Write AI Doc

Write AI Doc

docs-ai/ is Prowl's curated product/design record, not a working-note log. A numbered folder is reserved for a substantial feature or a non-trivial, decision-shaping fix, each holding an RFC-like plan and an action log. Future humans and agents use it to answer "why is it built this way?" — so entries must be selected deliberately and stay accurate against the code. Read docs-ai/README.md for the index and intent.

When to write one

Create a new entry only when the work is either:

• a substantial feature with an enduring product or architecture decision (for example, a new UI surface, subsystem, or multi-reducer behavior);
• a non-trivial fix whose root cause, design decision, or resulting behavior must guide future implementation.

Do not create an entry merely because the work is detailed, takes time, or produces useful findings. Skip reviews, code or post-release audits, routine research/investigations and debugging, status reports, test runs, pure formatting or dependency bumps, routine upstream ports already recorded in the upstream ledger (docs-ai/017-upstream-sync-process/upstream-ledger.md), and docs-only changes. A user may explicitly request a record for an otherwise non-qualifying task. When in doubt, do not write one.

Workflow

1. New entry — plan first, before coding

1. Pick the next number: ls docs-ai/ | sort and take highest NNN + 1 (three digits).
2. Create docs-ai/NNN-<kebab-slug>/000-plan.md from the template below, Status: Planned. Write it as part of planning — background, goals, approach, alternatives — not as an afterthought.
3. Implement the work (normal branch/PR flow).
4. Write 001-action.md: what actually happened, chronological, with PR/commit refs, the resulting key files, and deviations from the plan. Flip plan status to Implemented. Ship the docs in the same PR as the change when practical.

2. Follow-up on an existing entry (in-frame fix or extension)

1. Add the next-numbered file in the folder, e.g. 002-<topic>.md (template below).
2. At the end of 000-plan.md's Amendments section append: - Updated 2026-MM-DD: <one line> — see [002-<topic>.md](002-<topic>.md).
3. If the follow-up invalidates part of the plan or action text, correct that text in place (keep it truthful) and note the correction in the amendment.
4. Multi-PR entries (a plan with a slice table, e.g. 063): each slice ships its own 00N-<slice>.md amendment in the slice's PR, starting at 002; write 001-action.md once, when the last slice lands (or the entry is superseded), summarizing the slices.

3. Large pivot / redesign

If the change replaces the entry's approach rather than patching it, open a NEW numbered entry, cross-link both directions, and mark the old plan Status: Superseded by [NNN-new-slug](../NNN-new-slug/000-plan.md).

Templates

000-plan.md

# NNN — <Title>: Plan

| | |
| --- | --- |
| **Status** | Planned \| Implemented \| Superseded by <link> |
| **Anchor date** | 2026-MM-DD |
| **Primary PRs** | #a, #b (fill in as they merge) |
| **Related** | [NNN-other](../NNN-other/000-plan.md), `docs/...` |

## Background
The product problem/pain and its context; for a fix, the observed symptom.

## Goals
Bullets. Add a **Non-goals** subsection when scope exclusion is a real decision.

## Design / Approach
The intended approach; name the key types/files it touches.

## Alternatives & decisions
Options considered and why the chosen one won. Record decisions, not just designs.

## Amendments
(append `- Updated 2026-MM-DD: ... — see [00N-topic.md](00N-topic.md)` lines here)

001-action.md

# NNN — <Title>: Action Log

## Timeline
| Date | Change | Ref |
| --- | --- | --- |

## Outcome & current state (as of 2026-MM-DD)
What exists in code now; key files/types with repo-relative paths.

## Deviations from plan
Where reality diverged from 000-plan.md, or "None known."

## Open questions
Unverified claims, oddities worth revisiting, or "None."

Amendment (002+)

# NNN.00M — <Topic>

## Context
Why this follow-up happened.

## Change
What was done. | ## Refs: PR #x | ## Current state (optional)

Writing rules

• English, factual, RFC-ish; prefer tables over prose for timelines. Plans are typically 40–120 lines, actions 30–100 — long enough to be useful, short enough to be read.
• Every repo-relative file path you write must exist (verify with Glob/Grep before writing). Facts you can't verify belong under Open questions, not in prose.
• Reference fork PRs as #123, upstream PRs as upstream #123, files as inline code. Cross-link sibling entries with relative links.
• docs-ai/ is the curated home for fork history plus fork-internal product, design, and operational docs. It is not a task journal. Numbered files are immutable history; non-numbered files inside an entry folder (e.g. 001-.../release-runbook.md, 017-.../upstream-ledger.md, 013-prowl-cli/contracts/, 020-observability/runbook.md) are living documents — update them in place when the process/contract they describe changes, and link them instead of duplicating their content.
• docs/ (the user-facing agent manual) is separate: current behavior goes there, history/decisions/runbooks go in docs-ai. Never link doc-onevcat/ — that directory was dissolved into docs-ai in 2026-07.
• The Xcode module/scheme is still supacode; supacode/... paths are correct.
• After adding or renaming an entry, add/refresh its row in docs-ai/README.md's index.
• Do not state build/test results you didn't produce.