Overview
what-the is an open-source workflow skill for Claude Code and compatible agents, published by thedotmack. Its author describes it as: “What the? Use when the user wants a plain-English breakdown of something technical — the who, what, where, why, and when.”. The project has 94k stars on GitHub and is available under the Apache-2.0 license. Add it to your setup with `/plugin marketplace add thedotmack/claude-mem`.
What what-the does
that sounds mad technical. explain to me the who, what, where, why, and when of this
Best for
Installation
Add what-the to your agent with:
/plugin marketplace add thedotmack/claude-memReview a skill’s source before installing it — skills can instruct your agent to run commands. This command comes from the skill’s public repository, which is the source of truth for setup steps. New to skills? Read how to install Claude Code skills.
Supported agents
- Claude Code — ships a claude code plugin marketplace
License
what-the is published under the Apache-2.0 license.
Strengths
- Clear Apache-2.0 license — safe to read and adapt within its terms
- Ships in thedotmack/claude-mem, an established project with 94,378 GitHub stars
- Works with Claude Code
- Actively maintained — repository updated in the last 30 days
- Its repository gained 5,269 GitHub stars over the last 52 days
Author
Topics
Frequently asked questions
- What does what-the do?
- What the? Use when the user wants a plain-English breakdown of something technical — the who, what, where, why, and when.
- How do I install what-the?
- Run /plugin marketplace add thedotmack/claude-mem in your agent, then reload your skills. Review the source at https://github.com/thedotmack/claude-mem before installing.
- Is what-the free to use?
- Yes. what-the is free and open source under the Apache-2.0 license, so you can read, run, and adapt it within that license's terms.
- Which agents does what-the work with?
- what-the lists Claude Code — named in its SKILL.md, its plugin marketplace or its repository topics. Skills use the portable SKILL.md format, so other agents that read that format may load it too.
- Where does what-the come from?
- what-the ships inside thedotmack/claude-mem, a repository that contains 25 catalogued skills in total. The repository's 94,378 GitHub stars apply to that whole collection, not to this skill on its own.