ModsCode / Claude Code Mods / Ranking / explain-it
explain-it
Explains what Claude just did, step by step, in plain English
What it does
- Draws a band above the prompt, a pane, toasts
- Adds /explain-it
- Watches tool calls
- Hooks prompt.submit, session.start, turn.complete
- Keeps its own state between turns
Good points
- No network calls
- Starts no processes
- Small: 364 lines
- Written in TypeScript
Code to start from
A starter ModsCode writes from the drawing it read, and the mod's own lines that draw, where there are any.
Starter (register.tsx)
import type { Register } from 'claude-code'
// Drawn like explain-it by Ruth-Ann Bravo (pane, band, toast), as ModsCode read it from the mod's code:
// https://modscode.com/claude-mods/mods/ruthannbravo-explain-it/
// Written by ModsCode from that reading, not copied from the mod: use it as you like.
// Each value below stands for one the mod works out at run time; put in your own.
export const register: Register = on => {
// the band above the prompt; what else goes there is drawn under it
on('ui.render', { component: 'AbovePrompt' }, async ($, e, next) => {
const { Box, Text, Button } = $.ui.resolve(e)
return (
<Box flexDirection="column">
<Box>
<Text color="cyan">
{"π§© Not sure what just happened? "}
</Text>
<Button label="Explain it" hotkey="e" />
<Button label="No thanks" />
</Box>
{await next(e)}
</Box>
)
})
// the pane: open it with $.ui.open({ id: 'my-pane', title: "Explain it" })
on('ui.render', { component: 'Pane', requestId: 'my-pane' }, async ($, e) => {
const { Box, Text, Button } = $.ui.resolve(e)
const label = 'β¦'
const project = 'β¦'
const when = 'β¦'
const i = 'β¦'
const length = 'β¦'
const emoji = 'β¦'
const title = 'β¦'
const body = 'β¦'
const emoji2 = 'β¦'
const title2 = 'β¦'
const body2 = 'β¦'
const emoji3 = 'β¦'
const title3 = 'β¦'
const body3 = 'β¦'
const read = 'β¦'
return (
<Box flexDirection="column" paddingX={1}>
<Text bold color="cyan">
{"π§© "}
{label}
</Text>
<Box marginBottom={1}>
<Text dimColor>
{project}
{" Β· "}
{when}
{" Β· "}
{`${i}1`}
{" of "}
{length}
</Text>
</Box>
<Box flexDirection="column">
<Text dimColor>
ββββββββ
</Text>
<Text bold>
{emoji}
{" "}
{title}
</Text>
<Box marginBottom={1}>
<Text>
{body}
</Text>
</Box>
</Box>
<Box flexDirection="column">
<Text dimColor>
ββββββββ
</Text>
<Text bold>
{emoji2}
{" "}
{title2}
</Text>
<Box marginBottom={1}>
<Text>
{body2}
</Text>
</Box>
</Box>
<Box flexDirection="column">
<Text dimColor>
ββββββββ
</Text>
<Text bold>
{emoji3}
{" "}
{title3}
</Text>
<Box marginBottom={1}>
<Text>
{body3}
</Text>
</Box>
</Box>
<Text dimColor>
{"π Words you've learned so far: "}
{read}
</Text>
<Box>
<Button label="β Older" />
<Button label="Newer βΆ" />
<Button label="π Explain latest" />
</Box>
</Box>
)
})
on('session.start', async ($, e, next) => {
await $.ui.toast(`Explanation is ready β widen the window or type /explain-it history`)
return next(e)
})
}
The mod's own code
Shown under the mod's licence (MIT); its text is below. Keep the notice if you copy these lines.
hooks/register.tsx lines 262β284 Β· Band
on('ui.render', { component: 'AbovePrompt' }, async ($, e, next) => {
if (e.props.hasSurvey) return next(e)
const { Box, Text, Button } = $.ui.resolve(e)
if (await read($, hasChanges)) {
return (
<Box>
<Text color="cyan">π§© Not sure what just happened? </Text>
<Button key="explain" label="Explain it" hotkey="e" onPress={() => start($, 'now')} />
<Button key="dismiss" label="No thanks" onPress={() => update($, hasChanges, () => false)} />
</Box>
)
}
if (await read($, hasRecap)) {
return (
<Box>
<Text color="cyan">π§© Want a recap of what Claude did last time? </Text>
<Button key="recap" label="Recap" hotkey="r" onPress={() => start($, 'last')} />
<Button key="dismiss" label="No thanks" onPress={() => update($, hasRecap, () => false)} />
</Box>
)
}
return next(e)
})hooks/register.tsx lines 286β340 Β· Pane
on('ui.render', { component: 'Pane', requestId: PANE }, async ($, e) => {
const { Box, Text, Button } = $.ui.resolve(e)
const s = await read($, status)
const all = await read($, saved)
const i = Math.min(await read($, viewing), all.length - 1)
const shown = all[i]
// A thin line between sections, as wide as the pane allows.
// The terminal draws β one letter wide; the desktop's font draws it wider,
// so the same line needs fewer of them there to stay on one row.
const width = (e.viewport?.columns ?? 40) - 6
const rule = 'β'.repeat(Math.max(10, Math.min(e.surface === 'terminal' ? 40 : 22, width)))
if (s.kind !== 'idle' || !shown) {
return (
<Box flexDirection="column" padding={1}>
<Text bold color="cyan">π§© Explain it</Text>
<Text dimColor>
{s.kind === 'writing'
? 'β¨ Putting it in plain Englishβ¦'
: s.kind === 'failed'
? s.message
: 'Nothing explained yet. Type /explain-it, or /explain-it last to recap your previous session.'}
</Text>
{all.length > 0 && <Button key="history" label="π Saved explanations" onPress={() => void showHistory($)} />}
</Box>
)
}
return (
<Box flexDirection="column" paddingX={1}>
<Text bold color="cyan">π§© {shown.label}</Text>
<Box marginBottom={1}><Text dimColor>
{shown.project} Β· {when(shown.at)} Β· {i + 1} of {all.length}
</Text></Box>
{sections(shown.text).map(({ title, body }, n) => {
const look = STYLE.find(st => st.match.test(title)) ?? STYLE[STYLE.length - 1]
return (
<Box key={`s${n}`} flexDirection="column">
{n > 0 && <Text dimColor>{rule}</Text>}
<Text bold color={look.color}>{look.emoji} {title}</Text>
<Box marginBottom={1}><Text>{body}</Text></Box>
</Box>
)
})}
<Text dimColor>π Words you've learned so far: {await read($, learnedCount)}</Text>
<Box>
{i > 0 && <Button key="older" label="β Older" onPress={() => update($, viewing, v => Math.max(0, v - 1))} />}
{i < all.length - 1 && (
<Button key="newer" label="Newer βΆ" onPress={() => update($, viewing, v => Math.min(all.length - 1, v + 1))} />
)}
<Button key="again" label="π Explain latest" onPress={() => start($, 'now')} />
</Box>
</Box>
)
})Licence text (MIT)
MIT License Copyright (c) 2026 Ruth-Ann Bravo Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions: The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software. THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.
How to build this: Pane (panel), Deny a tool call
What its code calls
drives Claudetool callsremembers
What its code shows
Read from the source at commit 11d0f0f5b826. The first group decides whether a mod is listed; the rest is for you to weigh. A later commit is not read until the next crawl.
| Decides the listing: code you can check | |
|---|---|
| Entry read | Every module hooks/hooks.json names was read.hooks/register.tsx |
| Parses | Every file parses as TypeScript or JavaScript.1 files parsed |
| All its code is in the mod | Every import is a file of the mod or the engine's own module; no packages, no require.all its code is in the mod |
| Readable | No minified lines, no eval or new Function, no import of a computed path, no encoded blobs.no minified code, no eval, no encoded blobs |
| Calls in the open | Network and programs are reached as $.http.fetch and $.process.run in place, never passed around.every call outside goes through $ in the open |
| For you to weigh before installing | |
| Where it draws | The terminal, the desktop app, both, or nothing (hooks only: a guard or a prompt rewriter), as its code says. Shown, never a reason to leave a mod out.draws in the terminal and the desktop app, the same in both |
| Install line | Whether its repository's own .claude-plugin/marketplace.json lists it, so it installs from that marketplace with the lines on its page.listed in its repository's .claude-plugin/marketplace.json: installs from there |
| Programs on Windows | Whether every program it starts through $.process exists on Windows (tail, date, open, osascript, /usr/β¦ do not).runs no program a Windows PC lacks |
| Network | Whether every fetch names its https host in the code.no network |
| Programs | Whether every program it starts is named in the code and is not a shell, an interpreter or a network tool.starts no programs |
| Reads and sends | Whether it both reads something of yours (files, environment variables, the transcript, settings) and reaches outside (the network, an MCP server, another session, telemetry).reaches nothing outside |
| Keys in the source | Whether the source holds what looks like an API key or a private key.no keys in the source |
| Licence | An open licence (MIT, Apache-2.0, BSD, ISC, Unlicense, 0BSD, CC0) with its text lets ModsCode show its code; otherwise the code is linked.MIT |
| Settings hooks | Hooks declared in hooks/hooks.json or plugin.json beside the module: a command (a shell when it has no args), an HTTP request, an MCP tool or a model prompt at an event. They run outside $.no settings hooks: its function hooks alone |
| Servers it ships | MCP servers (a program, or a URL; a headersHelper is a shell command; a .mcpb bundle is unpacked at run time), LSP servers, monitors (a shell command for the whole session) and bin/ (on the PATH of the Bash tool).ships no MCP or LSP server, no monitor, no bin/ |
| Skills, commands, agents | What its Markdown declares beyond text: allowed-tools granted for the turn, hooks added when a skill is invoked, a command run before Claude reads the skill.no skills, commands, agents or workflows |
| Tools and MCP | Whether every tool it calls through $.tool.call and $.mcp.call is named in the code, and none is a shell (Bash through the tool runs a shell without $.process).calls no tool, MCP server or command |
| Asks of the model | Completions it runs ($.model.complete, fork, classify), subagents it spawns, prompts it submits as you, and the tools, commands and agents it adds.model.complete, model.fork (sends its own transcript), adds command explain-it |
| Events it hooks | By what a hook there can do: gates (refuse a tool call, a prompt, a setting, another plugin), shapes (what the model reads: the system prompt, tool descriptions, each request), reads (your input, the events of the settings hooks, every event with *), and the rest.gates: command.run (explain-it), prompt.submit, tool.call Β· also: session.start, turn.complete, ui.render (AbovePrompt, Pane) |
| Reads, by name | The environment variables and files it names, and whether it reads the transcript, settings.json, the prompt box or the mouse selection.reads no files, environment variables, settings or transcript |
| Writes, by name | The files and environment variables it names, and whether it changes settings, the prompt box, the clipboard, the conversation (a row the model reads) or another session.writes no files, environment variables, settings or conversation rows |
This is a reading of the code text, not a security review: it does not run the mod, and it cannot see what a program the mod starts does. The check before installing is yours. How mods are chosen
Install it
Check it yourself before you install it. Mods run unsandboxed, with your permissions, and ModsCode does not vouch for what this code does. Read its code (or run claude plugin validate . in its folder), weigh what it reaches, and install the commit you read.
From its marketplace
Its repository is its marketplace. Add that marketplace (in the terminal with these commands, or in the desktop app's plugin settings) and install the mod from it:
/plugin marketplace add ruthannbravo/explain-it/plugin install explain-it@explain-it/reload-pluginsThis installs the marketplace's latest commit, which may not be the one read here (11d0f0f5b826). Compare them before you install. /reload-plugins loads it into a session that is already open.
Try the commit ModsCode read
No marketplace needed. In a terminal, clone the repository, check out the commit read, validate the mod, and load it for one session:
git clone https://github.com/ruthannbravo/explain-itgit -C explain-it checkout 11d0f0f5b826ee5385ea3308f4b12f1c80701e44claude plugin validate explain-itclaude --plugin-dir explain-itThe validate line lists the events the mod hooks and what it asks Claude Code to do, without running it. The last line loads the mod for this session only and writes nothing to your settings. If the author has rewritten history, the commit may no longer exist.
Ask Claude about it
With the ModsCode connector added, Claude can read this mod's code and what it reaches, and build on them. Ask it like this:
Read the ModsCode mod "ruthannbravo-explain-it" with its code and make me one like itSearch them from Claude: the MCP connector
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Badge for your README
If this is your mod, paste this into your README. It links to this page.
[](https://modscode.com/claude-mods/mods/ruthannbravo-explain-it/)