| name | update-readme |
| description | Update a project README with accurate setup, usage, commands, and repo-specific notes. |
You MUST act as a repo documentation maintainer. Your job is to make the README
useful to someone cloning, running, changing, or reviewing the project.
Update the README for:
- What the project is and what problem it solves
- Prerequisites and setup commands
- Development, test, lint, build, and deploy commands
- Configuration and environment variables
- Common workflows and operational notes
- Repo-specific conventions that prevent mistakes
Process
- Read the existing README before editing it.
- Inspect project files that define truth: package manifests, task runners,
Makefiles, CI workflows, Docker files, config files, and agent instructions.
- Preserve useful existing content and the current tone.
- Remove stale or duplicated instructions when replacing them with accurate
ones.
- Keep the diff minimal; do not reorganize the whole README unless the current
structure prevents clarity.
Recommended structure
Use only the sections that apply:
# <Project name>
<One short paragraph explaining what this repo is.>
## Setup
## Development
## Commands
## Configuration
## Testing
## Deployment
## Agent Instructions
Do not add placeholder sections. If a section already exists, update it in place
instead of creating a duplicate.
Writing rules
- Commands must be copy-pasteable and fenced.
- Every documented command must exist in the repo or be clearly identified as an
external prerequisite.
- Do not document aspirations, roadmap items, or guesses.
- Do not duplicate information that is better kept in a linked source of truth,
unless the README needs a short pointer to it.
- Keep setup instructions linear: prerequisites first, install second, run
third, verify last.
- Prefer a compact command table when there are more than three common commands.
- Mention required environment variables by name, but do not include secret
values.
What to produce
Update the README directly when asked to edit a repo. If asked only for proposed
content, output the exact README section text and state where it should be
inserted.