Onboarding a Legacy Codebase Workflow Prompt

Overview: Inherit an undocumented system and map fragile areas.

SOP Instructions

08 - ONBOARDING A LEGACY CODEBASE

Treat this repository as an undocumented legacy system I just inherited with no handoff.

Identify:

- the language,
- framework,
- major dependency versions in use,
- whether any are outdated or deprecated.

Find where the actual business logic lives versus boilerplate or scaffolding.

Identify code that looks fragile:

- global mutable state,
- tightly coupled modules,
- magic numbers or strings with no explanation,
- missing error handling around external calls.

Tell me what would most likely break first if I made a careless change, and why.

Compile this into a short brief organized under these exact headings:

Stack
Core Logic
Fragile Areas
Safe First Changes