Git Forage

Git Forage is a prior-art and duplicate-work research skill for Codex and Claude Code. Use it before building new tools, plugins, libraries, integrations, or major features so agents can check registries, issue queues, pull requests, and GitHub projects before recommending whether to use, contribute, wait, build new, or take a hybrid path.

Install

Add the marketplace, then install the gitforage plugin from that marketplace.

Codex:

codex plugin marketplace add matcluck/gitforage-skill

For a local checkout:

codex plugin marketplace add /path/to/gitforage-skill

Then open /plugins, select Git Forage, and install gitforage.

Claude Code:

claude plugin marketplace add matcluck/gitforage-skill
claude plugin install gitforage@gitforage-marketplace

For a local checkout:

claude plugin marketplace add /path/to/gitforage-skill
claude plugin install gitforage@gitforage-marketplace

Install Shapes

The plugin layout is the source of truth:

• .agents/plugins/marketplace.json for Codex marketplace installation

• .claude-plugin/marketplace.json for Claude Code marketplace installation

• .codex-plugin/plugin.json and .claude-plugin/plugin.json for plugin metadata

• skills/ for reusable workflow skills

• git-forage

Safety Defaults

• Check registries, issues, and pull requests before searching for inspiration.
• Prefer maintained projects with permissive licenses.
• Reject copyleft, source-available, unclear, or missing licenses unless the user explicitly approves research-only review.
• Clone references into a local inspirations/ or scratch directory only after selecting candidates worth deeper analysis.
• Extract patterns and tradeoffs; do not copy code unless license and project policy allow it.

Structure

gitforage-skill/
+-- .agents/plugins/marketplace.json
+-- .codex-plugin/plugin.json
+-- .claude-plugin/
|   +-- marketplace.json
|   +-- plugin.json
+-- skills/
    +-- git-forage/

Review

After syncing local changes, review with:

git status --short
git diff