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What is repopulse

repopulse is a lightweight, git-first Codex skill that answers questions about a codebase. Give it a repository, and it produces a readable health snapshot — or follows a specific question backward through the commit graph.

No dashboards, no databases, no external tokens required.

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From EIA to repopulse

The previous version was a six-skill pipeline with JSON contracts and bilingual rules. repopulse cuts the surface area to a fraction while keeping the core insight: git holds the answers.

	EIA (old)	repopulse
Files	6 skills, pipeline orchestration	1 SKILL.md + 1 reference file
Context cost	Always loaded (model-invoked)	Zero cost (user-invoked)
Data	git + GitHub + external APIs	git first, gh when available
Output	JSON schemas per step	Natural language
Size	~30 KB	~4.7 KB

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Two branches

Pulse

A quick health snapshot. Three steps:

1. Read the shape — git log for commit cadence, contributor distribution, and file churn.
2. Read the open work — gh pr list for in-flight pull requests.
3. Synthesise a verdict — steady, frayed, or hot, with supporting evidence.

Use pulse before any unfamiliar repository. It answers: is this repo healthy, and where should I look next?

Completion criterion: a pulse verdict is written.

Trace

Follow a question backward through the commit graph. Given a file, a time window, a PR number, or a symptom, it runs 2–4 git commands and reports the causal chain.

When you ask about	It starts with
A file or module	git log --since="90 days ago" -- <path>
A bug or regression	git log --all --oneline --grep="fix" --since="90 days ago"
Who changed what	git shortlog -sn --since="90 days ago" -- <path>
A time window	git log --after / --before with --format
A PR	gh pr view <number> --json commits,files,reviews

Completion criterion: the question is answered with evidence, or an explicit data gap is stated.

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Quick start

Prerequisites: git (required), GitHub CLI gh with auth (optional, for PR data).

The skill is user-invoked. In any Codex session pointed at a git repository:

# Health snapshot
repopulse pulse

# Specific question
repopulse trace "why is src/payment/test_handler.go changing every week?"

That is the full API. Two commands.

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Implementation

skills/repopulse/
├── SKILL.md         — Core behaviour (user-invoked, 2 branches, completion criteria)
└── commands.md      — External reference (exact git flag combinations)

Design decisions

User-invoked. disable-model-invocation: true removes the description from the agent's context. The skill costs nothing until called by name.

Leading word "pulse". The model already understands pulse as a quick check — its pretrained meaning costs no tokens to install. The verdicts (steady / frayed / hot) extend the metaphor naturally.

Progressive disclosure. Basic git commands are inlined in SKILL.md. Exact flag combinations with edge cases live in commands.md, loaded only when the agent needs them.

Single pass per call. The skill runs exactly one branch. No orchestration, no pipeline state, no JSON handoff.

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Development

License: MIT

To modify:

1. Edit skills/repopulse/SKILL.md.
2. Run the skill against a test repository.
3. If behaviour diverges from the completion criteria, sharpen the wording or move edge-case commands to commands.md.

To install locally:

cp -r skills/repopulse ~/.codex/skills/repopulse