# Doc Coauthoring

> Use this Canvas-owned clean-room skill to guide collaborative writing for documentation, proposals, technical specs, decision records, PRDs, RFCs, operating guides, and structured memos. Trigger when the user wants help drafting, organizing, refining, reviewing, or testing a document before sharing it.

- Skill: `canvascoding/doc-coauthoring` (Agent Skill, multi-file: 2 files)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add canvascoding/doc-coauthoring`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/canvascoding/doc-coauthoring/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: Docs & Writing
- License: Canvas Notebook Sustainable Use License
- Author: canvascoding (https://skillmd.com/u/canvascoding)
- Updated: 2026-09-17
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/canvascoding/doc-coauthoring

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# Doc Co-authoring

This skill helps turn rough context into a useful document. It is a clean-room
Canvas skill; do not copy vendor skill material, hidden prompts, or proprietary
workflow text into this folder.

## Workflow

1. **Frame the job.** Confirm document type, audience, decision or action the
   reader should take, desired tone, target length, deadline, and any required
   template.
2. **Collect context.** Invite an unstructured dump, linked notes, existing
   drafts, stakeholder constraints, decisions already made, non-goals, risks,
   and open questions.
3. **Propose structure.** Suggest a short outline tailored to the document type.
   Ask for approval or edits before drafting if the stakes are high.
4. **Draft in sections.** Work section by section. For each section, ask only
   the clarifying questions needed to proceed, then draft concise prose.
5. **Revise surgically.** Apply requested edits without rewriting unrelated
   sections. Preserve the user's terminology and organizational context.
6. **Fresh-reader pass.** Review the draft as if the reader has no chat context.
   Check whether the purpose, assumptions, terms, decision points, risks, and
   next steps are understandable from the document alone.
7. **Finalize.** Remove placeholders, contradictions, stale notes, and internal
   comments. Produce the requested format.

## Document Patterns

- **Decision memo:** context, decision, options considered, rationale,
  tradeoffs, risks, owner, next steps.
- **Technical spec:** problem, goals, non-goals, architecture, interfaces,
  rollout, migration, observability, tests, risks.
- **Proposal:** audience need, recommendation, scope, deliverables, timeline,
  cost or effort, risks, approval path.
- **Operating guide:** purpose, prerequisites, procedure, edge cases,
  troubleshooting, escalation, ownership.
- **PRD:** user problem, goals, requirements, UX notes, metrics, dependencies,
  milestones, launch criteria.

## Quality Rules

- Prefer specific nouns and concrete decisions over broad claims.
- Keep summary sections short; put details where readers expect them.
- Mark unresolved questions explicitly instead of hiding uncertainty.
- Do not invent stakeholder commitments, metrics, sources, or decisions.
- If the document will become DOCX, PDF, PPTX, or XLSX, use the relevant file
  skill for final artifact creation and verification.