Documentation Standards

Documentation Standards Skill

Purpose

Maintain clear, consistent technical documentation for CIA platform.

When to Use

• ✅ Writing README files
• ✅ Creating API documentation
• ✅ Documenting architecture
• ✅ Writing user guides

Markdown Best Practices

Structure

# Title (H1 - only one per document)

## Overview (H2)
Brief description of what this document covers.

## Section 1 (H2)
Content for section 1.

### Subsection 1.1 (H3)
Detailed content.

## References
- [Link 1](url)
- [Link 2](url)

Code Blocks

\`\`\`java
public class Example {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        System.out.println("Hello, World!");
    }
}
\`\`\`

Tables

| Column 1 | Column 2 | Column 3 |
|----------|----------|----------|
| Data 1   | Data 2   | Data 3   |

Documentation Types

README.md

• Purpose and overview
• Quick start guide
• Installation instructions
• Basic usage examples
• Links to detailed docs

ARCHITECTURE.md

• System overview
• Component descriptions
• Data flow diagrams
• Technology stack

API Documentation

/**
 * Retrieves a politician by their personal ID.
 *
 * @param personalId the Swedish personal ID (12 digits)
 * @return the politician if found
 * @throws ResourceNotFoundException if politician not found
 * @throws IllegalArgumentException if personalId format invalid
 */
@GetMapping("/{personalId}")
public Politician getPolitician(@PathVariable String personalId) {
    return service.findById(personalId);
}

Naming Conventions

Files:

• UPPERCASE_WITH_UNDERSCORES.md for major docs
• lowercase-with-hyphens.md for guides
• README.md for module documentation

Diagrams

Use Mermaid for diagrams:

\`\`\`mermaid
graph LR
    A[User] --> B[Web App]
    B --> C[Database]
    B --> D[External API]
\`\`\`

References

• DOCUMENTATION_NAMING_CONVENTION.md
• README.md
• Markdown Guide: https://www.markdownguide.org/