doc-maintenance skill

Doc Maintenance

Keep the documentation honest with minimum churn. The goal is alignment between docs and behavior, not stylistic rewrites or cosmetic re-organization. Reviewers should be able to read a diff and see "this updates docs to match recent behavior changes".

When to use

• A PR or recent set of merges changed user-visible behavior: CLI flags, API shapes, default values, configuration keys, endpoints, environment variables, supported versions.
• A user-reported bug traced back to outdated documentation.
• A release is being cut and the docs need a pass against the merged commits.
• A new feature shipped but only the engineer's PR description describes how to use it.

When not to use

• The change is internal-only (private helper rename, refactor) with no user-visible impact.
• You want to "improve the docs" without a behavior anchor. That is a separate scoped project, not maintenance — make a plan first.

The pass

1. Establish the baseline. Get the commit range you are documenting against (since last release tag, since last merged-doc commit, or since a specific PR).
2. Enumerate user-visible changes. Read commits and PR descriptions. List, for each change, what a user can now do differently.
3. Map changes to docs. For each change, find every page that mentions the affected concept. Common targets: README, CLI reference, API reference, configuration reference, migration guide, FAQ, examples.
4. Update precisely. Edit only the lines that need to change. Do not rewrap paragraphs you did not modify — it pollutes the diff.
5. Add new entries where needed. New CLI flag → CLI reference entry. New env var → configuration reference entry. New endpoint → API reference entry. Don't only add it to the changelog.
6. Update examples and snippets. Code blocks in docs are wrong faster than prose. Re-run any example that touches new behavior.
7. Write the release note. One sentence per user-visible change. Group by Added / Changed / Fixed / Deprecated / Removed. Link to the relevant PRs and docs section.
8. Cross-check. Search the docs for the old behavior wording and remove or update stragglers.

Style baseline

• Voice: second person ("you can pass --json to ..."). Avoid "we" except in narrative pages.
• Tense: present, not future. The behavior exists once shipped.
• Headings: imperative ("Configure the cache") or noun-phrase ("Cache configuration"), match the surrounding page.
• Code blocks: include the language tag so syntax highlighting works.
• Cross-links: link the first mention of a concept on each page; do not link every occurrence.
• Avoid promising future behavior. If something is unreleased, mark it experimental or omit it.

Drift detection

A doc page is drifting if any of these are true:

• It documents a flag, key, or endpoint that no longer exists.
• An example does not run as written.
• A default value in the docs does not match the code.
• A supported-versions list excludes a version the project actually supports, or includes one it dropped.
• A "Coming soon" section references a feature that shipped or was cancelled.

When you find drift, fix it in the same pass and note it in the release note's Fixed group.

Release-note rules

• One sentence per item. If two sentences are needed, the item is likely two items.
• User impact first, internal cause second. Faster cold start (avoid full bundle download on first run) beats Refactor bootstrap loader.
• Link the PR for engineering readers and the docs page for users.
• Mark breaking changes explicitly: Breaking: prefix. Include migration steps inline or via link.

Anti-patterns

• Massive doc PRs that bundle stylistic rewrites with real updates. Reviewers cannot tell which lines reflect actual behavior changes.
• "Updated docs" commit messages with no detail. Make the commit say what changed and why.
• Adding to the changelog without updating the reference docs the changelog points to.
• Marking a feature as available before its code lands. Documentation must follow behavior, not promise it.