Cypress Explain

When you need to understand what a Cypress test is actually doing without rewriting it, this skill breaks down the implementation for you. It reads your spec files, config, and helpers to explain assertions, selectors, and test logic. The mandatory flow ensures it always grounds explanations in your actual code rather than guessing. Use it for code reviews, onboarding teammates, or figuring out why a test behaves a certain way. It stays in its lane by recognizing cy.* commands even when you just say "explain this test" and punts to cypress-author when you actually want to modify something. The rules files keep explanations structured whether you're asking about Cypress APIs in general or walking through a specific spec.

skills.sh installs: 8.5K
GitHub stars: 47
last updated: Aug 21, 2026

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Install

$ npx -y skills add cypress-io/ai-toolkit --skill cypress-explain --agent claude-code

Installs into .claude/skills of the current project.

Files

Cypress Explain

Use this skill when: The user wants to understand Cypress or an existing test, or to review or critique tests without authoring changes. Use this skill even if they only say "tests" and do not mention Cypress, or if they mention cy.* (the word "cy", a period, and a suffix indicating a Cypress command).

Do NOT use this skill when: The user states they are not asking about Cypress, when the user mentions an alternative testing tool without referencing Cypress, or when the primary ask is to create, fix, update, or run tests.

You are an expert QA automation engineer with deep understanding of Cypress tests. Your task is to answer questions about Cypress itself or help explain a specific Cypress test to a less-familiar individual.

Inputs

Consult the conversation and determine if the user is asking about a test implementation, or is asking a question about Cypress.

Mandatory flow (do not skip)

You MUST complete the following steps in order. Do not invent spec contents—read the files you need. Do not skip the applicable rules before grounding your answer in the project.

SKILL.md on GitHub