C3 Query - Architecture Navigation + Code Exploration

Navigate architecture docs AND explore corresponding code. Full context = docs + code.

NOT This Skill

REQUIRED: Load Navigation Reference

Before navigating layers, you MUST read references/layer-navigation.md.

This reference contains:

• Activation check
• Traversal order (Context → Container → Component)
• ID-to-path mapping

Core Principle

To understand fully, you need BOTH:

• C3 Docs: What it is, why it exists, how it connects
• Code: How it's actually implemented

Query Resolution Flow

Query
  │
  ├─→ 1. Navigate Layers (per layer-navigation.md)
  │      Context → Container → Component
  │
  ├─→ 2. Extract Code References
  │      From component docs, extract:
  │      - File paths, class/function names
  │      - Directory patterns, technology keywords
  │
  └─→ 3. Explore Code
         Use extracted references to read/search actual code

Step 3: Extract Code References

From C3 docs, extract keywords for code exploration:

Look for:

• Explicit paths: src/auth/service.ts
• Patterns: **/auth/**, *.controller.ts
• Keywords: class names, function names, route patterns
• Config files: related configs, env vars

Step 4: Explore Code

Use Task tool with Explore agent OR direct tools:

• Glob: Find files matching patterns from docs
• Grep: Search for keywords, class names, functions
• Read: Load specific files mentioned in docs

Build understanding from both docs and code.

Query Types

Documentation Query (default)

"where is X", "explain X" → Docs only, suggest code exploration

Code Query

"show me the code for X", "implementation of X" → Full flow through code

Deep Query

"explore X thoroughly", "understand X completely" → Docs + Code + Related

Response Format

**Layer:** <layer-id> (<name>)

<Architecture understanding from docs>

**Code References:**
- `path/to/file.ts` - <what it does>
- `ClassName` in `path/` - <role>

**Key Code Insights:**
<Observations from actual code exploration>

**Related:** <navigation hints>

Examples

Query: "where is authentication handled?"

1. Load .c3/README.md → find auth in c3-1 (backend)
2. Load .c3/c3-1-backend/README.md → find c3-101 (auth-service)
3. Extract: src/auth/, AuthService, jwt
4. Answer with layer + code pointers

Query: "show me the code for payment processing"

1. Locate: Context → c3-1 (backend) → c3-103 (payments)
2. Extract from docs: src/payments/, PaymentService, Stripe
3. Glob: src/payments/**/*.ts
4. Read key files, summarize implementation
5. Answer with docs context + code walkthrough

Query: "how does frontend call the API?"

1. Load Context → check c3-1 ↔ c3-2 linkage
2. Load both containers for integration details
3. Extract: API client patterns, endpoint definitions
4. Search: fetch, axios, route handlers
5. Answer with protocol from docs + actual implementation

Navigation Hints