# Design Docs Incremental Update > Incrementally refresh the LLM-generated design docs under docs/generated/design/. Use when the user asks to update, refresh, or regenerate the generated design documentation after source changes. Runs the three-stage operator loop defined in docs/generated/design/_meta/regenerate.md - (1) regenerate stale docs (Claude), (2) direct the user to run the non-Claude review, (3) apply remediation (Claude) - with explicit confirmation before stages 1 and 3. - Skill: `shader-slang/design-docs-incremental-update` (Agent Skill) - Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add shader-slang/design-docs-incremental-update` - Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/shader-slang/design-docs-incremental-update/raw - Safety review: pending - Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex - Category: AI & ML - Author: shader-slang (https://skillmd.com/u/shader-slang) - Updated: 2026-09-10 - Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/shader-slang/design-docs-incremental-update --- # Generated Design Docs - Incremental Update This skill drives the incremental refresh workflow for `docs/generated/design/`, as specified in [regenerate.md](../../../docs/generated/design/_meta/regenerate.md). That document is the source of truth; this skill is the per-invocation runbook. Re-read `regenerate.md` if anything below is ambiguous. ## Reference paths All driver commands run from the repository root. - Workflow spec: `docs/generated/design/_meta/regenerate.md` - Driver script: `docs/generated/design/_meta/regenerate.py` - Manifest: `docs/generated/design/_meta/manifest.yaml` - Common generation contract: `docs/generated/design/_meta/prompts/_common.md` - Per-doc generation prompts: `docs/generated/design/_meta/prompts/.md` - Review prompt (non-Claude only): `docs/generated/design/_meta/prompts/_review.md` - Remediation prompt (Claude only): `docs/generated/design/_meta/prompts/_remediate.md` ## The three stages Run the stages in order. Pause between stages and confirm with the user where indicated. | # | Stage | Performed by | Confirm first | | - | ----------------------- | ---------------------------------- | ------------- | | 1 | Incremental regenerate | This agent (Claude) | **Yes** | | 2 | Review | User, with a non-Claude model | n/a (direct) | | 3 | Remediation | This agent (Claude) | **Yes** | If you are not a Claude model, refuse stages 1 and 3 - both belong to the Claude family per the workflow's soft-refusal contract. The driver's `mark-fresh` / `mark-remediated` commands will refuse to record an entry under a non-Claude `model` field. ## Stage 1 - Incremental regeneration ### 1a. Survey ```bash python3 docs/generated/design/_meta/regenerate.py list-stale ``` Collect every row tagged `stale` or `missing`. These are the docs to regenerate. Order the work in dependency order: if any of the listed docs has a `depends_on` entry that is also stale, regenerate the dependency first. Use `regenerate.py show ` to inspect the manifest entry (it prints the prompt path, the resolved watched files, and the `depends_on` list). If no docs are stale or missing, report that and proceed directly to stage 2 (there is still potentially something to review). ### 1b. Confirm Present to the user, then **wait for confirmation**: - The ordered list of docs you will regenerate (manifest keys). - The model id you will record on each doc (e.g. `claude-opus-4.7`). This must match the model actually doing the generation. Do not begin regenerating until the user confirms. ### 1c. Regenerate each doc For each stale/missing doc, in dependency order: 1. **Gather inputs.** - Run `python3 docs/generated/design/_meta/regenerate.py show `. This prints the manifest entry, the prompt path, the resolved watched files, and `depends_on`. - Read the previous version of the doc at `docs/generated/design/` if it exists (a `missing` doc has no prior version). - Run `git diff -- ` to surface the changes that drove staleness. The previous `source_commit` is in the doc's existing front-matter. - Read each `depends_on` peer at its current location under `docs/generated/design/`. 2. **Read the prompts.** - The per-doc prompt at the path printed by `show `. - `docs/generated/design/_meta/prompts/_common.md` (inherited contract). 3. **Capture commit + digest.** ```bash git rev-parse HEAD python3 docs/generated/design/_meta/regenerate.py digest ``` 4. **Produce the doc.** Write the regenerated body to `docs/generated/design/` (manifest key relative to that directory). Prefer a focused edit over a full rewrite when a previous version exists and the watched-paths diff is small. Always emit the mandatory YAML front-matter from `_common.md`: - `generated: true` - `model: claude-opus-4.7` (or your actual Claude model id) - `generated_at:` ISO 8601 UTC, seconds precision, `Z` suffix - `source_commit:` the SHA from step 3 - `watched_paths_digest:` the digest from step 3 - `warning: "Auto-generated. May drift from source. Do not edit by hand."` 5. **Lint.** ```bash python3 docs/generated/design/_meta/regenerate.py lint ``` If lint reports a structural **error** (missing front-matter key, broken link, etc.), re-run the regeneration with the lint output in the context. **Do not hand-edit the doc to silence lint.** Size-cap **warnings** are advisory; mention them in the wrap-up but do not block on them. 6. **Mark fresh.** ```bash python3 docs/generated/design/_meta/regenerate.py mark-fresh \ --model claude-opus-4.7 ``` ### 1d. Wrap up Show the user: - The list of docs regenerated. - Any lint warnings (e.g. size-cap exceedances). - The output of a final `regenerate.py list-stale` (rows you touched should no longer appear as stale). ## Stage 2 - Direct the user to perform the review The review **cannot** be done by this agent. The workflow requires a non-Claude model for independent verification, and both the review prompt and the driver's `mark-reviewed` gate enforce this softly. Emit the following hand-off block to the user verbatim (substituting the actual list of docs needing review), then stop and wait. ```` Stage 2 (Review) is yours to drive. The driver does not call any agent; you run the non-Claude reviewer agent out of band. 1. Pick a non-Claude model (any GPT, Gemini, Llama, or Mistral variant works). The review prompt has a hard refusal banner for Claude models. 2. List docs needing review: python3 docs/generated/design/_meta/regenerate.py review-status Rows tagged `unreviewed` or `review-stale` are pending. The docs I just regenerated will show `review-stale`. 3. For each pending doc: a. Open `docs/generated/design/_meta/prompts/_review.md`. b. Show the reviewer agent: - the target document (with its YAML front-matter), - its per-doc generation prompt (path from `regenerate.py show `) plus `docs/generated/design/_meta/prompts/_common.md`, - the resolved watched files at the doc's recorded `source_commit`, - any `depends_on` peer documents. c. Save the agent's report to **exactly** `docs/generated/design/_meta/reviews/.review.md`, preserving the manifest-key directory hierarchy (e.g. `_meta/reviews/pipeline/05-ir-passes.md.review.md`). If a report already exists at that path from a prior review cycle, **overwrite it in place** - do not create a new subdirectory (date-stamped, model-stamped, run-stamped, or otherwise) and do not append a suffix to the filename. The ledger only knows the canonical path; reports written elsewhere are invisible to the driver. The previous report's content is preserved in git history. d. Lint and record: python3 docs/generated/design/_meta/regenerate.py lint python3 docs/generated/design/_meta/regenerate.py mark-reviewed `mark-reviewed` refuses if `reviewer_model` contains `claude` or `anthropic`. 4. When `review-status` shows every relevant doc as `reviewed-pending-remediation`, come back and ask me to run stage 3 (Remediation). ```` ## Stage 3 - Remediation ### 3a. Confirm When the user signals the reviews are complete: ```bash python3 docs/generated/design/_meta/regenerate.py review-status ``` Identify every row with `reviewed-pending-remediation`. Show that list to the user and **wait for confirmation** before remediating. Special case: if a row is still `review-stale`, the doc was regenerated *after* its last review. Flag this - the user must re-run the review on that doc before remediation can happen. Skip the row. ### 3b. Remediate each doc For each `reviewed-pending-remediation` doc: 1. **Gather inputs.** - The target document at `docs/generated/design/`. - The review report at `docs/generated/design/_meta/reviews/.review.md`. - The per-doc generation prompt (path from `show `) plus `docs/generated/design/_meta/prompts/_common.md` (to verify each finding aligns with the contract before fixing). - The resolved watched files at the current `HEAD` (`regenerate.py show ` again). 2. **Read** the remediation prompt at `docs/generated/design/_meta/prompts/_remediate.md`. For every finding ID in the review's `## Findings` table, choose exactly one action from `_remediate.md` (`fixed`, `rejected-bogus`, `rejected-out-of-scope`, `deferred`, `escalated`). 3. **Apply edits** to the target document for every `fixed` action. Keep edits minimal - do not opportunistically rewrite unrelated text. 4. **Write the remediation report** to `docs/generated/design/_meta/remediations/.remediation.md`, preserving the manifest-key directory hierarchy. The report must match the contract in `_remediate.md` (front-matter, `## Actions` table covering every finding ID exactly once). 5. **Refresh the digest if the doc changed:** ```bash python3 docs/generated/design/_meta/regenerate.py mark-fresh \ --model claude-opus-4.7 ``` Skip this step if every action was a non-edit (`rejected-*`, `deferred`, or `escalated`). 6. **Lint and record.** ```bash python3 docs/generated/design/_meta/regenerate.py lint python3 docs/generated/design/_meta/regenerate.py mark-remediated ``` `mark-remediated` refuses if `remediator_model` does not contain `claude` or `anthropic`. ### 3c. Wrap up Run `regenerate.py review-status` and report: - Docs that are now `remediated` (cycle complete). - Any `deferred` or `escalated` findings the user needs to follow up on (cite the remediation report). - Whether any doc still shows a non-`remediated` status, and why. ## Pitfalls - **Never hand-edit a generated doc to silence a lint error.** Re-prompt yourself with the lint output included; structural drift is a generation-quality signal. - **Never edit the review or remediation reports by hand** either; re-generate them through the corresponding agent prompt. - **Driver scope.** `regenerate.py` does not call any LLM, commit, push, or auto-edit documents. All writes happen through the agent (you); all bookkeeping happens through the driver. Do not shortcut the bookkeeping commands (`mark-fresh`, `mark-reviewed`, `mark-remediated`) - they update `freshness.json` and `review-state.json`. - **Manifest gaps.** If you discover a watched_paths_digest did not flip when a relevant source file changed, extend `docs/generated/design/_meta/manifest.yaml` rather than editing the generated doc. See "Lessons from the first end-to-end exercise" in `regenerate.md`. - **Model id discipline.** The id you pass to `--model` must match the model performing the step (the soft-refusal gate keys off it). - **Dependency order.** Architecture and overview docs come before the pipeline / family pages that depend on them. When in doubt, check the `depends_on` lists from `regenerate.py show `.