docs-audit

Writing rule

When this skill writes a durable artifact, read .claude/rules/writing-standard.md. Use the controlled technical writing profile.

/docs-audit — Documentation Completeness (Diataxis)

Deep-dive documentation analysis using the Diataxis framework. Checks that docs cover all four quadrants (tutorials, how-to guides, reference, explanation) and are not stale. Invoke when /launch-check's documentation row shows WARN or FAIL.

Diataxis Framework

Quadrant	Purpose	What to look for
Tutorials	Learning-oriented, guided first steps	Getting started guide, quickstart, "Hello World"
How-to guides	Goal-oriented, solving specific problems	Deployment guide, migration guide, troubleshooting
Reference	Information-oriented, accurate description	API docs, config reference, CLI flags, environment variables
Explanation	Understanding-oriented, why things work	Architecture overview, design decisions (AgDRs), ADRs

Process

Step 1: README quality

Check README.md for these sections (each is pass/fail):

Section	Present?	Quality check
Project description		One paragraph explaining what this is and who it's for
Prerequisites		Language version, tools needed, accounts required
Quick start		Copy-pasteable commands to get running locally in < 5 minutes
Development setup		How to set up the dev environment, run tests, lint
Deployment		How to deploy to staging and production
Contributing		How to contribute (branch naming, PR process, code standards)
License		License type and link

Step 2: API documentation (if applicable)

• Check for OpenAPI / Swagger spec (openapi.yaml, swagger.json)
• Check for auto-generated docs (Swagger UI, Redoc, tsdoc, typedoc)
• Check if endpoints in the code match the spec (any undocumented endpoints?)
• Check for example requests and responses

Step 3: Operational docs

• Deployment guide: how to deploy, what environment variables are needed
• Runbook: what to do when things go wrong (overlap with /monitoring-audit)
• Changelog: is there a CHANGELOG.md? Are releases documented?
• Architecture overview: high-level diagram or description of components
• AgDRs/ADRs: are technical decisions documented?

Step 4: Staleness detection

• Compare README.md last-modified date with recent code changes
• Check if API docs mention endpoints/features that no longer exist
• Check if environment variable docs list vars that are no longer used
• Flag docs that reference deprecated tools, libraries, or patterns

Step 5: Output

DOCS AUDIT — <project> @ <sha>

Diataxis coverage:
  Tutorials:   ✓ getting-started.md exists
  How-to:      ✓ deployment guide, ✗ migration guide, ✗ troubleshooting
  Reference:   ✓ OpenAPI spec (28 endpoints), ✗ env vars undocumented
  Explanation: ✓ 3 AgDRs, ✗ no architecture overview

| # | Area | Status | Finding |
|----|------|--------|---------|
| D1 | README | WARN | Missing "Contributing" section |
| D2 | API docs | PASS | OpenAPI spec matches code (28/28 endpoints) |
| D3 | Env vars | FAIL | 12 env vars in .env.example, 0 documented in README |
| D4 | Changelog | PASS | CHANGELOG.md updated with last 5 releases |
| D5 | Staleness | WARN | README references "Express" but code migrated to Fastify 3 months ago |

Documentation readiness: PARTIAL (1 fail, 2 warnings)

Persist the run + render trend

After printing the findings table, persist via the shared audit-history lib so the docs trend across runs becomes legible. See docs/agdr/AgDR-0019-audit-artefact-persistence.md.

Resolve project name + score + verdict

<project-name> from apexyard.projects.yaml (or basename + /handover reminder if unregistered).

Score: score = max(0, 100 - 25*critical - 10*high - 3*medium - 1*low). Verdict by worst-severity: critical/high → fail, medium → conditional, low/none → pass. Legacy "Documentation readiness" three-state: PARTIAL → conditional, MISSING → fail, COMPLETE → pass.

Persist + render

source "$(git rev-parse --show-toplevel)/.claude/hooks/_lib-audit-history.sh"

# Lowercase severity in the payload — the lib expects critical/high/medium/low/info.
payload=$(mktemp); cat > "$payload" <<'EOF'
{
  "schema_version": 1,
  "findings": [
    {"id": "D2", "severity": "high",   "status": "open", "summary": "No docs/how-to/ dir; recipes scattered in Slack"},
    {"id": "D3", "severity": "high",   "status": "open", "summary": "Env vars not documented in README (12 in .env.example)"},
    {"id": "D5", "severity": "medium", "status": "open", "summary": "README references Express; code migrated to Fastify 3 months ago"}
  ]
}
EOF

# Body: per templates/audits/docs-audit.md (Diataxis quadrants + README + staleness)
body=$(mktemp); cat > "$body" <<'EOF'
... (filled-in body — Diataxis groupings + README quality + staleness + Recommended priority) ...
EOF

ts=$(date -u +"%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ")
audit_run_persist "<project-name>" "docs-audit" "$ts" "fail" 60 "$body" < "$payload"
rm -f "$payload" "$body"

audit_render_trend "<project-name>" "docs-audit" 5

Opt-in commit

touch projects/<name>/audits/docs-audit/.audit-history-tracked

Rules

1. README is the minimum. Every project needs a README with at least: description, quick start, and how to deploy. Everything else is a "should have."
2. Check for staleness, not just existence. A README that exists but describes the wrong stack is worse than no README.
3. Diataxis is a lens, not a checklist. Don't fail a project for missing all four quadrants — most projects start with tutorials + reference and add the rest over time.
4. Auto-PASS for the ops repo itself. ApexYard's own docs are governed by its own process — this skill is for managed projects.
5. Always persist via the lib. The persist step runs regardless of opt-in commit state.
6. Severity vocabulary in the JSON is lowercase. The lib expects critical/high/medium/low/info.

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Part of ApexYard — multi-project SDLC framework for Claude Code · MIT.