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robertkarlrobertkarl/rkstack/document-release/SKILL.md

gstack-document-release

Skill0 starsChanged 8 months agoMITView on GitHub

Post-ship documentation update. Reads all project docs, cross-references the diff, updates README/ARCHITECTURE/CONTRIBUTING/CLAUDE.md to match what shipped, polishes CHANGELOG voice, cleans up TODOS, and optionally bumps VERSION. Use when asked to "update the docs", "sync documentation", or "post-ship docs". Proactively suggest after a PR is merged or code is shipped. (gstack)

  • Commits and pushes

1 other project uses a version of this, 1 of them edited.

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The file

Show its rules and text

We split this skill into the rules it gives an agent

67 rules. About 0 are common, 45 are distinctive, and 22 are very specific to this project.

  • ≈0

    Common · estimate

    Many files like this have a rule of this kind.

  • ≈45

    Distinctive · estimate

    This author's own choices. Worth a look.

  • 22

    Very specific

    Tied to their project's names, files or tools. Probably skip.

  • Common
  • Distinctive
  • Very specific
  1. Very specific:

    If PROACTIVE is "false", do not proactively suggest gstack skills AND do not auto-invoke skills based on conversation context.

    line 61
  2. Very specific:

    If SKILL_PREFIX is "true", the user has namespaced skill names.

    line 67
  3. Very specific:

    If PROACTIVE is not yet configured: After the preamble runs, check the value.

    line 72
  4. Distinctive:

    If the user has not been prompted about proactive behavior, use AskUserQuestion:

    line 73
  5. Very specific:

    If A: run ~/.claude/skills/gstack/bin/gstack-config set proactive true If B: run ~/.claude/skills/gstack/bin/gstack-config set proactive …

    line 83
  6. Very specific:

    If B: run ~/.claude/skills/gstack/bin/gstack-config set proactive false

    line 84
  7. Very specific:

    If HAS_ROUTING is no AND ROUTING_DECLINED is false: Check if a CLAUDE.md file exists in the project root.

    line 86
  8. Distinctive:

    Check if a CLAUDE.md file exists in the project root.

    line 87
  9. Distinctive:

    If A: Append this section to the end of CLAUDE.md:

    line 99
  10. Distinctive:

    Start from lived experience.

    line 133
  11. Distinctive:

    No em dashes. Use commas, periods, or "..." instead.

    line 144
  12. Distinctive:

    No AI vocabulary: delve, crucial, robust, comprehensive, nuanced, multifaceted, furthermore, moreover, additionally, pivotal, landscape, …

    line 145
  13. Distinctive:

    After compaction or at session start, check for recent project artifacts.

    line 153
  14. Distinctive:

    If artifacts are listed, read the most recent one to recover context.

    line 174
  15. Very specific:

    If LAST_SESSION is shown, mention it briefly: "Last session on this branch ran /[skill] with [outcome]."

    line 176
  16. Distinctive:

    When completing a skill workflow, report status using one of:

    line 199
  17. Distinctive:

    If you have attempted a task 3 times without success, STOP and escalate.

    line 210
  18. Distinctive:

    If you are uncertain about a security-sensitive change, STOP and escalate.

    line 211
  19. Distinctive:

    If the scope of work exceeds what you can verify, STOP and escalate.

    line 212
  20. Distinctive:

    Before completing, reflect on this session:

    line 224
  21. Distinctive:

    If yes, log an operational learning for future sessions:

    line 230
  22. Distinctive:

    When in plan mode, these operations are always allowed because they produce artifacts that inform the plan, not code changes:

    line 240
  23. Distinctive:

    When you are in plan mode and about to call ExitPlanMode:

    line 255
  24. Very specific:

    Check if the plan file already has a ## GSTACK REVIEW REPORT section.

    line 257
  25. Distinctive:

    If it DOES — skip (a review skill already wrote a richer report).

    line 258
  26. Distinctive:

    If it does NOT — run this command:

    line 259
  27. Very specific:

    If the output contains review entries (JSONL lines before ---CONFIG---): format the standard report table with runs/status/findings per …

    line 267
  28. Very specific:

    If the output is NO_REVIEWS or empty: write this placeholder table:

    line 270
  29. Very specific:

    VERDICT: NO REVIEWS YET — run \/gstack-autoplan\ for full review pipeline, or individual reviews above.

    line 282
  30. Distinctive:

    If the URL contains "github.com" → platform is GitHub

    line 293
  31. Distinctive:

    If the URL contains "gitlab" → platform is GitLab

    line 294
  32. Very specific:

    If that fails: git rev-parse --verify origin/main 2>/dev/null → use main

    line 313
  33. Distinctive:

    If all fail, fall back to main.

    line 316
  34. Very specific:

    Use Write tool on CHANGELOG.md — always use Edit with exact old_string matches

    line 351
  35. Distinctive:

    Check the current branch. If on the base branch, abort: "You're on the base branch.

    line 357
  36. Distinctive:

    Read each documentation file and cross-reference it against the diff.

    line 391
  37. Distinctive:

    Do ASCII diagrams and component descriptions match the current code?

    line 401
  38. Distinctive:

    Do test tier descriptions match the current test infrastructure?

    line 409
  39. Very specific:

    Do build/test instructions match what's in package.json (or equivalent)?

    line 416
  40. Distinctive:

    Read the file, determine its purpose and audience.

    line 419
  41. Distinctive:

    Do not remove entire sections from any document

    line 443
  42. Distinctive:

    Read the entire CHANGELOG.md first.

    line 469
  43. Distinctive:

    Only modify wording within existing entries.

    line 470
  44. Very specific:

    Never regenerate a CHANGELOG entry from scratch.

    line 471
  45. Distinctive:

    If an entry looks wrong or incomplete, use AskUserQuestion — do NOT silently fix it.

    line 474
  46. Very specific:

    Use Edit tool with exact old_string matches — never use Write to overwrite CHANGELOG.md.

    line 475
  47. Distinctive:

    After auditing each file individually, do a cross-doc consistency pass:

    line 493
  48. Distinctive:

    If TODOS.md does not exist, skip this step.

    line 511
  49. Distinctive:

    Items needing description updates: If a TODO references files or components that were significantly changed, its description may be stale.

    line 518
  50. Very specific:

    New deferred work: Check the diff for TODO, FIXME, HACK, and XXX comments.

    line 522
  51. Distinctive:

    Check if VERSION was already modified on this branch:

    line 534
  52. Distinctive:

    If VERSION was NOT bumped: Use AskUserQuestion:

    line 540
  53. Distinctive:

    If VERSION was already bumped: Do NOT skip silently. Instead, check whether the bump still covers the full scope of changes on this branch:

    line 546
  54. Very specific:

    Empty check first: Run git status (never use -uall).

    line 569
  55. Distinctive:

    Create a single commit:

    line 576
  56. Distinctive:

    Read the existing PR/MR body into a PID-unique tempfile (use the platform detected in Step 0):

    line 595
  57. Very specific:

    If the tempfile already contains a ## Documentation section, replace that section with the updated content.

    line 607
  58. Distinctive:

    Write the updated body back:

    line 614
  59. Very specific:

    Read the contents of /tmp/gstack-pr-body-$$.md using the Read tool, then pass it to glab mr update using a heredoc to avoid shell …

    line 622
  60. Very specific:

    If gh pr view / glab mr view fails (no PR/MR exists): skip with message "No PR/MR found — skipping body update."

    line 636
  61. Very specific:

    If gh pr edit / glab mr update fails: warn "Could not update PR/MR body — documentation changes are in the commit." and continue.

    line 637
  62. Distinctive:

    Not bumped — user chose to skip

    line 658
  63. Distinctive:

    Read before editing: Always read the full content of a file before modifying it.

    line 666
  64. Distinctive:

    Never bump VERSION silently: Always ask. Even if already bumped, check whether it covers the full scope of changes.

    line 668
  65. Distinctive:

    Be explicit about what changed: Every edit gets a one-line summary.

    line 669
  66. Distinctive:

    Discoverability matters: Every doc file should be reachable from README or CLAUDE.md.

    line 671
  67. Distinctive:

    Voice: friendly, user-forward, not obscure: Write like you're explaining to a smart person who hasn't seen the code.

    line 672

≈ “Common” is an estimate: at least 1 in 5 of the 350,495 skill files we read have a rule of the same kind, not the same words. “Very specific” is our guess from the words: it names a file, a command, a setting or the project itself.

Keep what fits and drop the rest. Your version, ready for your agents.
Files
SKILL.md
<!-- AUTO-GENERATED from SKILL.md.tmpl — do not edit directly --><!-- Regenerate: bun run gen:skill-docs -->

Preamble (run first)

mkdir -p ~/.gstack/sessions
touch ~/.gstack/sessions/"$PPID"
_SESSIONS=$(find ~/.gstack/sessions -mmin -120 -type f 2>/dev/null | wc -l | tr -d ' ')
find ~/.gstack/sessions -mmin +120 -type f -exec rm {} + 2>/dev/null || true
_PROACTIVE=$(~/.claude/skills/gstack/bin/gstack-config get proactive 2>/dev/null || echo "true")
_BRANCH=$(git branch --show-current 2>/dev/null || echo "unknown")
echo "BRANCH: $_BRANCH"
_SKILL_PREFIX=$(~/.claude/skills/gstack/bin/gstack-config get skill_prefix 2>/dev/null || echo "true")
echo "PROACTIVE: $_PROACTIVE"
echo "SKILL_PREFIX: $_SKILL_PREFIX"
source <(~/.claude/skills/gstack/bin/gstack-repo-mode 2>/dev/null) || true
REPO_MODE=${REPO_MODE:-unknown}
echo "REPO_MODE: $REPO_MODE"
# Learnings count
eval "$(~/.claude/skills/gstack/bin/gstack-slug 2>/dev/null)" 2>/dev/null || true
_LEARN_FILE="${GSTACK_HOME:-$HOME/.gstack}/projects/${SLUG:-unknown}/learnings.jsonl"
if [ -f "$_LEARN_FILE" ]; then
  _LEARN_COUNT=$(wc -l < "$_LEARN_FILE" 2>/dev/null | tr -d ' ')
  echo "LEARNINGS: $_LEARN_COUNT entries loaded"
  if [ "$_LEARN_COUNT" -gt 5 ] 2>/dev/null; then
    ~/.claude/skills/gstack/bin/gstack-learnings-search --limit 3 2>/dev/null || true
  fi
else
  echo "LEARNINGS: 0"
fi
# Check if CLAUDE.md has routing rules
_HAS_ROUTING="no"
if [ -f CLAUDE.md ] && grep -q "## Skill routing" CLAUDE.md 2>/dev/null; then
  _HAS_ROUTING="yes"
fi
_ROUTING_DECLINED=$(~/.claude/skills/gstack/bin/gstack-config get routing_declined 2>/dev/null || echo "false")
echo "HAS_ROUTING: $_HAS_ROUTING"
echo "ROUTING_DECLINED: $_ROUTING_DECLINED"

If PROACTIVE is "false", do not proactively suggest gstack skills AND do not auto-invoke skills based on conversation context. Only run skills the user explicitly types (e.g., /gstack-qa, /gstack-ship). If you would have auto-invoked a skill, instead briefly say: "I think /gstack-skillname might help here — want me to run it?" and wait for confirmation. The user opted out of proactive behavior.

If SKILL_PREFIX is "true", the user has namespaced skill names. When suggesting or invoking other gstack skills, use the /gstack- prefix (e.g., /gstack-qa instead of /qa, /gstack-ship instead of /ship). Disk paths are unaffected — always use ~/.claude/skills/gstack/[skill-name]/SKILL.md for reading skill files.

If PROACTIVE is not yet configured: After the preamble runs, check the value. If the user has not been prompted about proactive behavior, use AskUserQuestion:

gstack can proactively figure out when you might need a skill while you work — like suggesting /gstack-qa when you say "does this work?" or /gstack-investigate when you hit a bug.

Options:

  • A) Keep it on (recommended)
  • B) Turn it off — I'll type /commands myself

If A: run ~/.claude/skills/gstack/bin/gstack-config set proactive true If B: run ~/.claude/skills/gstack/bin/gstack-config set proactive false

If HAS_ROUTING is no AND ROUTING_DECLINED is false: Check if a CLAUDE.md file exists in the project root. If it does not exist, create it.

Use AskUserQuestion:

gstack works best when your project's CLAUDE.md includes skill routing rules. This tells Claude to use specialized workflows (like /gstack-ship, /gstack-investigate, /gstack-qa) instead of answering directly. It's a one-time addition, about 15 lines.

Options:

  • A) Add routing rules to CLAUDE.md (recommended)
  • B) No thanks, I'll invoke skills manually

If A: Append this section to the end of CLAUDE.md:


## Skill routing

When the user's request matches an available skill, ALWAYS invoke it using the Skill
tool as your FIRST action. Do NOT answer directly, do NOT use other tools first.
The skill has specialized workflows that produce better results than ad-hoc answers.

Key routing rules:
- Product ideas, "is this worth building", brainstorming → invoke gstack-office-hours
- Bugs, errors, "why is this broken", 500 errors → invoke gstack-investigate
- Ship, deploy, push, create PR → invoke gstack-ship
- QA, test the site, find bugs → invoke gstack-qa
- Code review, check my diff → invoke gstack-review
- Update docs after shipping → invoke gstack-document-release
- Weekly retro → invoke gstack-retro
- Design system, brand → invoke gstack-design-consultation
- Visual audit, design polish → invoke gstack-design-review
- Architecture review → invoke gstack-plan-eng-review

Then commit the change: git add CLAUDE.md && git commit -m "chore: add gstack skill routing rules to CLAUDE.md"

If B: run ~/.claude/skills/gstack/bin/gstack-config set routing_declined true Say "No problem. You can add routing rules later by running gstack-config set routing_declined false and re-running any skill."

This only happens once per project. If HAS_ROUTING is yes or ROUTING_DECLINED is true, skip this entirely.

Voice

Lead with the point. Say what it does, why it matters, and what changes for the builder. Sound like someone who shipped code today and cares whether the thing actually works for users.

Start from lived experience. For product, start with the user. For technical explanation, start with what the developer feels and sees. Then explain the mechanism, the tradeoff, and why we chose it.

Quality matters. Bugs matter. Do not normalize sloppy software. Do not hand-wave away the last 1% or 5% of defects as acceptable. Great product aims at zero defects and takes edge cases seriously. Fix the whole thing, not just the demo path.

Tone: direct, concrete, sharp, encouraging, serious about craft, occasionally funny, never corporate, never academic, never PR, never hype. Sound like a builder talking to a builder, not a consultant presenting to a client.

Concreteness is the standard. Name the file, the function, the line number. Show the exact command to run. When explaining a tradeoff, use real numbers. When something is broken, point at the exact line.

User sovereignty. The user always has context you don't — domain knowledge, business relationships, strategic timing, taste. When you and another model agree on a change, that agreement is a recommendation, not a decision. Present it. The user decides.

Writing rules:

  • No em dashes. Use commas, periods, or "..." instead.
  • No AI vocabulary: delve, crucial, robust, comprehensive, nuanced, multifaceted, furthermore, moreover, additionally, pivotal, landscape, tapestry, underscore, foster, showcase, intricate, vibrant, fundamental, significant, interplay.
  • Short paragraphs. Mix one-sentence paragraphs with 2-3 sentence runs.
  • Name specifics. Real file names, real function names, real numbers.
  • Be direct about quality.
  • End with what to do. Give the action.

Context Recovery

After compaction or at session start, check for recent project artifacts. This ensures decisions, plans, and progress survive context window compaction.

eval "$(~/.claude/skills/gstack/bin/gstack-slug 2>/dev/null)"
_PROJ="${GSTACK_HOME:-$HOME/.gstack}/projects/${SLUG:-unknown}"
if [ -d "$_PROJ" ]; then
  echo "--- RECENT ARTIFACTS ---"
  find "$_PROJ/ceo-plans" "$_PROJ/checkpoints" -type f -name "*.md" 2>/dev/null | xargs ls -t 2>/dev/null | head -3
  [ -f "$_PROJ/${_BRANCH}-reviews.jsonl" ] && echo "REVIEWS: $(wc -l < "$_PROJ/${_BRANCH}-reviews.jsonl" | tr -d ' ') entries"
  [ -f "$_PROJ/timeline.jsonl" ] && tail -5 "$_PROJ/timeline.jsonl"
  if [ -f "$_PROJ/timeline.jsonl" ]; then
    _LAST=$(grep "\"branch\":\"${_BRANCH}\"" "$_PROJ/timeline.jsonl" 2>/dev/null | grep '"event":"completed"' | tail -1)
    [ -n "$_LAST" ] && echo "LAST_SESSION: $_LAST"
  fi
  _LATEST_CP=$(find "$_PROJ/checkpoints" -name "*.md" -type f 2>/dev/null | xargs ls -t 2>/dev/null | head -1)
  [ -n "$_LATEST_CP" ] && echo "LATEST_CHECKPOINT: $_LATEST_CP"
  echo "--- END ARTIFACTS ---"
fi

If artifacts are listed, read the most recent one to recover context.

If LAST_SESSION is shown, mention it briefly: "Last session on this branch ran /[skill] with [outcome]."

AskUserQuestion Format

ALWAYS follow this structure for every AskUserQuestion call:

  1. Re-ground: State the project, the current branch (use the _BRANCH value printed by the preamble — NOT any branch from conversation history or gitStatus), and the current plan/task. (1-2 sentences)
  2. Simplify: Explain the problem in plain English a smart 16-year-old could follow. No raw function names, no internal jargon, no implementation details. Use concrete examples and analogies. Say what it DOES, not what it's called.
  3. Recommend: RECOMMENDATION: Choose [X] because [one-line reason] — always prefer the complete option over shortcuts. Include Completeness: X/10 for each option. Calibration: 10 = complete implementation (all edge cases, full coverage), 7 = covers happy path but skips some edges, 3 = shortcut that defers significant work. If both options are 8+, pick the higher; if one is ≤5, flag it.
  4. Options: Lettered options: A) ... B) ... C) ...

Assume the user hasn't looked at this window in 20 minutes and doesn't have the code open. If you'd need to read the source to understand your own explanation, it's too complex.

Per-skill instructions may add additional formatting rules on top of this baseline.

Completeness Principle

AI makes completeness near-free. Always recommend the complete option over shortcuts — the delta is minutes with AI agents. Do the whole thing when you can.

Include Completeness: X/10 for each option (10=all edge cases, 7=happy path, 3=shortcut).

Completion Status Protocol

When completing a skill workflow, report status using one of:

  • DONE — All steps completed successfully. Evidence provided for each claim.
  • DONE_WITH_CONCERNS — Completed, but with issues the user should know about. List each concern.
  • BLOCKED — Cannot proceed. State what is blocking and what was tried.
  • NEEDS_CONTEXT — Missing information required to continue. State exactly what you need.

Escalation

It is always OK to stop and say "this is too hard for me" or "I'm not confident in this result."

Bad work is worse than no work. You will not be penalized for escalating.

  • If you have attempted a task 3 times without success, STOP and escalate.
  • If you are uncertain about a security-sensitive change, STOP and escalate.
  • If the scope of work exceeds what you can verify, STOP and escalate.

Escalation format:

STATUS: BLOCKED | NEEDS_CONTEXT
REASON: [1-2 sentences]
ATTEMPTED: [what you tried]
RECOMMENDATION: [what the user should do next]

Operational Self-Improvement

Before completing, reflect on this session:

  • Did any commands fail unexpectedly?
  • Did you take a wrong approach and have to backtrack?
  • Did you discover a project-specific quirk (build order, env vars, timing, auth)?
  • Did something take longer than expected because of a missing flag or config?

If yes, log an operational learning for future sessions:

~/.claude/skills/gstack/bin/gstack-learnings-log '{"skill":"SKILL_NAME","type":"operational","key":"SHORT_KEY","insight":"DESCRIPTION","confidence":N,"source":"observed"}'

Replace SKILL_NAME with the current skill name. Only log genuine operational discoveries.

Plan Mode Safe Operations

When in plan mode, these operations are always allowed because they produce artifacts that inform the plan, not code changes:

  • $B commands (browse: screenshots, page inspection, navigation, snapshots)
  • $D commands (design: generate mockups, variants, comparison boards, iterate)
  • codex exec / codex review (outside voice, plan review, adversarial challenge)
  • Writing to ~/.gstack/ (config, review logs, design artifacts, learnings)
  • Writing to the plan file (already allowed by plan mode)
  • open commands for viewing generated artifacts (comparison boards, HTML previews)

These are read-only in spirit — they inspect the live site, generate visual artifacts, or get independent opinions. They do NOT modify project source files.

Plan Status Footer

When you are in plan mode and about to call ExitPlanMode:

  1. Check if the plan file already has a ## GSTACK REVIEW REPORT section.
  2. If it DOES — skip (a review skill already wrote a richer report).
  3. If it does NOT — run this command:

```bash ~/.claude/skills/gstack/bin/gstack-review-read ```

Then write a ## GSTACK REVIEW REPORT section to the end of the plan file:

  • If the output contains review entries (JSONL lines before ---CONFIG---): format the standard report table with runs/status/findings per skill, same format as the review skills use.
  • If the output is NO_REVIEWS or empty: write this placeholder table:

```markdown

GSTACK REVIEW REPORT

ReviewTriggerWhyRunsStatusFindings
CEO Review`/gstack-plan-ceo-review`Scope & strategy0——
Codex Review`/gstack-codex review`Independent 2nd opinion0——
Eng Review`/gstack-plan-eng-review`Architecture & tests (required)0——
Design Review`/gstack-plan-design-review`UI/UX gaps0——

VERDICT: NO REVIEWS YET — run `/gstack-autoplan` for full review pipeline, or individual reviews above. ```

Step 0: Detect platform and base branch

First, detect the git hosting platform from the remote URL:

git remote get-url origin 2>/dev/null
  • If the URL contains "github.com" → platform is GitHub
  • If the URL contains "gitlab" → platform is GitLab
  • Otherwise, check CLI availability:
    • gh auth status 2>/dev/null succeeds → platform is GitHub (covers GitHub Enterprise)
    • glab auth status 2>/dev/null succeeds → platform is GitLab (covers self-hosted)
    • Neither → unknown (use git-native commands only)

Determine which branch this PR/MR targets, or the repo's default branch if no PR/MR exists. Use the result as "the base branch" in all subsequent steps.

If GitHub:

  1. gh pr view --json baseRefName -q .baseRefName — if succeeds, use it
  2. gh repo view --json defaultBranchRef -q .defaultBranchRef.name — if succeeds, use it

If GitLab:

  1. glab mr view -F json 2>/dev/null and extract the target_branch field — if succeeds, use it
  2. glab repo view -F json 2>/dev/null and extract the default_branch field — if succeeds, use it

Git-native fallback (if unknown platform, or CLI commands fail):

  1. git symbolic-ref refs/remotes/origin/HEAD 2>/dev/null | sed 's|refs/remotes/origin/||'
  2. If that fails: git rev-parse --verify origin/main 2>/dev/null → use main
  3. If that fails: git rev-parse --verify origin/master 2>/dev/null → use master

If all fail, fall back to main.

Print the detected base branch name. In every subsequent git diff, git log, git fetch, git merge, and PR/MR creation command, substitute the detected branch name wherever the instructions say "the base branch" or <default>.


Document Release: Post-Ship Documentation Update

You are running the /document-release workflow. This runs after /ship (code committed, PR exists or about to exist) but before the PR merges. Your job: ensure every documentation file in the project is accurate, up to date, and written in a friendly, user-forward voice.

You are mostly automated. Make obvious factual updates directly. Stop and ask only for risky or subjective decisions.

Only stop for:

  • Risky/questionable doc changes (narrative, philosophy, security, removals, large rewrites)
  • VERSION bump decision (if not already bumped)
  • New TODOS items to add
  • Cross-doc contradictions that are narrative (not factual)

Never stop for:

  • Factual corrections clearly from the diff
  • Adding items to tables/lists
  • Updating paths, counts, version numbers
  • Fixing stale cross-references
  • CHANGELOG voice polish (minor wording adjustments)
  • Marking TODOS complete
  • Cross-doc factual inconsistencies (e.g., version number mismatch)

NEVER do:

  • Overwrite, replace, or regenerate CHANGELOG entries — polish wording only, preserve all content
  • Bump VERSION without asking — always use AskUserQuestion for version changes
  • Use Write tool on CHANGELOG.md — always use Edit with exact old_string matches

Step 1: Pre-flight & Diff Analysis

  1. Check the current branch. If on the base branch, abort: "You're on the base branch. Run from a feature branch."
  2. Gather context about what changed:
git diff <base>...HEAD --stat
git log <base>..HEAD --oneline
git diff <base>...HEAD --name-only
  1. Discover all documentation files in the repo:
find . -maxdepth 2 -name "*.md" -not -path "./.git/*" -not -path "./node_modules/*" -not -path "./.gstack/*" -not -path "./.context/*" | sort
  1. Classify the changes into categories relevant to documentation:
    • New features — new files, new commands, new skills, new capabilities
    • Changed behavior — modified services, updated APIs, config changes
    • Removed functionality — deleted files, removed commands
    • Infrastructure — build system, test infrastructure, CI
  2. Output a brief summary: "Analyzing N files changed across M commits. Found K documentation files to review."

Step 2: Per-File Documentation Audit

Read each documentation file and cross-reference it against the diff. Use these generic heuristics (adapt to whatever project you're in — these are not gstack-specific):

README.md:

  • Does it describe all features and capabilities visible in the diff?
  • Are install/setup instructions consistent with the changes?
  • Are examples, demos, and usage descriptions still valid?
  • Are troubleshooting steps still accurate?

ARCHITECTURE.md:

  • Do ASCII diagrams and component descriptions match the current code?
  • Are design decisions and "why" explanations still accurate?
  • Be conservative — only update things clearly contradicted by the diff. Architecture docs describe things unlikely to change frequently.

CONTRIBUTING.md — New contributor smoke test:

  • Walk through the setup instructions as if you are a brand new contributor.
  • Are the listed commands accurate? Would each step succeed?
  • Do test tier descriptions match the current test infrastructure?
  • Are workflow descriptions (dev setup, operational learnings, etc.) current?
  • Flag anything that would fail or confuse a first-time contributor.

CLAUDE.md / project instructions:

  • Does the project structure section match the actual file tree?
  • Are listed commands and scripts accurate?
  • Do build/test instructions match what's in package.json (or equivalent)?

Any other .md files:

  • Read the file, determine its purpose and audience.
  • Cross-reference against the diff to check if it contradicts anything the file says.

For each file, classify needed updates as:

  • Auto-update — Factual corrections clearly warranted by the diff: adding an item to a table, updating a file path, fixing a count, updating a project structure tree.
  • Ask user — Narrative changes, section removal, security model changes, large rewrites (more than ~10 lines in one section), ambiguous relevance, adding entirely new sections.

Step 3: Apply Auto-Updates

Make all clear, factual updates directly using the Edit tool.

For each file modified, output a one-line summary describing what specifically changed — not just "Updated README.md" but "README.md: added /new-skill to skills table, updated skill count from 9 to 10."

Never auto-update:

  • README introduction or project positioning
  • ARCHITECTURE philosophy or design rationale
  • Security model descriptions
  • Do not remove entire sections from any document

Step 4: Ask About Risky/Questionable Changes

For each risky or questionable update identified in Step 2, use AskUserQuestion with:

  • Context: project name, branch, which doc file, what we're reviewing
  • The specific documentation decision
  • RECOMMENDATION: Choose [X] because [one-line reason]
  • Options including C) Skip — leave as-is

Apply approved changes immediately after each answer.


Step 5: CHANGELOG Voice Polish

CRITICAL — NEVER CLOBBER CHANGELOG ENTRIES.

This step polishes voice. It does NOT rewrite, replace, or regenerate CHANGELOG content.

A real incident occurred where an agent replaced existing CHANGELOG entries when it should have preserved them. This skill must NEVER do that.

Rules:

  1. Read the entire CHANGELOG.md first. Understand what is already there.
  2. Only modify wording within existing entries. Never delete, reorder, or replace entries.
  3. Never regenerate a CHANGELOG entry from scratch. The entry was written by /ship from the actual diff and commit history. It is the source of truth. You are polishing prose, not rewriting history.
  4. If an entry looks wrong or incomplete, use AskUserQuestion — do NOT silently fix it.
  5. Use Edit tool with exact old_string matches — never use Write to overwrite CHANGELOG.md.

If CHANGELOG was not modified in this branch: skip this step.

If CHANGELOG was modified in this branch, review the entry for voice:

  • Sell test: Would a user reading each bullet think "oh nice, I want to try that"? If not, rewrite the wording (not the content).
  • Lead with what the user can now do — not implementation details.
  • "You can now..." not "Refactored the..."
  • Flag and rewrite any entry that reads like a commit message.
  • Internal/contributor changes belong in a separate "### For contributors" subsection.
  • Auto-fix minor voice adjustments. Use AskUserQuestion if a rewrite would alter meaning.

Step 6: Cross-Doc Consistency & Discoverability Check

After auditing each file individually, do a cross-doc consistency pass:

  1. Does the README's feature/capability list match what CLAUDE.md (or project instructions) describes?
  2. Does ARCHITECTURE's component list match CONTRIBUTING's project structure description?
  3. Does CHANGELOG's latest version match the VERSION file?
  4. Discoverability: Is every documentation file reachable from README.md or CLAUDE.md? If ARCHITECTURE.md exists but neither README nor CLAUDE.md links to it, flag it. Every doc should be discoverable from one of the two entry-point files.
  5. Flag any contradictions between documents. Auto-fix clear factual inconsistencies (e.g., a version mismatch). Use AskUserQuestion for narrative contradictions.

Step 7: TODOS.md Cleanup

This is a second pass that complements /ship's Step 5.5. Read review/TODOS-format.md (if available) for the canonical TODO item format.

If TODOS.md does not exist, skip this step.

  1. Completed items not yet marked: Cross-reference the diff against open TODO items. If a TODO is clearly completed by the changes in this branch, move it to the Completed section with **Completed:** vX.Y.Z.W (YYYY-MM-DD). Be conservative — only mark items with clear evidence in the diff.
  2. Items needing description updates: If a TODO references files or components that were significantly changed, its description may be stale. Use AskUserQuestion to confirm whether the TODO should be updated, completed, or left as-is.
  3. New deferred work: Check the diff for TODO, FIXME, HACK, and XXX comments. For each one that represents meaningful deferred work (not a trivial inline note), use AskUserQuestion to ask whether it should be captured in TODOS.md.

Step 8: VERSION Bump Question

CRITICAL — NEVER BUMP VERSION WITHOUT ASKING.

  1. If VERSION does not exist: Skip silently.
  2. Check if VERSION was already modified on this branch:
git diff <base>...HEAD -- VERSION
  1. If VERSION was NOT bumped: Use AskUserQuestion:
    • RECOMMENDATION: Choose C (Skip) because docs-only changes rarely warrant a version bump
    • A) Bump PATCH (X.Y.Z+1) — if doc changes ship alongside code changes
    • B) Bump MINOR (X.Y+1.0) — if this is a significant standalone release
    • C) Skip — no version bump needed
  2. If VERSION was already bumped: Do NOT skip silently. Instead, check whether the bump still covers the full scope of changes on this branch:

    a. Read the CHANGELOG entry for the current VERSION. What features does it describe? b. Read the full diff (git diff <base>...HEAD --stat and git diff <base>...HEAD --name-only). Are there significant changes (new features, new skills, new commands, major refactors) that are NOT mentioned in the CHANGELOG entry for the current version? c. If the CHANGELOG entry covers everything: Skip — output "VERSION: Already bumped to vX.Y.Z, covers all changes." d. If there are significant uncovered changes: Use AskUserQuestion explaining what the current version covers vs what's new, and ask:

    • RECOMMENDATION: Choose A because the new changes warrant their own version
    • A) Bump to next patch (X.Y.Z+1) — give the new changes their own version
    • B) Keep current version — add new changes to the existing CHANGELOG entry
    • C) Skip — leave version as-is, handle later

    The key insight: a VERSION bump set for "feature A" should not silently absorb "feature B" if feature B is substantial enough to deserve its own version entry.


Step 9: Commit & Output

Empty check first: Run git status (never use -uall). If no documentation files were modified by any previous step, output "All documentation is up to date." and exit without committing.

Commit:

  1. Stage modified documentation files by name (never git add -A or git add .).
  2. Create a single commit:
git commit -m "$(cat <<'EOF'
docs: update project documentation for vX.Y.Z.W

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>
EOF
)"
  1. Push to the current branch:
git push

PR/MR body update (idempotent, race-safe):

  1. Read the existing PR/MR body into a PID-unique tempfile (use the platform detected in Step 0):

If GitHub:

gh pr view --json body -q .body > /tmp/gstack-pr-body-$$.md

If GitLab:

glab mr view -F json 2>/dev/null | python3 -c "import sys,json; print(json.load(sys.stdin).get('description',''))" > /tmp/gstack-pr-body-$$.md
  1. If the tempfile already contains a ## Documentation section, replace that section with the updated content. If it does not contain one, append a ## Documentation section at the end.
  2. The Documentation section should include a doc diff preview — for each file modified, describe what specifically changed (e.g., "README.md: added /document-release to skills table, updated skill count from 9 to 10").
  3. Write the updated body back:

If GitHub:

gh pr edit --body-file /tmp/gstack-pr-body-$$.md

If GitLab: Read the contents of /tmp/gstack-pr-body-$$.md using the Read tool, then pass it to glab mr update using a heredoc to avoid shell metacharacter issues:

glab mr update -d "$(cat <<'MRBODY'
<paste the file contents here>
MRBODY
)"
  1. Clean up the tempfile:
rm -f /tmp/gstack-pr-body-$$.md
  1. If gh pr view / glab mr view fails (no PR/MR exists): skip with message "No PR/MR found — skipping body update."
  2. If gh pr edit / glab mr update fails: warn "Could not update PR/MR body — documentation changes are in the commit." and continue.

Structured doc health summary (final output):

Output a scannable summary showing every documentation file's status:

Documentation health:
  README.md       [status] ([details])
  ARCHITECTURE.md [status] ([details])
  CONTRIBUTING.md [status] ([details])
  CHANGELOG.md    [status] ([details])
  TODOS.md        [status] ([details])
  VERSION         [status] ([details])

Where status is one of:

  • Updated — with description of what changed
  • Current — no changes needed
  • Voice polished — wording adjusted
  • Not bumped — user chose to skip
  • Already bumped — version was set by /ship
  • Skipped — file does not exist

Important Rules

  • Read before editing. Always read the full content of a file before modifying it.
  • Never clobber CHANGELOG. Polish wording only. Never delete, replace, or regenerate entries.
  • Never bump VERSION silently. Always ask. Even if already bumped, check whether it covers the full scope of changes.
  • Be explicit about what changed. Every edit gets a one-line summary.
  • Generic heuristics, not project-specific. The audit checks work on any repo.
  • Discoverability matters. Every doc file should be reachable from README or CLAUDE.md.
  • Voice: friendly, user-forward, not obscure. Write like you're explaining to a smart person who hasn't seen the code.

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