Treadstone Public Docs

Treadstone Public Docs

Maintain Treadstone's public docs as a product surface, not a markdown dump. Keep them short, exact, code-grounded, and useful to both AI agents and human developers.

Quality bar blends external references (adapt ideas, do not paste long text):

• What makes documentation good (OpenAI): skimmable structure, clear sentences, reader empathy.
• Diátaxis: four user intents—learning, task, facts, understanding—mapped to distinct doc forms; do not blur them on one page.
• Doc co-authoring (Anthropic): context → draft → reader test before shipping large rewrites.

WeSQL-inspired structure (documentation shape only): progressive paths (intro / map → hands-on steps → feature topics with prerequisites → cold reference) resemble how strong infra docs teach—not a claim about database technology. Treadstone uses Neon PostgreSQL for the control-plane DB; that is unrelated to this pattern name.

Keep One Source of Truth

• Treat web/public/docs/_manifest.json as the canonical docs inventory.
• Do not introduce a second slug list in frontend or backend code.
• Keep these files aligned:
  • web/public/docs/_manifest.json
  • treadstone/docs_manifest.py
  • scripts/generate_public_docs.py
  • treadstone/api/docs.py
  • web/src/pages/public/docs.tsx
• Regenerate derived outputs after manifest or page changes:

uv run python scripts/generate_public_docs.py

Do not hand-edit generated public outputs unless you are also changing the generator:

• web/public/docs/sitemap.md
• web/public/llms.txt
• web/public/sitemap.xml
• web/public/robots.txt

Diátaxis → Treadstone IA

Pick one primary intent per page and match headings to it:

If a page drifts, split or move content—reference stays cold and contract-shaped.

Prose Quality (OpenAI checklist, condensed)

Skimmable: Informative section titles (not vague nouns). Short paragraphs; topic sentence first. Put takeaways before detail. Bullets/tables where they beat prose; bold sparingly for scan-worthy facts.

Clear: Short, right-branching sentences. Unambiguous wording. Avoid this/that across sentences without a named referent. Stay consistent with terminology and casing.

Broadly helpful: Simple words; spell out abbreviations on first use when it helps ESL readers. Examples stay minimal-dependency and never teach bad habits (e.g. secrets in code). Avoid presuming the reader's mental state—use neutral task phrasing ("To call X, …").

Control Plane vs Data Plane (document both clearly)

Treadstone is two planes with different auth and clients:

When adding or rewriting public docs on runtime work inside sandboxes, ground copy in:

• examples/README.md — architecture diagram, treadstone_sdk vs agent_sandbox.Sandbox, urls.proxy wiring.
• examples/data_plane/01_agent_sandbox_runtime.py — shell, file, browser, Jupyter; data-plane key usage.

OpenAPI / Swagger (production): Full HTTP contract including sandbox runtime paths merged under the proxy prefix lives in the full OpenAPI served by the API (e.g. GET https://api.treadstone-ai.dev/openapi.json, interactive https://api.treadstone-ai.dev/docs). Implementation: merge_sandbox_paths in treadstone/openapi_spec.py. Swagger groups many operations under Sandbox: … tags.

SDK note: openapi-public.json (used for treadstone-sdk generation) does not include merged sandbox-runtime paths—by design. Tell readers: browse data-plane HTTP operations in hosted Swagger or full openapi.json; use the Python SDK where generated, plus examples, for call patterns. Deeper conventions: .agents/skills/openapi-spec-conventions/SKILL.md.

Write for Two Readers at Once

• AI agents need stable commands, routes, fields, invariants, and machine-readable structure.
• Humans need the fastest correct path and skimmable headings.

On every public page: shortest path near the top; identifiers before narrative; a For Agents section.

Follow the Page Contract

Open with these sections, in order:

• What this page is for
• Use this when
• Shortest path
• Hard rules

Also include: at most one main happy-path example, at most one agent-oriented example, and For Agents. Do not open with long background.

Manifest Sections (_manifest.json)

Structural changes need deliberate review. Current order:

• Get Started — positioning, overview, map to the rest
• Core Workflows — sandboxes, auth, limits, browser handoff
• Integrate — CLI, REST, SDK, MCP guides
• Reference — API, CLI, SDK, errors (contracts only)

Prefer new pages inside this IA before inventing categories.

Match Tone to Page Type

Sharp and direct. Prefer commands, routes, and fields over abstract prose. Positioning may be opinionated when backed by product truth; Reference stays neutral—no marketing.

Keep Facts Grounded in the Current Code

Verify against code and tests:

• API routes: treadstone/api/*.py
• Auth / data plane: treadstone/api/deps.py, treadstone/api/sandbox_proxy.py
• Sandboxes / browser: treadstone/api/sandboxes.py, treadstone/services/sandbox_service.py
• CLI: cli/treadstone_cli/*.py
• SDK: sdk/python/treadstone_sdk
• E2E: tests/e2e/*.hurl; API tests: tests/api/*.py

Prefer code and tests over memory or old README fragments.

Protect Key Treadstone Insights

• Treadstone is control plane + data plane + browser hand-off + metering/admin/self-hosting—not "just containers."
• Control plane vs data plane: different auth rules; document both.
• sandbox_id is the machine identifier; name is a human label.
• Browser and proxy URLs come from platform output (urls.proxy, web_url, open_link)—do not document hand-built hostnames.
• Public docs are English-first. Internal Chinese under docs/zh-CN/ stays out of public nav.

Keep the Public Surface Consistent

When docs change, check entry points and CTAs:

• web/src/pages/public/landing.tsx
• web/src/components/layout/public-layout.tsx
• web/public/robots.txt, web/public/llms.txt, web/public/sitemap.xml, web/public/docs/sitemap.md

Landing copy must not drift from the product.

Optional Workflow for Large Rewrites

1. Context — Audience, success criteria, re-read code/tests.
2. Draft by intent — One Diátaxis intent per section; keep reference free of tutorial prose.
3. Reader test — Questions a newcomer would ask; fix hidden assumptions (fresh-context read or separate short agent session with Markdown only).

Skip for tiny edits.

Preferred Workflow

1. Read code/tests for the behavior you document.
2. Edit Markdown under web/public/docs/.
3. Update _manifest.json if slug, section, order, title, or summary changes.
4. Run uv run python scripts/generate_public_docs.py.
5. Verify web docs and raw Markdown consumers (/docs, .md routes, llms.txt).
6. Update landing/nav if entrypoints changed.

Validate Before Shipping

uv run python scripts/generate_public_docs.py --check
uv run pytest tests/unit/test_docs_manifest.py tests/api/test_docs_api.py -q
cd web && pnpm test
cd web && pnpm lint
git diff --check

If the docs UI changed:

cd web && pnpm build

Do Not

• Delay the first actionable line with a long "overview."
• Maintain a second inventory besides _manifest.json.
• Document stale routes (audit current routers).
• Put marketing tone in Reference.
• Mix internal design docs into public IA.
• Let landing.tsx promise flows the product no longer supports.
• Smush Diátaxis types (e.g. tutorial prose inside error-code tables).
• Conflate full OpenAPI (with merged sandbox paths) with openapi-public.json / SDK coverage—call out the split explicitly when documenting HTTP.

Output Standard

After changes, a competent reader should feel:

• They know what Treadstone is for (including control vs data plane).
• They know exactly what to run, call, or configure next—and agents can extract the same facts mechanically.