Clone or reuse a cached local checkout of a remote git repository (GitHub/GitLab/Bitbucket). This skill should be used when the user says "clone this repo", "read the source code", "look at their implementation", "check this GitHub project's files", "install this", "run this project", "study this project", mentions an owner/repo identifier (e.g. "anthropics/claude-code"), or when needing to browse multiple files, search across a codebase, or deeply explore a remote repository's structure.
Use this skill when the user points you to a remote git repository (GitHub/GitLab/Bitbucket URLs, git@..., or owner/repo shorthand).
The goal is to keep a reusable local checkout that is:
--filter=blob:none, no repeated full clones)Repositories are stored at:
~/.cache/checkouts/<host>/<org>/<repo>
Example:
github.com/mitsuhiko/minijinja → ~/.cache/checkouts/github.com/mitsuhiko/minijinja
${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/scripts/checkout.sh <repo> --path-only
Examples:
${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/scripts/checkout.sh mitsuhiko/minijinja --path-only
${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/scripts/checkout.sh github.com/mitsuhiko/minijinja --path-only
${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/scripts/checkout.sh https://github.com/mitsuhiko/minijinja --path-only
The script will:
origin when stale (default interval: 300s).${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/scripts/checkout.sh <repo> --force-update --path-only
checkout.sh --path-only.checkout.sh again; it will find and update the cached checkout.Prefer not to edit directly in the shared cache. Create a separate worktree or copy from the cached checkout for task-specific modifications.
owner/repo defaults to github.com.