RepoCue Quick Start

Scope

This guide installs RepoCue from a source checkout, initializes repository context, produces the first overview cue, and installs the optional agent skill.

Out of scope: system-wide installation, packaged releases, MCP, and hosted agent configuration.

Prerequisites

Source installation requires GNU Make, Go 1.24 or newer, and the GNU coreutils install and realpath commands. Confirm the required tools before starting:

command -v make
command -v install
make check-tools

See INSTALLATION.md for the complete prerequisite list.

Install RepoCue

From the RepoCue repository root, preview, apply, and verify the default user installation:

make install.dry-run
make install.apply
export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"
make install.check

The executable is installed as $HOME/.local/bin/repocue. See INSTALLATION.md for custom locations, cross-builds, and removal.

Install the Optional Agent Skill

While still in the RepoCue checkout, install the portable skills/repocue/SKILL.md file for Codex:

REPOCUE_CODEX_SKILL_DIR="${CODEX_HOME:-$HOME/.codex}/skills/repocue"
install -d "$REPOCUE_CODEX_SKILL_DIR"
install -m 0644 skills/repocue/SKILL.md "$REPOCUE_CODEX_SKILL_DIR/SKILL.md"

Install the same skill for Claude Code:

REPOCUE_CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR="$HOME/.claude/skills/repocue"
install -d "$REPOCUE_CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR"
install -m 0644 skills/repocue/SKILL.md "$REPOCUE_CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR/SKILL.md"

Start a new agent session after the first installation so the runtime can discover the skill. The skill remains a standalone repository artifact; it is not a plugin and does not install RepoCue itself.

Create the First Cue

Change to the Git repository that RepoCue should describe:

cd /path/to/git-repository
repocue init .
repocue status
repocue cue --view overview --max-tokens 500

The final command prints a structured JSON overview. --max-tokens 500 limits the estimated size of the cue output; it does not set the AI model’s complete context limit.

Ask an Agent

The CLI command may be entered directly, or an agent with the RepoCue skill may receive a natural-language request:

Use RepoCue to inspect the current repository before reading files. Start with an overview limited to about 500 estimated tokens, and inspect files directly only when the cue is incomplete or uncertain.

The agent should run repocue refresh, initialize the repository first when refresh reports that RepoCue is not initialized, and then run:

repocue cue --view overview --max-tokens 500

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