living-docs
Skill0 starsChanged 6 months agoMITView on GitHub
Bootstrap, navigate, update, and align source-linked living docs. Use when the user mentions docs, design docs, architecture docs, keeping docs in sync, asks what docs already exist, needs missing docs created, or wants to grill, stress-test, or clarify a codebase plan before implementation.
4 other projects use a version of this.
Adopted by
Most recently taken up by
- phlx0/living-docstheir own version, first seen Oct 20, 2026
- ejklock/living-docs-skilltheir own version, first seen Oct 19, 2026
- mehrad-dm/mastermindtheir own version, first seen Oct 13, 2026
- mpklu/living-doctheir own version, first seen Sep 22, 2026
Other versions4 projects use a version of this.
Word for word · 0
None found.
Edited · 0
None found.
Wrote their own version · 4
- mehrad-dm/mastermind★ 23same name
- ejklock/living-docs-skill★ 14same name
- mpklu/living-doc★ 1same name
- phlx0/living-docs★ 1same name
How matches are found. Word for word: the exact same text. Edited: shares passages with this file (“99% same” means 99% of its five-word phrases also appear here; 10% or more counts). Their own version: similar meaning, or, weakest, the same name. We can’t tell which project had it first. Projects are counted among the 200 most-starred candidates, and mentions are links to the repository we found, up to 50 per site, so both counts are a floor.
The file
We split this skill into the rules it gives an agent
5 rules. 0 are common, 5 are distinctive, and 0 are very specific to this project.
0
Common
Most of the 4 edited versions we read keep these.
5
Distinctive
This author's own choices. Worth a look.
0
Very specific
Tied to their project's names, files or tools. Probably skip.
- Common
- Distinctive
- Very specific
- Distinctive: line 19
Bootstrap: No living-docs system exists yet.
- Distinctive: line 29
Treat "docs", "design docs", "architecture docs", and similar wording as a likely trigger for this skill.
- Distinctive: line 31
Treat "grill", "stress-test", "align before build", "clarify the plan", and "interview me" as Align mode triggers when a codebase is …
- Distinctive: line 33
Search first and read only the relevant docs or templates.
- Distinctive: line 34
Prefer the smallest accurate docs update over broad rewrites.
“Common” is measured: kept by at least 6 in 10 of the 4 edited versions of this file we could read. “Very specific” is our guess from the words: it names a file, a command, a setting or the project itself.
Files
Living Docs
Single entrypoint for the living-docs workflow. It can also align a proposed change against the repo's documented language before implementation begins.
Infer the Mode
Choose the mode from the request and repository state. Do not ask the user to pick unless the situation is genuinely ambiguous.
- Align: The user has a plan, feature idea, or design direction and wants it grilled, stress-tested, clarified, or aligned before building. Load align.md.
- Bootstrap: No living-docs system exists yet. Load bootstrap.md.
- Navigate: The repo already has docs and you need context. Load navigate.md.
- Update: Code changed and the docs must be synchronized. Load update.md.
Rules
- Pick one mode first. Do not load every reference file up front.
- Treat "docs", "design docs", "architecture docs", and similar wording as a likely trigger for this skill.
- Treat "grill", "stress-test", "align before build", "clarify the plan", and "interview me" as Align mode triggers when a codebase is involved.
- Search first and read only the relevant docs or templates.
- Prefer the smallest accurate docs update over broad rewrites.
Helpers
- Scaffold docs:
scripts/scaffold-docs.sh - List changed files:
scripts/list-changed-files.sh - Match changed files to docs:
scripts/match-source-files.py
Does it work?
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Your trail
Files you open will collect here, so you can find them again.
Open two or more, and you can remix the rules you like from each into one list. Kept in this browser only.
Now do this for your own.
Bring your CLAUDE.md, AGENTS.md or skills. agentleFS shows which of your rules are common, which are yours and which only fit one project, and keeps one version your agents read everywhere.