documentation-and-decisions

name	documentation-and-decisions
description	| Use when this capability is needed.

documentation-and-decisions

Trigger

Activate when:

• A recurring workflow is about to be repeated a third time — promote it to a skill (via skill-authoring) OR to a doc.
• A design decision is made that future sessions would want to know ("we chose SQLite over Redis for this because...").
• The user explicitly asks for a README / ADR / decision record.
• A feature lands and the deployment behaviour would surprise a new operator.

Principle

Short, lived docs > long, stale docs. Write the minimum that future you would thank present you for. Delete anything that's wrong.

Doc Shapes (pick one)

1. README section — goal, usage, gotchas. Max ~60 lines.
2. ADR (Architectural Decision Record) — Context, Decision, Alternatives, Consequences. Max ~40 lines. File name docs/adr/YYYY-NN-<slug>.md.
3. Runbook entry — "when X happens, do Y; if Y fails, Z". Max ~30 lines. File name docs/runbooks/<area>.md.
4. Skill docstring update — inline inside an existing SKILL.md when the doc IS the workflow.

Inputs

• target: what we're documenting (feature, decision, workflow).
• audience: future-self, teammates, operator.
• shape: which of the four shapes above.

Steps

1. Pick the shape from the list above — don't invent a new format.
2. For ADRs, state what was considered and rejected. A one-line "we chose X" is not an ADR.
3. Name concrete commands / file paths / links. No "see the diagram" without a diagram.
4. Include a "revisit when..." trigger so the doc has a life-cycle signal ("revisit when the SQLite row count > 100k").
5. Write via write_file to the correct path; skill_manage for embedded skill docs.

ADR Template

# ADR <NN>: <Short decision title>
Date: YYYY-MM-DD

## Context
<2-4 sentences: what pushed us into this decision>

## Decision
<1-3 sentences: what we chose>

## Alternatives considered
- <A>: <why rejected>
- <B>: <why rejected>

## Consequences
- Positive: <...>
- Negative: <...>

## Revisit when
<a concrete signal>

Verification

• The doc is under 100 lines unless it's a reference manual.
• Every code / command snippet actually runs on the project as of today.
• The "revisit when" trigger is concrete, not "later".
• Links resolve (check via read_url if external).

Failure Signals

• "This document is out of date" comments added and left forever — delete the stale section instead.
• ADR with no "Alternatives considered" — it's a status report, not a decision record.
• The same decision keeps being re-discussed: the ADR was never read. Link to it from the code / skill it governs.

---

Source: Geoff-JI/JiHarn — distributed by TomeVault.