EraCode glossary
codebase-coffee
Definition
codebase-coffee is a daily Agent Skill refresher on one concept in your repo—pattern, rationale, file location, and one gotcha—tracked in a personal curriculum file. An open-source developer tool by EraCode.Also called: codebase coffee, daily codebase refresher
In AI-assisted workflows, developers can ship faster than they orient. codebase-coffee names a concrete literacy habit: one brief, every day, tied to the repository you are actually building—not generic flashcards or manifesto pages about using less AI.
What it is
codebase-coffee is an Agent Skill you install in Cursor, Claude Code, Codex, or other compatible hosts. It scans your repo (on first run or when stale), maintains `.codebase-coffee.md` as a personal curriculum, and serves one under-100-word brief per day.
It is maintained by EraCode and published on GitHub. It is not an AI coding assistant and does not run inside the EraCode web application.
What you get each day
Each brief names a pattern, explains why it exists, points to one or two file locations, and ends with a single gotcha plus "Go deeper?" Optional walkthroughs go longer but stay bounded.
The skill may queue-jump to teammate changes surfaced in git history since your last session, so coffee stays relevant when the repo moves faster than your curriculum list.
How it relates to EraCode
EraCode is deliberate practice challenges; codebase-coffee is repo literacy refreshers. Together they support [codebase literacy](/glossary/codebase-literacy) and [developer skill retention](/glossary/developer-skill-retention) without treating practice scores as hiring signals.
Read [codebase-coffee and EraCode as one habit loop](/topics/codebase-coffee-and-eracode) for the pairing thesis, or start at the [/codebase-coffee](/codebase-coffee) hub and [install](/codebase-coffee/install) pages.