Documentation Skill

Update ADRs, CHANGELOG, and running notes outside of plan workflows.

Purpose

Create and update project documentation using the compact Claude-friendly format defined in knowledge-codification.md. Use this when documentation needs updating but no plan is active.

When to Use

• Creating new ADRs for decisions made outside plans
• Updating CHANGELOG.md after manual changes
• Documenting learnings from debugging sessions
• Updating running notes for ongoing work
• Post-release documentation updates

Workflow

1. Detect Project Context

# Find project root (nearest package.json or .git)
PROJECT_ROOT=$(git rev-parse --show-toplevel 2>/dev/null || pwd)
echo "Project: $PROJECT_ROOT"
ls "$PROJECT_ROOT/docs/adr/" 2>/dev/null | tail -5

2. Read Format Rules

Read ~/.claude/commands/planner-modules/knowledge-codification.md for:

• ADR compact format (max 20 lines, Status: X | Date: Y | Plan: Z on one line)
• CHANGELOG incremental format (## [Unreleased] sections)
• Running notes format (docs/adr/plan-{id}-notes.md)

3. Ask What to Document

Use AskUserQuestion:

• "What type of documentation?" (ADR / CHANGELOG / Running Notes / All)
• "What decision or change to document?" (free text)
• "Related to a specific plan?" (plan ID or none)

4. Determine Next ADR Number

# Find highest ADR number
ls docs/adr/[0-9]*.md 2>/dev/null | sort -t/ -k3 -n | tail -1

5. Write Documentation

ADR (max 20 lines)

# ADR {NNNN}: {Title}

Status: Accepted | Date: {DD Mon YYYY} | Plan: {plan_id or "none"}

## Context

{2-3 sentences: what problem, when encountered}

## Decision

{2-3 sentences: what we chose, why}

## Consequences

- Positive: {outcome}
- Negative: {tradeoff}

## Enforcement

- Rule: `{eslint-rule-or-grep-pattern}`
- Check: `{verification command}`
- Ref: {related ADR IDs if any}

CHANGELOG (incremental)

## [Unreleased]

### {Category}

- Added: {new feature/file}
- Changed: {modification}
- Fixed: {bug fix}

Running Notes

# {Context} Running Notes

## {Section}

- Decision: {what and why, 1 line}
- Issue: {problem} -> Fix: {solution}
- Pattern: {reusable insight}

6. Verify

# ADR exists and is under 20 lines
wc -l docs/adr/{new-adr}.md
# CHANGELOG updated
grep -q 'Unreleased' CHANGELOG.md

Format Rules (from knowledge-codification.md)

• ADR max 20 lines. No prose filler.
• Status/Date/Plan on ONE line (grep-friendly)
• Consequences use Positive:/Negative: labels (grep-friendly)
• Enforcement MUST include a runnable check command
• One ADR per decision. Don't merge unrelated learnings.
• Code, comments, documentation: ALWAYS in English

Inputs Required

• What to document: Decision, change, learning, or bug fix
• Document type: ADR, CHANGELOG, running notes, or combination
• Plan context: Optional plan ID for cross-referencing

Outputs Produced

• ADR file: docs/adr/{NNNN}-{slug}.md (compact format)
• CHANGELOG entry: Appended to ## [Unreleased] section
• Running notes: Updated in docs/adr/plan-{id}-notes.md