Documentation Best Practices

SKILL: Documentation Best Practices

Purpose: Apply Claude Code documentation standards based on Superpowers reference Target: Anyone creating CLAUDE.md, commands, skills, guides, or agents

Quick Start

When to Use This Skill

• Creating new documentation (CLAUDE.md, command, skill, agent)
• Reviewing existing documentation for quality
• Restructuring documentation to follow best practices

Quick Reference

Note: Claude Code officially recommends ≤500 lines for SKILL.md. This project uses a stricter 200-line internal standard for token optimization and context efficiency.

What This Skill Covers

In Scope

• File size targets based on Superpowers standards
• Frontmatter standards for auto-discovery
• SKILL.md/REFERENCE.md separation pattern
• Agent model allocation

Out of Scope

• Test writing → @.claude/skills/tdd/SKILL.md
• Code quality → @.claude/skills/vibe-coding/SKILL.md
• Git workflow → @.claude/skills/git-master/SKILL.md

Core Concepts

Superpowers Standard

"The context window is a public good. Skills share the context window with everything else Claude needs."

Baseline: SKILL.md <600 words (~150-200 lines)

Frontmatter Standards

Skills (required):

---
name: {skill-name}
description: {trigger-rich description for semantic matching}
---

Commands (auto-discovery):

---
description: {action-rich description for slash command discovery}
---

Agents (required):

---
name: {agent-name}
description: {clear purpose statement}
model: {haiku|sonnet|opus}
tools: [tool list]
skills: [skill list]
---

SKILL.md/REFERENCE.md Pattern

SKILL.md (≤200 lines):

• Quick Start (when to use, quick reference)
• Core Concepts (essential patterns)
• Further Reading (link to REFERENCE.md)

REFERENCE.md (≤300 lines):

• Detailed examples
• Good/bad patterns
• Troubleshooting
• External references

Agent Model Allocation

3-Tier Documentation

• Tier 1: CLAUDE.md - Project standards (400+ lines)
• Tier 2: {folder}/CONTEXT.md - Component architecture (≤200 lines)
• Tier 3: {feature}/CONTEXT.md - Feature implementation (≤200 lines)

Documentation Quality Checklist

Structure

• Clear purpose statement
• Quick reference table
• Standard sections
• Cross-references

Discoverability

• Frontmatter complete
• Description is trigger-rich
• CONTEXT.md for navigation

Maintainability

• Within size limits
• No duplicated content
• Examples provided

Common Mistakes Checklist

Metadata Errors

• Outdated line counts: CONTEXT.md line values don't match actual files
• Stale skill counts: README.md lists wrong number of skills (use ls .claude/skills | wc -l)
• Version number drift: CLAUDE.md version differs from package.json or other sources
• Missing frontmatter: SKILL.md or Agent files lack required name/description fields

Cross-Reference Errors

• Broken links: @.claude/path/to/file.md points to non-existent file
• Relative paths: Using ../skills/ instead of @.claude/skills/
• Deleted file references: Documentation still mentions removed systems (e.g., Sisyphus after removal)
• Wrong file extensions: Linking to .ts instead of .md for documentation

Content Errors

• Duplicate content: Same info appears in CLAUDE.md and CONTEXT.md
• Wrong tier: Implementation details in CLAUDE.md instead of docs/ai-context/
• Missing examples: Abstract concepts without concrete usage examples
• Over-sized files: SKILL.md >200 lines without split to REFERENCE.md

Recovery Actions

• Before commit: Invoke docs-verify skill
• On verification failure: Check error message, locate file, apply fix, re-verify
• For line count violations: Extract content to REFERENCE.md or docs/ai-context/
• For broken links: Verify file exists with test -f {path}, use absolute paths

Further Reading

Internal: @.claude/skills/documentation-best-practices/REFERENCE.md - Detailed examples, good/bad patterns, external links | @.claude/skills/coding-standards/SKILL.md - Official directory structure | @.claude/skills/three-tier-docs/SKILL.md - Complete 3-Tier system

External: Claude Code Skills Documentation | Claude Code Memory Documentation | Claude Code Best Practices - Anthropic | Superpowers - obra/superpowers