fprime

# Working in `docs/` — guide for AI agents

This file tells an agent **where F Prime documentation lives** so it reads the
right page before answering, and writes a new page in the right place.

## The four sections

F Prime documentation follows the [Diátaxis](https://diataxis.fr/) split. Pick a
section by the *purpose* of the content, not by its topic:

| Section | Purpose | Contents |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `docs/tutorials/` | Learning-oriented | End-to-end walkthroughs for newcomers. Most tutorials live in separate `fprime-community` repositories and are pulled into the website; only the index and cross-compilation setup are here. |
| `docs/user-manual/` | Understanding-oriented | How and why F Prime works: architecture, framework concepts, GDS, design patterns, build system, security. |
| `docs/how-to/` | Task-oriented | Step-by-step recipes for one specific job, grouped under `develop/`, `integrate/`, `operate/`, `test/`. |
| `docs/reference/` | Information-oriented | Factual descriptions: nomenclature, numerical types, dictionary and protocol formats, per-subsystem functional reference under `system-functional/`. |

Also at this level:

- `docs/getting-started/` — installation and first steps.
- `docs/INSTALL.md` — installation instructions.
- `docs/doxygen/` — inputs for the generated C++ API reference.

## Documentation that is *not* under `docs/`

- **Component design (SDDs)**: framework modules document themselves in
  `<Module>/docs/sdd.md`, e.g. `Svc/CmdDispatcher/docs/sdd.md`,
  `Fw/Buffer/docs/sdd.md`, `Drv/PosixUartDriver/docs/sdd.md`. The SDD is the
  authoritative description of a single module's interface and behavior — read
  it before changing that module, and update it when the FPP model or the
  external behavior changes.
- **FPP language**: the FPP User's Guide and Language Spec live in the
  [`nasa/fpp`](https://nasa.github.io/fpp/) repository, not here.
- **GDS internals**: the GDS implementation lives in `nasa/fprime-gds`; the
  user-facing GDS docs are in `docs/user-manual/gds/`.
- **Repository policy**: `README.md`, `CONTRIBUTING.md`, `AI_POLICY.md`,
  `SECURITY.md`, `GOVERNANCE.md` at the repository root.

## Where to look first

| Question | Start here |
| --- | --- |
| What is a component / port / topology? | `docs/user-manual/overview/` |
| What does this directory in the repo contain? | `docs/user-manual/overview/source-tree.md` |
| What does this term mean? | `docs/reference/nomenclature.md` |
| How does a specific framework mechanism work (asserts, params, data products, memory, state machines)? | `docs/user-manual/framework/` |
| How does an F Prime subsystem behave end to end (commanding, telemetry, sequencing, comms, health)? | `docs/reference/system-functional/` |
| How do I do task X? | `docs/how-to/` (see its index for the full list) |
| CMake / `fprime-util` / build settings | `docs/user-manual/build-system/` |
| Ground system usage, dashboards, integration-test API | `docs/user-manual/gds/` |
| What does *this* component do? | `<Component>/docs/sdd.md` |

## Adding or editing a page

- Choose the section from the purpose table above; put it in the matching
  subdirectory (a how-to goes in `develop/`, `integrate/`, `operate/`, or
  `test/`).
- Do not hand-edit `docs/<section>/index.md` — those pages are generated by
  `docs/scripts/gen_indexes.py` from the directory contents.
- Link between pages with relative Markdown paths so links work both on GitHub
  and on the website.
- Prefer extending an existing page over adding a near-duplicate one, and link
  to the authoritative page instead of restating its content.

More agent context in nasa/fprime

30 other files this repository gives its agents.