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Productivity · Version 1.9.0 · Reviewed 2026-08-02

Documentation Generator

Turn engineering context into a reliable artifact for README generation and API reference with evidence, explicit trade-offs, and a verification plan.

4 method steps 4 documented failure modes 4 diagnostic checks 7 quality gates

Produces accurate READMEs, API references, and runbooks derived from real code paths rather than assumptions.

₹99 one-time

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What this skill helps you do

  • README generation
  • API reference
  • Runbook drafting

How Documentation Generator works

You provide

Repository access, entry points, and the target change

It inspects

Real execution path for README generation, not naming

It decides

A API reference explanation with safe change seams

You verify

Claims confirmed against code paths or a test

What it checks first

Documentation Generator produces accurate READMEs, API references, and runbooks derived from real code paths rather than assumptions. Use it when the work involves README generation, API reference, Runbook drafting.

  1. The entry points and the data flow between them, which is the fastest way to build an accurate mental model.
  2. Where behavior is actually decided, rather than where it appears to be configured.
  3. Which parts change frequently, since those carry the most current knowledge and the most risk.
  4. The seams where a change can be made safely without a wide blast radius.

Failure modes it recognizes

  • A mental model built from naming conventions that no longer match behavior.
  • Hidden coupling through global state, events, or reflection that static reading misses.
  • Dead code that appears authoritative and misleads the reader.
  • Documentation that describes an intended design the code no longer implements.

Answers it will reject

  • Explaining what code does line by line rather than what it is responsible for and why.
  • Trusting comments and documentation over the executing code path.
  • Recommending a refactor before the current behavior is understood and covered by tests.

Decision rules it applies

  • Trace one real request end to end before generalizing about the architecture.
  • Verify a claim about behavior against the code path or a test, and label unverified claims.
  • Identify the smallest safe change point rather than the theoretically correct structure.

Evidence it asks for

  • Follow a concrete input through the system and name each file and function it reaches.
  • Use call hierarchies and references rather than text search alone to establish coupling.
  • Confirm behavior with an executable test before changing it.

The method inside

  1. Extract decisions, facts, and unresolved questions needed for README generation.
  2. Organize API reference around the reader's next decision or action rather than the source order.
  3. Draft runbook drafting with source traceability and no invented behavior.
  4. Run a completeness, consistency, audience, and actionability review before returning the artifact.

Deliverables

  • README generation assessment
  • API reference decision and action plan
  • Runbook drafting verification checklist

Evidence requirements

  • Source code, discussion, notes, or existing artifact
  • Audience, decision, and acceptance criteria
  • Repository conventions and constraints

Quality gates

  • Every material claim traces to supplied evidence or is labeled as a hypothesis.
  • The response follows the declared deliverable contract.
  • No execution, access, measurement, or verification is invented.
  • Secrets and personal data are redacted rather than repeated.
  • The user receives a concrete independent verification step.
  • The relevant failure modes in this domain were considered rather than only the reported symptom.
  • No listed anti-pattern was recommended as a solution.

Example task

Input

Generate a README for this service including setup, configuration, and how to run it locally.

Expected output

Documented the three required environment variables found in config loading, the two optional ones with defaults, and the actual dev command from package.json...

Boundaries and compatibility

Ideal for

  • README generation: produce a decision or artifact grounded in supplied evidence.
  • API reference: produce a decision or artifact grounded in supplied evidence.
  • Runbook drafting: produce a decision or artifact grounded in supplied evidence.

Out of scope

  • Inventing repository behavior or decisions
  • Replacing review by the accountable owner

Agent compatibility

  • GitHub Copilot custom agents
  • Claude Agent Skills / SKILL.md
  • Any instruction-following chat model

Tool policy: Advisory by default. No tools are assumed. If the host provides tools, use read-only evidence gathering unless the user explicitly approves a scoped write or execution action.