documenting-systems

Original：🇺🇸 English

Translated

Creates task-oriented technical documentation with progressive disclosure. Use when writing READMEs, API docs, architecture docs, or markdown documentation.

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Sourcerileyhilliard/claude-essentials

Added on2026-02-21

NPX Install

npx skill4agent add rileyhilliard/claude-essentials documenting-systems

SKILL.md Content

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Technical Documentation

For writing style, tone, and voice guidance, use

Skill(ce:writer)

with The Engineer persona.

Core Principles

1. Progressive Disclosure

Reveal information in layers:

Layer	Content	User Question
1	One-sentence description	What is it?
2	Quick start code block	How do I use it?
3	Full API reference	What are my options?
4	Architecture deep dive	How does it work?

Warnings, breaking changes, and prerequisites go at the TOP.

2. Task-Oriented Writing

markdown

<!-- Bad: Feature-oriented -->
## AuthService Class
The AuthService class provides authentication methods...

<!-- Good: Task-oriented -->
## Authenticating Users
To authenticate a user, call login() with credentials:

3. Show, Don't Tell

Every concept needs a concrete example.

Formatting Standards

Sentence case headings: "Getting started" not "Getting Started"
Max 3 heading levels: Deeper means split the doc
Always specify language in code blocks
Relative paths for internal links
Tables for structured data with 3+ attributes

Quality Checklist

Code examples tested and runnable
No placeholder text or TODOs
Matches actual code behavior
Scannable without reading everything
Reader knows what to do next

Anti-Patterns

Problem	Fix
Wall of text	Break up with headings, bullets, code, tables
Buried critical info	Warnings/breaking changes at TOP
Missing error docs	Always document what can go wrong

Templates

For README, API endpoint, and file organization templates, see references/templates.md.

Related Skills

```
Skill(ce:writer)
```
- Writing style, tone, and voice (load The Engineer persona)
```
Skill(ce:visualizing-with-mermaid)
```
- Architecture and flow diagrams