enforcing-doc-hierarchy

name	enforcing-doc-hierarchy
description	Audits and aligns project documentation against its own declared hierarchy. Discovers authority chains from CONTRIBUTING.md (or equivalent), then detects broken links, duplicates, and misplaced content. Use when reviewing doc health, fixing stale references, or enforcing single-source-of-truth.
compatibility	Designed for Claude Code
metadata	{"argument-hint":["file-directory-or-full"],"allowed-tools":"Read, Grep, Glob, Edit, Bash"}

Enforce Documentation Hierarchy

Scope: $ARGUMENTS

Audits documentation against the project's declared hierarchy, then aligns violations with user approval.

Phase 1: Discover

Read the project's hierarchy declaration. Look for (in order):

1. CONTRIBUTING.md — "Documentation Hierarchy" section (table or list)
2. AGENTS.md — "Key references" or "Information sources" section
3. README.md — "Documentation" section (links to authoritative docs)

Extract:

• Entry points: which docs are human vs agent entry points
• Authority map: which doc owns which content type
• Anti-redundancy rule: stated or implied (default: no duplication across docs)

If no hierarchy is declared, report that as the first finding and stop.

Phase 2: Audit

Detect violations across the scope. For each finding, record:

Source File	Line	Type	Description
path	Lnn	type	what's wrong

Violation Types

• broken-link: Reference target does not exist (moved, renamed, deleted, wrong case)
• duplicate: Same content (3+ lines) appears in both an authority doc and a dependent doc
• misplaced: Content is in the wrong doc per the discovered authority map, OR a doc in the hierarchy is not referenced by its parent
• lint-compat: HTML comments before frontmatter
• config-drift: Inline <!-- markdownlint-disable/enable --> for a rule already disabled in .markdownlint.json. These are dead code that causes false positives when the enable directive re-activates a globally-disabled rule
• unused-link-def: [key]: url link definition with no corresponding [text][key] or [key] reference in the file

Audit Procedure

1. Determine scope from $ARGUMENTS:

   • File: audit that file's outbound references and content placement
   • Directory: audit all .md files in that directory
   • full or empty: audit every .md file in the repo

2. Check links: For each [text](path) and @file reference, verify the target exists. Check case sensitivity.

3. Check duplicates: For each authority doc, search dependent docs for substantial repeated content (3+ lines or identical tables).

4. Check placement: For each doc, verify its content matches its declared authority. Flag content that belongs in a different doc per the authority map.

5. Check chain: Verify each doc in the hierarchy is referenced by at least one parent doc. Flag orphaned docs.

6. Run markdownlint (preferred) or manual lint check (fallback):

   a) If markdownlint-cli is available (npx markdownlint-cli --version succeeds): run it with the project config and parse output:

   npx markdownlint-cli -c .markdownlint.json <scope> 2>&1
   

   Map results to violation types: MD012 → double blanks (fix during align), MD053 → unused-link-def, MD022/MD058 → spacing issues from prior directive removal. Report rule ID + line + message.

   b) Fallback (no markdownlint available): read .markdownlint.json (or .markdownlintrc, .markdownlint.yaml) to get globally-disabled rules, then manually:

   • Flag files with HTML comments before frontmatter on line 1 (lint-compat)
   • Flag inline <!-- markdownlint-disable/enable MDXXX --> where MDXXX is already disabled in the config file (config-drift)
   • Grep for [key]: url definitions with no corresponding reference (unused-link-def)

   In both paths: read the lint config to detect config-drift — even markdownlint doesn't flag dead inline directives for globally-disabled rules. See frontmatter-convention.md rule for the required config template.

7. Output findings table sorted by type, then file.

Phase 3: Align

Resolve findings with user confirmation. Propose each fix and wait for approval.

Violation	Fix
broken-link	Update path. If target deleted, remove reference.
duplicate	Keep in authority doc, replace in dependent doc with reference link.
misplaced	Move content to authority doc, replace original with reference link.
lint-compat	Remove HTML comments before frontmatter.
config-drift	Delete the inline directive — the rule is already handled by .markdownlint.json. Do NOT collapse surrounding blank lines (they may be required spacing around headings/tables).
unused-link-def	Add inline reference, or remove the definition if it serves no purpose.

Rules

• Fix the authority doc first, then fix dependents
• Never duplicate — replace with a reference
• Confirm each fix before applying
• Keep edits minimal
• Read .markdownlint.json before adding any inline lint directives — if a rule is globally disabled, inline toggles are dead code that causes false positives when the enable half re-activates the rule
• When removing inline directives, delete only the directive line — do NOT collapse surrounding blank lines (use Edit tool, not greedy sed)
• Commit content changes before repo-wide lint cleanup — never mix content additions with formatting passes in the same uncommitted state

References

• rules/frontmatter-convention.md — required .markdownlint.json config template and anti-patterns for inline directives