Is the Explain skill free?

Yes. The skill itself is free from thoughtbot/rails-consultant. SkillProof publishes the install command and an independent test verdict at no cost.

What is the Explain SkillProof Score?

7.6/10 — installs cleanly 5/5, triggers reliably 2/5, output vs. baseline 8/10, docs & honesty 4/5.

How do I install Explain?

Copy the install command from this page, run it in your terminal, and restart Claude Code. Skills live in ~/.claude/skills/ (global) or .claude/skills/ inside a project.

Can I use Explain with Cursor, Copilot, Gemini CLI, Codex or other AI tools?

The SKILL.md format is native to Claude (Claude Code, Desktop, claude.ai). The instructions inside adapt to other assistants: Cursor rules, GitHub Copilot instructions, Windsurf rules, Custom GPTs, AGENTS.md for OpenAI Codex, and GEMINI.md for Google Gemini CLI — our conversion guides cover each, and the free converter on the tools page does the wrapping for you.

Explain

Explains a Rails file or a whole user flow, starting from the git history

by thoughtbot · thoughtbot/rails-consultant

Works with setup

Install — copy the command Download source ↗

Test report

Verdict: Works with setup
Score: 7.6/10
Tested: Jul 30, 2026
Environment: Claude Code 2.x (agent harness)
Upstream re-checked: Jul 30, 2026 · 3fe2cd5

⚠ This skill is no longer available upstream. Our re-check on Aug 10, 2026 couldn't find it any more (repo unreachable/deleted). The test below is what we measured on Jul 30, 2026 and we're leaving it up as a record — but there is nothing left to install, so we've removed the command.

Pointed it at Clearance's real passwords_controller.rb, 115 lines with eight years of history. Explaining it cold covers the mechanics correctly but has nothing to say about why the reset mail uses deliver_now or why the actions return 202 and 303 instead of 200; the skill's mandatory opening step, git log plus the last diff, surfaced all three answers - PR 882 inlined delivery so integrators need no background worker and so send failures reach the user, and PR 965 changed the status codes because Turbo will not re-render a 200. That is the difference between a description and a working mental model. The catch is that the frontmatter sets disable-model-invocation: true, so none of the three natural phrasings I tested would load it - you have to type /explain yourself, and the README only documents the plugin and npx install paths, not the plain skills-directory copy that also works.

Scored on four weighted criteria — install, triggering, output vs. baseline, docs. How scoring works

Installs cleanly 5/5
Triggers reliably 2/5
Output vs. baseline 8/10
Docs & honesty 4/5

What Explain does

Two-mode code explainer for Rails codebases: point it at a file, class or method for a close reading, or name a user flow like password reset or checkout for a box-drawing flowchart plus entry points, branching logic and side effects. It opens with the file's git log so commit messages supply the 'why' the code cannot. Invoked manually as /explain - it sets disable-model-invocation, so it never fires from plain conversation.

How to install Explain

Nothing to install: the source repository no longer has this skill. If the author brings it back, our daily re-check will pick it up and the command will reappear here.

Commands — how to trigger Explain

/explain Explains a Rails file or a whole user flow, starting from the git history

It also activates on plain-language prompts like these:

/explain app/controllers/clearance/passwords_controller.rb, why deliver_now?
/explain the checkout flow, draw the entry points and side effects
/explain how password reset works in this app, starting from git history

Frequently asked questions

Is the Explain skill free?: Yes. The skill itself is free from thoughtbot/rails-consultant. SkillProof publishes the install command and an independent test verdict at no cost.
Does Explain work with Claude Code?: We tested it with Claude Code 2.x (agent harness) on Jul 30, 2026. Verdict: Works with setup. Pointed it at Clearance's real passwords_controller.rb, 115 lines with eight years of history. Explaining it cold covers the mechanics correctly but has nothing to say about why the reset mail uses deliver_now or why the actions return 202 and 303 instead of 200; the skill's mandatory opening step, git log plus the last diff, surfaced all three answers - PR 882 inlined delivery so integrators need no background worker and so send failures reach the user, and PR 965 changed the status codes because Turbo will not re-render a 200. That is the difference between a description and a working mental model. The catch is that the frontmatter sets disable-model-invocation: true, so none of the three natural phrasings I tested would load it - you have to type /explain yourself, and the README only documents the plugin and npx install paths, not the plain skills-directory copy that also works.
What is the Explain SkillProof Score?: 7.6/10 — installs cleanly 5/5, triggers reliably 2/5, output vs. baseline 8/10, docs & honesty 4/5.
How do I install Explain?: Copy the install command from this page, run it in your terminal, and restart Claude Code. Skills live in ~/.claude/skills/ (global) or .claude/skills/ inside a project.
Can I use Explain with Cursor, Copilot, Gemini CLI, Codex or other AI tools?: The SKILL.md format is native to Claude (Claude Code, Desktop, claude.ai). The instructions inside adapt to other assistants: Cursor rules, GitHub Copilot instructions, Windsurf rules, Custom GPTs, AGENTS.md for OpenAI Codex, and GEMINI.md for Google Gemini CLI — our conversion guides cover each, and the free converter on the tools page does the wrapping for you.