repo-docs-generator

Repository Documentation Generator Skill

Build repository docs as an engineering harness, not a prose dump.

This skill is aligned with OpenAI's February 11, 2026 harness-engineering article:

• AGENTS.md should be a short routing map, not a giant manual.
• Detailed knowledge should live in versioned, repo-local docs.
• Repeated failures should become harness improvements: docs, wrappers, CI, lints, or clearer error messages.
• The goal is agent legibility and higher-quality autonomous work.

When to Use This Skill

• A repo has weak, stale, or missing agent-facing documentation.
• AGENTS.md has become a long dumping ground instead of a navigation layer.
• Engineers or agents keep rediscovering the same commands, constraints, or failure modes.
• You want to canonicalize CLAUDE.md into a minimal @AGENTS.md stub.
• You want repo docs that improve execution speed, not just onboarding prose.

Core Model

Treat documentation as a layered harness:

1. README.md is human-first quickstart and orientation.
2. AGENTS.md is the canonical agent entrypoint and routing map.
3. Topic-specific docs under docs/ (or an equivalent repo-local location) hold the durable details.
4. CLAUDE.md is a minimal pointer that sources AGENTS.md.
5. Tooling and CI enforce the highest-value constraints mechanically.

Important nuance:

• AGENTS.md is the canonical entrypoint.
• The source of truth for a topic can live in a linked doc such as docs/quality/gates.md or docs/architecture/overview.md.
• CLAUDE.md must not carry unique behavioral rules.

Required Outcomes

Every run should leave the repo with a clear harness shape:

• AGENTS.md
  • Short, scannable, and command-heavy.
  • Explains what the repo is, where important docs live, how to run key commands, and which constraints are non-negotiable.
  • Usually targets roughly 80-180 lines unless the repo is genuinely tiny.
• README.md
  • Preserves human-authored content.
  • Points readers to AGENTS.md and any major docs directories.
• CLAUDE.md
  • Minimal @AGENTS.md stub only.
• docs/ (or existing equivalent)
  • Add or normalize topic-specific docs when the repo complexity warrants it.
  • Prefer a few focused docs over one giant file.

Generate Mode

Use /repo-docs:generate when creating or rebuilding the harness from scratch.

Generate Workflow

1. Discover actual behavior

   • Read existing README.md, AGENTS.md, CLAUDE.md, and any existing docs/ indexes first.
   • Inspect manifests, wrappers, CI, pre-commit, scripts, Makefiles, and test commands.
   • Identify recurring failure modes, architectural boundaries, and the active type gate (ty, then pyright, then mypy, unless repo docs/CI differ).

2. Choose the smallest useful harness footprint

   • Tiny repo: README.md, AGENTS.md, CLAUDE.md may be enough.
   • Normal product repo: add focused docs for architecture, quality gates, and runbooks.
   • Complex monorepo: add per-domain docs and keep each AGENTS.md scoped to its directory.

3. Write docs in the right layer

   • Put stable commands, navigation, and "where truth lives" in AGENTS.md.
   • Put deep architecture, policies, plans, and runbooks in topic docs.
   • Keep diagrams optional; include them only when they clarify boundaries or flows better than prose and code references.

4. Encode the harness gap

   • If the repo repeatedly fails on the same issue, document the fix path and recommend or add mechanical enforcement when reasonable.
   • Prefer wrapper commands, lint messages, CI checks, and dedicated docs over repeating the same free-form instructions.

Canonicalize Mode

Use /repo-docs:canonicalize when docs already exist but are stale or badly structured.

Canonicalize Goals

• Shrink oversized AGENTS.md files into routing maps.
• Move durable detail into focused repo-local docs.
• Remove stale commands and replace them with current wrappers and gates.
• Merge any valuable CLAUDE.md content into AGENTS.md or topic docs.
• Normalize every CLAUDE.md to a minimal stub.

Canonicalize Rules

1. Analyze the actual repo before changing docs.
2. Use --dry-run first or pause for human confirmation before broad, ambiguous, or repo-wide reshaping.
3. Preserve valuable human-written content, but relocate it if it lives in the wrong layer.
4. Prefer docs/quality/, docs/architecture/, docs/runbooks/, docs/plans/, or existing equivalents over bloating AGENTS.md.
5. If .pre-commit-config.*, CI jobs, or wrappers define the real workflow, those must be reflected in the docs.
6. For Python repos, document the active type gate and treat ty as mandatory when configured.
7. Record recurring failure modes as explicit "golden rules" or gate docs.

Recommended Artifact Shapes

Use the smallest structure that matches the repo:

• Small repo
  • README.md
  • AGENTS.md
  • CLAUDE.md
• Medium repo
  • README.md
  • AGENTS.md
  • CLAUDE.md
  • docs/architecture/overview.md
  • docs/quality/gates.md
  • docs/runbooks/development.md
• Complex repo or monorepo
  • Top-level README.md, AGENTS.md, CLAUDE.md
  • Per-domain docs such as docs/architecture/, docs/quality/, docs/runbooks/, docs/specs/, docs/plans/
  • Subdirectory AGENTS.md files only where scope genuinely diverges

What Good Output Looks Like

The skill should optimize for:

• Fast "first 5 minutes" comprehension by an agent.
• Commands that actually work.
• Clear doc routing instead of duplicated prose.
• Explicit architectural boundaries and quality gates.
• A place for plans, specs, and recurring lessons to accumulate in-repo.
• Fewer rediscovered failures during later autonomous work.

Important Rules

1. Read existing docs before writing anything.
2. Do not treat a giant AGENTS.md as success.
3. Preserve README content; enhance rather than replace.
4. Keep CLAUDE.md as a pointer only.
5. Prefer ASCII if you add diagrams.
6. Never guess commands or tech stack details; verify them.
7. If the repo already has a good docs hierarchy, improve it instead of replacing it with your preferred layout.
8. If you find repeated review or lint failures, turn them into docs or enforceable checks.

Output Shape

Report work in this structure:

## Documentation Updated

Repository: /path/to/repo
Harness shape: [small | medium | complex]

Files updated:
- AGENTS.md - [created/updated/trimmed]
- README.md - [created/updated/preserved]
- CLAUDE.md - [normalized]
- docs/... - [created/updated as needed]

Harness upgrades:
- [commands documented]
- [quality gates documented]
- [architecture/runbook docs added]
- [stale patterns removed]

Open follow-ups:
- [optional mechanical enforcement or missing docs]

References

Load only what you need:

• references/harness-principles.md
  • Core policy, migration heuristics, and harness design rules.
• references/generate-and-canonicalize-playbook.md
  • Discovery commands, canonicalization steps, and stale-pattern checks.
• references/templates.md
  • Templates for AGENTS.md, CLAUDE.md, README.md, and topic docs.