itsual Technical Documentation
Overview
Good technical documentation reduces support burden, speeds onboarding, and prevents knowledge loss. It prioritizes accuracy, discoverability, and the reader’s task.
When to Use
- API reference and guides
- Architecture and design documentation
- Developer onboarding and how-to guides
- Internal system documentation
- Runbooks that require technical depth
Core Principles
- Write for the reader’s goal (solve a problem, integrate, understand a system)
- Prefer concrete examples over abstract descriptions
- Keep documentation close to the code when possible
- Version docs with the system they describe
- Distinguish reference (what) from tutorials (how) from explanation (why)
- Make the happy path obvious; document edge cases and errors clearly
Recommended Structure (API / System Docs)
- Overview and purpose
- Quickstart / getting started
- Core concepts
- Reference (endpoints, schemas, configuration)
- Examples and recipes
- Error handling and troubleshooting
- Changelog / versioning notes
Verification
- A new reader can complete a basic task using only the docs
- Examples are accurate and up to date
- Ambiguous terms are defined
- Error cases and limits are documented