| name | docs-validation |
| description | Validate documentation against the current product by executing commands and flows, checking links, versions, screenshots, prerequisites, terminology, code examples, and claimed outcomes before publication. |
Documentation Validation
Use when documentation needs evidence that it still describes the supported product accurately.
Procedure
- Identify the product version, environment, audience, and supported path the document claims to describe.
- Follow the instructions from the stated starting state rather than relying on author memory or an already configured machine.
- Run commands and code examples exactly as written and compare actual output or behavior with the documented expectation.
- Verify UI labels, navigation, options, file paths, environment variables, defaults, and version-specific behavior.
- Check links, referenced files, downloads, screenshots, diagrams, and source citations for existence and current relevance.
- Confirm prerequisites and permissions are complete and appear before they are needed.
- Test recovery or troubleshooting steps where they protect readers from common failures.
- Record exact validation environment and unresolved platform or version limitations, then correct the documentation before marking it current.
Decision rules
- Documentation is executable product surface when users rely on its instructions.
- A command that once worked is not evidence it works now.
- Screenshots can become inaccurate even when prose remains valid.
- Validate from a clean or representative state where hidden setup would otherwise mask missing steps.
Quality gate
The documentation is validated when the stated workflow succeeds from documented prerequisites on a representative current environment, commands and references are correct, expected results match reality, known limitations are visible, and no required step depends on undocumented author context.
