docs.expand.glossary

docs.expand.glossary

Version: 0.1.0 Status: active

Overview

The docs.expand.glossary skill automatically discovers undocumented terms from Betty manifests and documentation, then enriches glossary.md with auto-generated definitions. This ensures comprehensive documentation coverage and helps maintain consistency across the Betty ecosystem.

Purpose

• Extract field names and values from skill.yaml and agent.yaml manifests
• Scan markdown documentation for capitalized terms that may need definitions
• Identify gaps in the existing glossary
• Auto-generate definitions for common technical terms
• Update glossary.md with new entries organized alphabetically
• Emit JSON summary of changes for auditing

Inputs

Name	Type	Required	Default	Description
glossary_path	string	No	docs/glossary.md	Path to the glossary file to expand
base_dir	string	No	Project root	Base directory to scan for manifests
dry_run	boolean	No	false	Preview changes without writing to file
include_auto_generated	boolean	No	true	Include auto-generated definitions

Outputs

Name	Type	Description
summary	object	Summary with counts, file paths, and operation metadata
new_definitions	object	Dictionary mapping new terms to their definitions
manifest_terms	object	Categorized terms extracted from manifests
skipped_terms	array	Terms that were skipped (already documented or too common)

What Gets Scanned

Manifest Files

skill.yaml fields:

• status values (active, draft, deprecated, archived)
• runtime values (python, javascript, bash)
• permissions (filesystem:read, filesystem:write, network:http)
• Input/output type values
• entrypoints parameters

agent.yaml fields:

• reasoning_mode (iterative, oneshot)
• status values
• capabilities
• Error handling strategies (on_validation_failure, etc.)
• Timeout and retry configurations

Documentation

• Scans all docs/*.md files for capitalized multi-word phrases
• Identifies technical terms that may need glossary entries
• Filters out common words and overly generic terms

How It Works

1. Load Existing Glossary: Parses glossary.md to identify already-documented terms
2. Scan Manifests: Recursively walks skills/ and agents/ directories for YAML files
3. Extract Terms: Collects field names, values, and configuration options from manifests
4. Scan Docs: Looks for capitalized terms in markdown documentation
5. Generate Definitions: Creates concise, accurate definitions for common technical terms
6. Update Glossary: Inserts new terms alphabetically into appropriate sections
7. Report: Returns JSON summary with all changes and statistics

Auto-Generated Definitions

The skill includes predefined definitions for common terms:

• Status values: active, draft, deprecated, archived
• Runtimes: python, javascript, bash
• Permissions: filesystem:read, filesystem:write, network:http
• Reasoning modes: iterative, oneshot
• Types: string, boolean, integer, object, array
• Configuration: max_retries, timeout_seconds, blocking, fuzzy
• Modes: dry_run, strict, overwrite

For unknown terms, the skill can generate contextual definitions based on category and usage patterns.

Usage Examples

Basic Usage

# Expand glossary with all undocumented terms
python glossary_expand.py

# Preview changes without writing
python glossary_expand.py --dry-run

# Use custom glossary location
python glossary_expand.py --glossary-path /path/to/glossary.md

Programmatic Usage

from skills.docs.expand.glossary.glossary_expand import expand_glossary

# Expand glossary
result = expand_glossary(
    glossary_path="docs/glossary.md",
    dry_run=False,
    include_auto_generated=True
)

# Check results
if result['ok']:
    summary = result['details']['summary']
    print(f"Added {summary['new_terms_count']} new terms")
    print(f"New terms: {summary['new_terms']}")

Output Format

Summary Mode (Default)

================================================================================
GLOSSARY EXPANSION SUMMARY
================================================================================

Glossary: /home/user/betty/docs/glossary.md
Existing terms: 45
New terms added: 8
Scanned: 25 skills, 2 agents

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NEW TERMS:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

### Archived
A status indicating that a component has been retired and is no longer
maintained or available.

### Dry Run
A mode that previews an operation without actually executing it or making
changes.

### Handler
The script or function that implements the core logic of a skill or operation.

...

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Glossary updated successfully!

================================================================================

JSON Mode

{
  "ok": true,
  "status": "success",
  "timestamp": "2025-10-23T19:54:00Z",
  "details": {
    "summary": {
      "glossary_path": "docs/glossary.md",
      "existing_terms_count": 45,
      "new_terms_count": 8,
      "new_terms": ["Archived", "Dry Run", "Handler", ...],
      "scanned_files": {
        "skills": 25,
        "agents": 2
      }
    },
    "new_definitions": {
      "Archived": "A status indicating...",
      "Dry Run": "A mode that previews...",
      ...
    },
    "manifest_terms": {
      "status": ["active", "draft", "deprecated", "archived"],
      "runtime": ["python", "bash"],
      "permissions": ["filesystem:read", "filesystem:write"]
    }
  }
}

Integration

With CI/CD

# .github/workflows/docs-check.yml
- name: Check glossary completeness
  run: |
    python skills/docs.expand.glossary/glossary_expand.py --dry-run
    # Fail if new terms found
    if [ $? -eq 0 ]; then
      echo "Glossary is complete"
    else
      echo "Missing glossary terms - run skill to update"
      exit 1
    fi

As a Hook

Can be integrated as a pre-commit hook to ensure glossary stays current:

# .claude/hooks.yaml
- name: glossary-completeness-check
  event: on_commit
  command: python skills/docs.expand.glossary/glossary_expand.py --dry-run
  blocking: false

Skipped Terms

The skill automatically skips:

• Terms already in the glossary
• Common words (name, version, description, etc.)
• Generic types (string, boolean, file, path, etc.)
• Single-character or overly generic terms

Limitations

• Auto-generated definitions may need manual refinement for domain-specific terms
• Complex or nuanced terms may require human review
• Alphabetical insertion may need manual adjustment for optimal organization
• Does not detect duplicate or inconsistent definitions

Future Enhancements

• Detect and flag duplicate definitions
• Identify outdated or inconsistent glossary entries
• Generate contextual definitions using LLM analysis
• Support for multi-language glossaries
• Integration with documentation linting tools

Dependencies

• context.schema - For validating manifest structure

Tags

documentation, glossary, automation, analysis, manifests

Related Skills

• generate.docs - Generate SKILL.md documentation from manifests
• registry.query - Query registries for specific terms and metadata
• skill.define - Define and register new skills

See Also

• Glossary - The Betty Framework glossary
• Contributing - Documentation contribution guidelines
• Developer Guide - Building and extending Betty