A prompt designed to analyze a codebase

Multi-Audience Application Discovery & Documentation Prompt

by Valdecir Carvalho · CC0-1.0 license · updated Sep 9

Overview

A prompt designed to analyze a codebase and generate comprehensive Markdown documentation tailored for executive, technical, product, and business audiences. It guides an AI to extract high-level system purpose, architecture, key components, workflows, product features, business domains, and limitations, producing an onboarding and discovery document suitable for both technical and non-technical stakeholders.

The prompt

134 lines · 5,916 characters · paste it into ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini

1	# Prompt for Code Analysis and System Documentation Generation
2
3	You are a specialist in code analysis and system documentation. Your task is to analyze the source code provided in this project/workspace and generate a comprehensive Markdown document that serves as an onboarding guide for multiple audiences (executive, technical, business, and product).
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5	## Instructions
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7	Analyze the provided source code and extract the following information, organizing it into a well-structured Markdown document:
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9	---
10
11	## 1. Executive-Level View: Executive Summary
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13	### Application Purpose
14	- What is the main objective of this system?
15	- What problem does it aim to solve at a high level?
16
17	### How It Works (High-Level)
18	- Describe the overall system flow in a concise and accessible way for a non-technical audience.
19	- What are the main steps or processes the system performs?
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21	### High-Level Business Rules
22	- Identify and describe the main business rules implemented in the code.
23	- What are the fundamental business policies, constraints, or logic that the system follows?
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25	### Key Benefits
26	- What are the main benefits this system delivers to the organization or its users?
27
28	---
29
30	## 2. Technical-Level View: Technology Overview
31
32	### System Architecture
33	- Describe the overall system architecture based on code analysis.
34	- Does it follow a specific pattern (e.g., Monolithic, Microservices, etc.)?
35	- What are the main components or modules identified?
36
37	### Technologies Used (Technology Stack)
38	- List all programming languages, frameworks, libraries, databases, and other technologies used in the project.
39
40	### Main Technical Flows
41	- Detail the main data and execution flows within the system.
42	- How do the different components interact with each other?
43
44	### Key Components
45	- Identify and describe the most important system components, explaining their role and responsibility within the architecture.
46
47	### Code Complexity (Observations)
48	- Based on your analysis, provide general observations about code complexity (e.g., well-structured, modularized, areas of higher apparent complexity).
49
50	### Diagrams
51	- Generate high-level diagrams to visualize the system architecture and behavior:
52	- Component diagram (focusing on major modules and their interactions)
53	- Data flow diagram (showing how information moves through the system)
54	- Class diagram (presenting key classes and their relationships, if applicable)
55	- Simplified deployment diagram (showing where components run, if detectable)
56	- Simplified infrastructure/deployment diagram (if infrastructure details are apparent)
57	- Create the diagrams above using Mermaid syntax within the Markdown file. Diagrams should remain high-level and not overly detailed.
58
59	---
60
61	## 3. Product View: Product Summary
62
63	### What the System Does (Detailed)
64	- Describe the system’s main functionalities in detail.
65	- What tasks or actions can users perform?
66
67	### Who the System Is For (Users / Customers)
68	- Identify the primary target audience of the system.
69	- Who are the end users or customers who benefit from it?
70
71	### Problems It Solves (Needs Addressed)
72	- What specific problems does the system help solve for users or the organization?
73	- What needs does it address?
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75	### Use Cases / User Journeys (High-Level)
76	- What are the main use cases of the system?
77	- How do users interact with the system to achieve their goals?
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79	### Core Features
80	- List the most important system features clearly and concisely.
81
82	### Business Domains
83	- Identify the main business domains covered by the system (e.g., sales, inventory, finance).
84
85	---
86
87	## Analysis Limitations
88
89	- What were the main limitations encountered during the code analysis?
90	- Briefly describe what constrained your understanding of the code.
91	- Provide suggestions to reduce or eliminate these limitations.
92
93	---
94
95	## Document Guidelines
96
97	### Document Format
98	- The document must be formatted in Markdown, with clear titles and subtitles for each section.
99	- Use lists, tables, and other Markdown elements to improve readability and comprehension.
100
101	### Additional Instructions
102	- Focus on delivering relevant, high-level information, avoiding excessive implementation details unless critical for understanding.
103	- Use clear, concise, and accessible language suitable for multiple audiences.
104	- Be as specific as possible based on the code analysis.
105	- Generate the complete response as a well-formatted Markdown (`.md`) document.
106	- Use clear and direct language.
107	- Use headings and subheadings according to the sections above.
108
109	### Document Title
110	Executive and Business Analysis of the Application – "<application-name>"
111
112	### Document Summary
113	This document is the result of the source code analysis of the <system-name> system and covers the following areas:
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115	- Executive-Level View: Summary of the application’s purpose, high-level operation, main business rules, and key benefits.
116	- Technical-Level View: Details about system architecture, technologies used, main flows, key components, and diagrams (components, data flow, classes, and deployment).
117	- Product View: Detailed description of system functionality, target users, problems addressed, main use cases, features, and business domains.
118	- Analysis Limitations: Identification of key analysis constraints and suggestions to overcome them.
119
120	The analysis was based on the available source code files.
121
122	---
123
124	## IMPORTANT
125	The analysis must consider ALL project files.
126	Read and understand all necessary files required to perform the task and achieve a complete understanding of the system.
127
128	---
129
130	## Action
131	Please analyze the source code currently available in my environment/workspace and generate the requested Markdown document.
132
133	The output file name must follow this format:
134	`<yyyy-mm-dd-project-name-app-discovery_cursor.md>`