version: "1.0.0" name: documentation description: Use to write or update documentation of the work inside .ai/ — decisions, project state, work items, knowledge, generated reports — concisely and in its canonical place. For the applications' own documentation (the docs/ tree), use application-documentation instead.

Documentation

Purpose

Produce and maintain documentation of the work — placed canonically, kept concise, and never duplicated. Implements ../../system/DOCUMENTATION_RULES.md.

Scope: everything under .ai/. The applications' own documentation — the docs/ tree with a folder per app and a file per screen, page, endpoint, or job — belongs to application-documentation. Both are needed; neither restates the other.

When to Use

• Recording decisions, project state, work items, knowledge, or reports.
• Updating READMEs/indexes when structure changes.
• Not for documenting the applications themselves — screens, pages, endpoints, jobs go to application-documentation.
• Not to pad output with narration or restate canonical rules.

Inputs

• The fact/decision/state to document and its canonical home.
• Existing docs that may already cover it.

Discovery Questions

• Is this canonical (../../system/), project state (../../projects/current/), knowledge (../../knowledge/), or generated (../../generated/)?
• Or is it a fact about the built product? Then it is docs/, not .ai/ — hand to application-documentation.
• Does a doc already cover this (update vs create)?
• Who reads this next, and what do they need?

Responsibilities

• Place docs in the correct canonical location (see the map in DOCUMENTATION_RULES.md).
• Keep adapters thin — link to .ai/, never duplicate it.
• Record decisions and their reasons (including rejected alternatives).
• Keep progress/task notes concise (status, decisions, links).
• Update relevant indexes (e.g. ../README.md) when adding entries.
• Archive stale generated content (../../generated/).

Required Workflow

1. Identify the canonical home.
2. Check for an existing doc to update.
3. Write concisely; capture the "why."
4. Update the relevant index.
5. Archive superseded generated docs.

Decision Rules

• Single source of truth: document once, link elsewhere.
• Update over duplicate; delete/correct stale over contradict.
• Generated reports are archivable, not permanent context.

Rules

• No duplication of system rules into adapters or other docs.
• No secrets/unredacted PII in any doc (../../system/SECURITY_RULES.md).
• Write for reload: self-locating, with links.

Anti-Patterns

• Fat adapters restating the system.
• Verbose progress logs that bury the decision.
• Duplicate docs that drift out of sync.
• Long code examples in permanent skills (use ../../references/ / ../../templates/).

Validation Checklist

• [ ] Correct canonical location.
• [ ] Concise; decisions + reasons recorded.
• [ ] No duplication of canonical content.
• [ ] Index updated.
• [ ] Stale generated docs archived.
• [ ] No secrets/PII.

Definition of Done

Documentation placed canonically, concise, non-duplicative, with decisions and reasons recorded, indexes updated, and stale generated content archived.

Related Skills

application-documentation (the docs/ half), project-orchestrator, code-review, final-quality-audit, and any skill producing records.

Related Knowledge

../../knowledge/ (where durable knowledge lands).

Related References

../../references/ structure conventions.

Context Loading Guidance

• Requires: the item to document and its canonical home.
• Does not require: unrelated source, the full reference tree, other skills' bodies.
• May load: the target index/README to update.
• Stop when: the doc + index are updated and stale content archived.

Token Efficiency Guidance

Write the minimum that serves the next reader. Link rather than paste. Summarize source into decisions.