Audit

Audit — Documentation Quality & Consistency Review

Systematically review existing project documentation for quality, completeness, consistency with code, and internal coherence. Produce a prioritized findings report.

Core Principles

1. Evidence-based: Every finding must cite a specific file, section, or line — no vague complaints
2. Code-grounded: Cross-reference documentation claims against the actual codebase
3. Prioritized: Findings are classified by severity so the user can fix what matters first
4. Read-only by default: This skill only reads and reports — document modifications require explicit user opt-in (Step 8)
5. Honest: Report real issues, don't inflate findings to look thorough

Severity Levels

Workflow

Step 1: Determine Audit Scope

Parse the arguments to determine what to audit:

1. If a path argument is provided (e.g., /spec-forge:audit ../../other-project), use that as the project root
2. If no path, use the current working directory
3. Verify the target has documentation (check for docs/, README.md, or markdown files)

If no documentation found, inform the user and stop.

Use AskUserQuestion to ask:

• Audit focus: Full audit, or focus on a specific area? (Options: Full / API docs only / Feature docs only / Architecture docs only / Custom path)
• Code alignment: Should I cross-reference docs against the codebase? (Yes / No — skip if docs-only repo like aipartnerup-docs)

Step 2: Document Inventory

Scan the documentation landscape and build a complete inventory.

1. Glob for all markdown files in the docs directory (and README at root)
2. Categorize each document by type:
   • api — API reference documentation
   • architecture — Architecture, design, system overview
   • feature — Feature specifications or descriptions
   • guide — How-to guides, tutorials, getting started
   • spec — Protocol specs, conformance, standards
   • decision — ADRs, decision records
   • reference — Data models, type mappings, glossaries
   • meta — READMEs, indexes, navigation docs
   • other — Doesn't fit above categories
3. Read each document (or at least the first 200 lines for very large files) to understand its content and structure
4. Record metadata for each document:
   • File path
   • Category
   • Approximate word count
   • Last modified date (from git if available)
   • Key topics covered
   • Cross-references to other docs (internal links)
   • Cross-references to code (file paths, class/function names mentioned)

Display the inventory:

Document Inventory: {project-name}
  Path: {project-root}
  Total documents: {N}

  Category          | Count | Files
  api               |   4   | api/README.md, api/executor-api.md, ...
  feature           |   8   | features/acl-system.md, ...
  guide             |   7   | guides/creating-modules.md, ...
  ...

Step 3: Code Alignment Check

Skip this step if the user opted out in Step 1 (e.g., docs-only repo).

Cross-reference documentation against the actual codebase:

3.1 API Surface Audit

1. Scan the codebase for public API surfaces: exported functions, classes, interfaces, types, endpoints
2. Compare against API docs: For each documented API, verify:
   • Does the function/class/endpoint still exist in code?
   • Do parameter names and types match?
   • Do return types match?
   • Are documented examples still valid?
3. Find undocumented APIs: Public APIs that exist in code but have no documentation

Report findings:

• Stale API docs: Documented APIs that no longer exist or have changed
• Undocumented APIs: Code APIs with no corresponding documentation
• Parameter mismatches: Documented params that don't match code signatures

3.2 Feature Coverage Audit

1. Identify features in code: Major modules, systems, or functional areas in the codebase
2. Compare against feature docs: Is each significant feature documented?
3. Check feature doc accuracy: Do feature descriptions match the current implementation?

Report findings:

• Undocumented features: Significant code modules with no feature documentation
• Stale feature docs: Feature docs describing behavior that has changed
• Missing feature aspects: Feature docs that exist but skip important aspects (config, error handling, limitations)

3.3 Architecture Alignment

1. Infer architecture from code: Module structure, dependency graph, communication patterns
2. Compare against architecture docs: Does the documented architecture match reality?
3. Check for architectural drift: Places where code has evolved away from the documented design

Step 4: Internal Consistency Check

Check documents against each other for contradictions and coherence:

4.1 Cross-Document Consistency

1. Terminology consistency: Same concept referred to by different names across docs?
2. Factual consistency: Do different docs make contradictory claims? (e.g., architecture doc says "microservices" but feature doc says "monolith")
3. Version/dependency consistency: Do different docs reference different versions of the same thing?
4. Link integrity: Do internal cross-references actually point to existing documents/sections?

4.2 Structural Consistency

1. Format consistency: Do similar documents follow similar structures? (e.g., all feature docs should have similar sections)
2. Depth consistency: Are some areas documented exhaustively while others are skeletal?
3. Naming consistency: File naming conventions, heading styles, code formatting

Step 5: Quality Assessment

Evaluate each document (or document category) on quality dimensions:

Step 6: Generate Findings Report

Write the findings report to {project-docs-path}/audit-report.md (or a user-specified path).

Report format:

# Documentation Audit Report

> Project: {project-name}
> Audited: {date}
> Scope: {full / api-only / feature-only / etc.}
> Documents reviewed: {N}
> Code alignment: {Yes / Skipped}

## Executive Summary

{2-3 paragraph overview: overall documentation health, biggest strengths, most critical gaps}

## Findings Summary

| Severity | Count | Categories |
|----------|-------|------------|
| Critical |   {n} | {which areas} |
| Major    |   {n} | {which areas} |
| Minor    |   {n} | {which areas} |
| Info     |   {n} | {which areas} |

## Document Health Matrix

| Document | Completeness | Accuracy | Clarity | Currency | Overall |
|----------|-------------|----------|---------|----------|---------|
| {path}   | {A/B/C/D}   | {A/B/C/D}| {A/B/C/D}| {A/B/C/D}| {A/B/C/D} |

(A = Excellent, B = Good, C = Needs Work, D = Poor)

## Critical Findings

### CRIT-001: {Finding title}
- **Location**: {file path, section/line}
- **Issue**: {What is wrong}
- **Evidence**: {How you know — code reference, conflicting doc, etc.}
- **Impact**: {Why this matters}
- **Fix**: {Concrete recommendation}

### CRIT-002: ...

## Major Findings

### MAJ-001: {Finding title}
...

## Minor Findings

### MIN-001: {Finding title}
...

## Observations & Suggestions

### INFO-001: {Suggestion title}
...

## Coverage Map

{Mermaid diagram showing documentation coverage — which areas are well-documented vs. gaps}

## Recommended Priority Actions

1. **{Action}** — fixes CRIT-001, CRIT-002 — {estimated effort: small/medium/large}
2. **{Action}** — fixes MAJ-001 through MAJ-003 — {effort}
3. ...

Step 7: Present Results

Display a summary to the user:

Audit complete: {project-name}

  Documents reviewed: {N}
  Findings: {critical} critical, {major} major, {minor} minor, {info} info

  Report: {path-to-audit-report.md}

  Top 3 priority actions:
    1. {action} — {severity} — {effort}
    2. {action} — {severity} — {effort}
    3. {action} — {severity} — {effort}

Use AskUserQuestion to ask:

• Fix mode: Would you like me to fix any of these issues now?
  • Fix critical findings
  • Fix all findings (critical + major + minor)
  • Just the report, I'll fix manually
  • Fix specific findings (list IDs)

If the user wants fixes, proceed to Step 8.

Step 8: Apply Fixes (Optional)

For each finding the user wants fixed:

1. Read the target document
2. Apply the fix described in the finding
3. Mark the finding as resolved in the report

Rules for fixes:

• Only modify the specific section cited in the finding
• Do NOT restructure or rewrite entire documents
• Do NOT add new documents — only fix existing ones
• If a fix requires information you don't have (e.g., the correct API signature), mark it as "needs manual review" instead of guessing
• After all fixes, re-run a quick validation to ensure fixes didn't introduce new issues

Update the audit report to mark resolved findings:

### CRIT-001: {Finding title} [RESOLVED]

Notes

1. Scope flexibility: The audit can target the current project, a sibling project, or any directory with docs
2. Incremental audits: If a previous audit-report.md exists, note which findings are new vs. recurring
3. No false positives: It's better to miss an issue than to report a non-issue. Every finding must have concrete evidence
4. Respect existing structure: The audit evaluates documentation as-is — it doesn't impose spec-forge's own document structure on projects that use different conventions