Document Architecture

Document Architecture

Fan out 4 parallel Explore sub-agents to gather raw findings on Data, API/Interface, Business Logic, and Integrations; synthesize into one human-readable Markdown architecture document; embed validated Mermaid diagrams. Goal: a future engineer can read this file and understand what the system does and how it fits together.

This is not:

• A find-and-fix tool — use improve-architecture to surface refactor opportunities.
• An AGENTS.md / CLAUDE.md generator — use write-agents-md for terse agent-facing docs (~60 lines).
• A repo-map / symbol index — there's no symbol-level output; the output is prose with file:line references.

improve-architecture finds friction to fix; this skill produces the current-state map. They are complements.

When to invoke

• "Document this codebase", "write architecture docs", "create an arch doc"
• "Generate onboarding docs for new engineers"
• "Document this service" / "map this module"
• Pre-handoff documentation when an engineer is rotating off a project

Don't use for:

• A refactor proposal — use improve-architecture
• Agent-facing instructions — use write-agents-md
• API reference docs — those belong with the code (OpenAPI / docstrings)

Process

1. Resolve scope

Determine what to document. In order of preference:

• An explicit path the caller provided (app/payments/, services/auth/)
• A clearly-named module in the repo if the caller named it ("document the orders service")
• Whole repo if the caller said so explicitly — but confirm first; this is expensive and often produces a doc too broad to be useful

Determine the output path. Default: docs/architecture/<scope-slug>.md. If docs/ doesn't exist, ask before creating it. If the caller passed --save path/to/file.md, use that.

2. Read the template

Read REFERENCE.md for the section structure and reference-format rules. Every agent prompt and the final synthesis follow that template.

3. Launch 4 parallel Explore sub-agents

In a single message with 4 Task calls, invoke subagent_type: Explore (or general-purpose if Explore isn't available — Explore is read-only-search-shaped and ideal here). Each agent gets a self-contained prompt covering only its layer. They run concurrently.

Each agent's prompt includes:

• The scope (explicit path list).
• Their assigned layer (Data / API / Logic / Integrations) and what to search for (see REFERENCE.md §"Sub-agent layer briefs").
• Output discipline: raw findings only (bullet points, lists, file:line refs). No prose narrative, no code snippets, no implementation details. Speed matters; the main agent composes the final doc.
• Search exclusions: skip tests/, test_*.py, *_test.go, migrations/, node_modules/, dist/, build/, vendor/.
• Diagram candidates: list 1–2 diagrams that would best convey this layer, with the type (er, sequence, flowchart, state, class) and a brief justification.

4. Synthesize

When all 4 agents return:

• Map their findings onto the template sections (see REFERENCE.md §"Template structure"). Most findings have an obvious home; cross-cutting findings (e.g. an audit log used by every layer) go in their own subsection under Core Architecture.
• Identify the 3–5 most important data flows and write them step-by-step with file:line refs.
• Distill architectural decisions: name each one (e.g. "Async-first request handling", "Event-driven worker fanout") and state the trade-off in one or two sentences.
• Cap doc length at ~1000 lines. If you're heading past that, the scope was too broad — call it out in the summary section and ship the doc you have.

5. Pick and draft diagrams

From the candidates each agent suggested, pick 3–5 total (any more dilutes attention). Bias toward:

• One system overview flowchart showing the top-level components (always include).
• One ER diagram for the data layer if there's a real schema.
• One sequence diagram for the most important workflow.
• Optional: a state diagram for a clear lifecycle, or a class diagram for an OO-heavy module.

For each chosen diagram, route through the appropriate skill:

• AWS / cloud-infra-shaped → draw-infra-diagram
• Everything else → draw-mermaid-diagram

Draft each diagram as a standalone .mmd file under docs/architecture/diagrams/ (or alongside the doc if docs/ doesn't exist). Validate with the bundled validator:

${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/skills/draw-mermaid-diagram/tools/validate.sh diagram.mmd

A diagram that fails validation gets re-drafted, not skipped silently — a broken diagram in the doc is worse than no diagram.

6. Write the doc

Inline each validated diagram as a fenced ```mermaid block at its section. Keep the structure consistent across all sections (see REFERENCE.md §"Template structure"). Use file:line references throughout — never inline code snippets except inside diagrams.

7. Report

After writing:

Documentation written: docs/architecture/<scope>.md (~<N> lines)

Diagrams (validated):
- docs/architecture/diagrams/<scope>-overview.mmd  (flowchart)
- docs/architecture/diagrams/<scope>-data.mmd      (ER)
- docs/architecture/diagrams/<scope>-checkout.mmd  (sequence)

Coverage:
- Data layer: <N> models / <N> stores
- API layer: <N> routes / <N> CLI commands
- Business logic: <N> services / <N> workflows
- Integrations: <N> external clients / <N> internal deps

Open gaps (not documented):
- <anything the agents couldn't find or that was out of scope>

Output discipline

• Single Markdown file — not a directory of split files.
• File:line references only — never code snippets in prose. Diagrams are the only allowed "embedded code."
• No emojis, no Unicode arrows — keep it portable. Diagrams handle the visual layer.
• Human-readable, not LLM-context-optimized — write in complete sentences in sections that can be skimmed.

Refresh policy

This doc captures a point in time. When the system changes materially, re-run this skill against the same scope; the agents re-discover and the doc gets overwritten. Diff the new vs old via git diff if you want a changelog. Don't try to maintain the doc by hand — drift is silent and the next reader trusts what they read.