientation map. A single explorer sees one slice; zoom-out covers structure *and* knowledge *and* history at once, so the picture isn't skewed by one lens.

Use when starting in an unfamiliar subsystem, picking up someone else's work, or when the user says "orient me" / "what's the lay of the land here."

## Fan Out

Spawn in parallel the angles the area has material for, each scoped to one angle and one question.

- **Structure** (`@explorer`): how the area's parts connect and where behavior lives; in code, callers, dependencies, module boundaries, entry points.
- **Documented knowledge** (`@explorer` over the knowledge base): what's been written about this area, including architecture, guides, synthesized research.
- **Decision history** (`@session-miner`): why it's shaped this way. Prior choices, rejected alternatives, constraints discovered.
- **Domain concepts** (`@explorer`): the vocabulary in use (KB vocab pages, `.context/CONTEXT.md`, AGENTS.md).

Give each explorer one angle, scoped with concrete path or topic targets: the value is independent coverage.

## Synthesize

Read the reports and produce one orientation map, not stitched-together dumps:

- **What this is**: the area's purpose and boundaries, in two or three sentences.
- **Structure**: the parts and interfaces that matter and how they connect (a mermaid diagram if the shape is spatial).
- **Why it's like this**: the decisions and constraints that explain the current shape.
- **Vocabulary**: the terms needed to speak about it precisely.
- **Open threads**: gaps, debt, or unresolved questions the explorers surfaced.

The rest: https://github.com/haowjy/creative-writing-skills/blob/HEAD/plugin/claude/skills/zoom-out/SKILL.md