- name
- design-docs-incremental-update
- description
- Incrementally refresh the LLM-generated design docs under docs/generated/design/. Use when the user asks to update, refresh, or regenerate the generated design documentation after source changes. Runs the three-stage operator loop defined in docs/generated/design/_meta/regenerate.md - (1) regenerate stale docs (Claude), (2) direct the user to run the non-Claude review, (3) apply remediation (Claude) - with explicit confirmation before stages 1 and 3.
- allowed-tools
- ["Bash","Read","Grep","Glob","Edit","Write"]
# Generated Design Docs - Incremental Update
This skill drives the incremental refresh workflow for
`docs/generated/design/`, as specified in
[regenerate.md](../../../docs/generated/design/_meta/regenerate.md).
That document is the source of truth; this skill is the per-invocation
runbook. Re-read `regenerate.md` if anything below is ambiguous.
## Reference paths
All driver commands run from the repository root.
- Workflow spec: `docs/generated/design/_meta/regenerate.md`
- Driver script: `docs/generated/design/_meta/regenerate.py`
- Manifest: `docs/generated/design/_meta/manifest.yaml`
- Common generation contract:
`docs/generated/design/_meta/prompts/_common.md`
- Per-doc generation prompts:
`docs/generated/design/_meta/prompts/<name>.md`
- Review prompt (non-Claude only):
`docs/generated/design/_meta/prompts/_review.md`
- Remediation prompt (Claude only):
`docs/generated/design/_meta/prompts/_remediate.md`
## The three stages
Run the stages in order. Pause between stages and confirm with the
user where indicated.
| # | Stage | Performed by | Confirm first |
| - | ----------------------- | ---------------------------------- | ------------- |
| 1 | Incremental regenerate | This agent (Claude) | **Yes** |
| 2 | Review | User, with a non-Claude model | n/a (direct) |
| 3 | Remediation | This agent (Claude) | **Yes** |
If you are not a Claude model, refuse stages 1 and 3 - both belong to
the Claude family per the workflow's soft-refusal contract. The
driver's `mark-fresh` / `mark-remediated` commands will refuse to
record an entry under a non-Claude `model` field.
## Stage 1 - Incremental regeneration
### 1a. Survey
```bash
python3 docs/generated/design/_meta/regenerate.py list-stale
```
Collect every row tagged `stale` or `missing`. These are the docs to
regenerate.
Order the work in dependency order: if any of the listed docs has a
`depends_on` entry that is also stale, regenerate the dependency
first. Use `regenerate.py show <doc>` to inspect the manifest entry
(it prints the prompt path, the resolved watched files, and the
`depends_on` list).
If no docs are stale or missing, report that and proceed directly to
stage 2 (there is still potentially something to review).
### 1b. Confirm
Present to the user, then **wait for confirmation**:
- The ordered list of docs you will regenerate (manifest keys).
- The model id you will record on each doc (e.g. `claude-opus-4.7`).
This must match the model actually doing the generation.
Do not begin regenerating until the user confirms.
### 1c. Regenerate each doc
For each stale/missing doc, in dependency order:
1. **Gather inputs.**
- Run `python3 docs/generated/design/_meta/regenerate.py show <doc>`.
This prints the manifest entry, the prompt path, the resolved
watched files, and `depends_on`.
- Read the previous version of the doc at
`docs/generated/design/<doc>` if it exists (a `missing` doc has
no prior version).
- Run `git diff <previous source_commit> -- <watched paths>` to
surface the changes that drove staleness. The previous
`source_commit` is in the doc's existing front-matter.
- Read each `depends_on` peer at its current location under
`docs/generated/design/`.
2. **Read the prompts.**
- The per-doc prompt at the path printed by `show <doc>`.
- `docs/generated/design/_meta/prompts/_common.md` (inherited
contract).
3. **Capture commit + digest.**
```bash
git rev-parse HEAD
python3 docs/generated/design/_meta/regenerate.py digest <doc>
```
4. **Produce the doc.** Write the regenerated body to
`docs/generated/design/<doc>` (manifest key relative to that
directory). Prefer a focused edit over a full rewrite when a
previous version exists and the watched-paths diff is small.
Always emit the mandatory YAML front-matter from `_common.md`:
- `generated: true`
- `model: claude-opus-4.7` (or your actual Claude model id)
- `generated_at:` ISO 8601 UTC, seconds precision, `Z` suffix
- `source_commit:` the SHA from step 3
- `watched_paths_digest:` the digest from step 3
- `warning: "Auto-generated. May drift from source. Do not edit by hand."`
5. **Lint.**
```bash
python3 docs/generated/design/_meta/regenerate.py lint <doc>
```
If lint reports a structural **error** (missing front-matter key,
broken link, etc.), re-run the regeneration with the lint output
in the context. **Do not hand-edit the doc to silence lint.**
Size-cap **warnings** are advisory; mention them in the wrap-up
but do not block on them.
6. **Mark fresh.**
```bash
python3 docs/generated/design/_meta/regenerate.py mark-fresh <doc> \
--model claude-opus-4.7
```
### 1d. Wrap up
Show the user:
- The list of docs regenerated.
- Any lint warnings (e.g. size-cap exceedances).
- The output of a final `regenerate.py list-stale` (rows you
touched should no longer appear as stale).
## Stage 2 - Direct the user to perform the review
The review **cannot** be done by this agent. The workflow requires a
non-Claude model for independent verification, and both the review
prompt and the driver's `mark-reviewed` gate enforce this softly.
Emit the following hand-off block to the user verbatim (substituting
the actual list of docs needing review), then stop and wait.
````
Stage 2 (Review) is yours to drive. The driver does not call any
agent; you run the non-Claude reviewer agent out of band.
1. Pick a non-Claude model (any GPT, Gemini, Llama, or Mistral
variant works). The review prompt has a hard refusal banner for
Claude models.
2. List docs needing review:
python3 docs/generated/design/_meta/regenerate.py review-status
Rows tagged `unreviewed` or `review-stale` are pending. The docs
I just regenerated will show `review-stale`.
3. For each pending doc:
a. Open `docs/generated/design/_meta/prompts/_review.md`.
b. Show the reviewer agent:
- the target document (with its YAML front-matter),
- its per-doc generation prompt (path from
`regenerate.py show <doc>`) plus
`docs/generated/design/_meta/prompts/_common.md`,
- the resolved watched files at the doc's recorded
`source_commit`,
- any `depends_on` peer documents.
c. Save the agent's report to **exactly**
`docs/generated/design/_meta/reviews/<doc>.review.md`,
preserving the manifest-key directory hierarchy
(e.g. `_meta/reviews/pipeline/05-ir-passes.md.review.md`).
If a report already exists at that path from a prior review
cycle, **overwrite it in place** - do not create a new
subdirectory (date-stamped, model-stamped, run-stamped, or
otherwise) and do not append a suffix to the filename. The
ledger only knows the canonical path; reports written
elsewhere are invisible to the driver. The previous report's
content is preserved in git history.
d. Lint and record:
python3 docs/generated/design/_meta/regenerate.py lint <doc>
python3 docs/generated/design/_meta/regenerate.py mark-reviewed <doc>
`mark-reviewed` refuses if `reviewer_model` contains
`claude` or `anthropic`.
4. When `review-status` shows every relevant doc as
`reviewed-pending-remediation`, come back and ask me to run
stage 3 (Remediation).
````
## Stage 3 - Remediation
### 3a. Confirm
When the user signals the reviews are complete:
```bash
python3 docs/generated/design/_meta/regenerate.py review-status
```
Identify every row with `reviewed-pending-remediation`. Show that
list to the user and **wait for confirmation** before remediating.
Special case: if a row is still `review-stale`, the doc was
regenerated *after* its last review. Flag this - the user must
re-run the review on that doc before remediation can happen. Skip
the row.
### 3b. Remediate each doc
For each `reviewed-pending-remediation` doc:
1. **Gather inputs.**
- The target document at `docs/generated/design/<doc>`.
- The review report at
`docs/generated/design/_meta/reviews/<doc>.review.md`.
- The per-doc generation prompt (path from `show <doc>`) plus
`docs/generated/design/_meta/prompts/_common.md` (to verify
each finding aligns with the contract before fixing).
- The resolved watched files at the current `HEAD`
(`regenerate.py show <doc>` again).
2. **Read** the remediation prompt at
`docs/generated/design/_meta/prompts/_remediate.md`. For every
finding ID in the review's `## Findings` table, choose exactly
one action from `_remediate.md` (`fixed`, `rejected-bogus`,
`rejected-out-of-scope`, `deferred`, `escalated`).
3. **Apply edits** to the target document for every `fixed`
action. Keep edits minimal - do not opportunistically rewrite
unrelated text.
4. **Write the remediation report** to
`docs/generated/design/_meta/remediations/<doc>.remediation.md`,
preserving the manifest-key directory hierarchy. The report
must match the contract in `_remediate.md` (front-matter,
`## Actions` table covering every finding ID exactly once).
5. **Refresh the digest if the doc changed:**
```bash
python3 docs/generated/design/_meta/regenerate.py mark-fresh <doc> \
--model claude-opus-4.7
```
Skip this step if every action was a non-edit
(`rejected-*`, `deferred`, or `escalated`).
6. **Lint and record.**
```bash
python3 docs/generated/design/_meta/regenerate.py lint <doc>
python3 docs/generated/design/_meta/regenerate.py mark-remediated <doc>
```
`mark-remediated` refuses if `remediator_model` does not contain
`claude` or `anthropic`.
### 3c. Wrap up
Run `regenerate.py review-status` and report:
- Docs that are now `remediated` (cycle complete).
- Any `deferred` or `escalated` findings the user needs to follow
up on (cite the remediation report).
- Whether any doc still shows a non-`remediated` status, and why.
## Pitfalls
- **Never hand-edit a generated doc to silence a lint error.**
Re-prompt yourself with the lint output included; structural
drift is a generation-quality signal.
- **Never edit the review or remediation reports by hand** either;
re-generate them through the corresponding agent prompt.
- **Driver scope.** `regenerate.py` does not call any LLM, commit,
push, or auto-edit documents. All writes happen through the
agent (you); all bookkeeping happens through the driver. Do not
shortcut the bookkeeping commands (`mark-fresh`,
`mark-reviewed`, `mark-remediated`) - they update
`freshness.json` and `review-state.json`.
- **Manifest gaps.** If you discover a watched_paths_digest did not
flip when a relevant source file changed, extend
`docs/generated/design/_meta/manifest.yaml` rather than editing
the generated doc. See "Lessons from the first end-to-end
exercise" in `regenerate.md`.
- **Model id discipline.** The id you pass to `--model` must match
the model performing the step (the soft-refusal gate keys off
it).
- **Dependency order.** Architecture and overview docs come before
the pipeline / family pages that depend on them. When in doubt,
check the `depends_on` lists from `regenerate.py show <doc>`.
Ver en GitHub