Repo Story Time skill for Claude Code: summarize a repo and its history

A skill that makes Claude write a technical summary of your repo and a narrative story built from its commit history.

Installs: 9K; on skills.sh
Stars: 40.7K; on GitHub
Updated: Oct 2026; last repo commit

repo-story-time makes Claude explore a repository, run git history commands, and write two files in the repo root: REPOSITORY_SUMMARY.md and THE_STORY_OF_THIS_REPO.md. The story covers the past year: contributors, monthly activity, themes in the commit messages and merge patterns.

The commands in SKILL.md are written in PowerShell syntax plus git. SKILL.md tells the agent to write the files with its edit tool and not print them in chat. It bundles no scripts and names no API key.

Good for

Developers joining a repo who want an overview and a feel for its history
Maintainers writing a project retrospective or an anniversary post
Anyone who wants contributor and activity patterns explained in plain prose

Install repo-story-time

Claude Code

Copy this prompt.

Install the repo-story-time skill in Claude Code. Run this command:

npx skills add https://github.com/github/awesome-copilot --skill repo-story-time

Then check that it loaded and tell me how to use it.

2
Paste it into Claude Code. It shows the change and asks before running it.

Requires Node.js.

The skills CLI and folder routes copy this one skill folder.

From the vendor's docs. Source.

What's in the skill

When it loads

Generate a comprehensive repository summary and narrative story from commit history

Sections in SKILL.md

Role
Task
Methodology
Phase 1: Repository Exploration
Phase 2: Technical Deep Dive
Phase 3: Commit History Analysis
Phase 4: Pattern Recognition
Output Format
REPOSITORY_SUMMARY.md Structure
Overview
Architecture
Key Components
Technologies Used
Data Flow
Team and Ownership
THE_STORY_OF_THIS_REPO.md Structure

Key facts

Author: Not stated in SKILL.md; published in GitHub's awesome-copilot repo
License: MIT (repo LICENSE, Copyright GitHub, Inc.)
Installs on skills.sh: 8,951 as of 2026-11-02
GitHub stars: 40,666 for the whole awesome-copilot repo, 2026-11-02
Last change to this skill: 2026-10-30
What is inside: 1 file: SKILL.md
skills.sh audits: Gen Agent Trust Hub pass, Socket pass, Snyk pass

What it includes

Lists the md, json and yaml files and the folders with two PowerShell commands.
Runs code · Phase 1: Repository exploration
Builds an inventory of purpose, architecture, technologies, components and data flow.
Read · Phase 2: Technical deep dive
Runs git commands for commit counts, contributors, monthly activity, changes and merges.
It has six steps: basic statistics, contributor analysis, activity patterns, change pattern analysis, collaboration patterns and seasonal analysis. Besides the all-time commit count, each looks back one year.
Runs code · Phase 3: Commit history analysis
Looks for characters, seasons, themes, conflicts and evolution in the history.
Phase 4: Pattern recognition
Writes a technical summary with 6 sections, from Overview to Team and Ownership.
Write · REPOSITORY_SUMMARY.md
Writes the narrative with 6 sections, from The Chronicles to The Current Chapter.
The sections are The Chronicles: A Year in Numbers, Cast of Characters, Seasonal Patterns, The Great Themes, Plot Twists and Turning Points, and The Current Chapter.
Try: “Use repo-story-time on this repository and write both files in the repo root.”
Write · THE_STORY_OF_THIS_REPO.md
Tells the agent to write both files with its edit tool, not print them in chat.
File-first output

From the official docs

Permissions

Low risk

It runs git history commands and writes two files that can name your contributors and quote commit messages. Read them before you commit or share them.

What it can do

Read your data
Create and change things
Delete things
Read-only mode

Watch out for

The story names people and quotes commits
SKILL.md asks for actual contributor names, commit messages and file names. Read both files before you commit or share them. github.com
It writes two files in your repo root
SKILL.md says the deliverables are the actual files. Check git status afterwards and delete them if you do not want them. github.com

Technical details

Scopes	Runs PowerShell-style listing commands and git log, shortlog and rev-list commands Writes REPOSITORY_SUMMARY.md and THE_STORY_OF_THIS_REPO.md in the repo root

Questions

What does repo-story-time do?

It makes Claude analyze a repository and write two files. REPOSITORY_SUMMARY.md describes the architecture and purpose, and THE_STORY_OF_THIS_REPO.md tells the story of the last year of commits.

How do I install it in Claude Code or Codex?

Use the install box above. It copies this one skill folder, or you can use the gh skills install command from the awesome-copilot skills index.

What does it read from my repo?

File and folder listings, your README and config files, and git history from the last year: commit counts, contributor names, commit messages, changed files and merges. SKILL.md says to use actual file names, commit messages and contributor names.

Does it need PowerShell?

The commands in SKILL.md use PowerShell syntax, such as Get-ChildItem and Select-Object. SKILL.md does not say how to run them on macOS or Linux.

Does it need an API key?

SKILL.md names no API key, and the folder holds only SKILL.md.

Is it safe to run on a private repo?

It writes two files in the repo root, and they can contain contributor names and commit messages. Our advice: read them before you commit or share them, and check what your assistant sends to its model provider.

Information

updated Nov 2, 2026

Repository: github/awesome-copilot
Folder: skills/repo-story-time

github/awesome-copilot skills.sh

Sources

Docs, issue trackers and discussions this page is built from.

Show all 4

awesome-copilot skills index · github.com
repo-story-time SKILL.md · github.com
awesome-copilot LICENSE · github.com
skills.sh listing · skills.sh