Doc Maintenance Skill
Detect documentation drift and fix it via PR — no rewrites, no churn.
When to Use
- Periodic doc review (e.g. weekly or after releases)
- After major feature merges
- When asked "are our docs up to date?"
- When asked to audit README / SPEC / PRODUCT accuracy
Target Documents
| Document | Path | What matters |
|---|---|---|
| README | README.md | Features table, roadmap, quickstart, "what is" accuracy, "works with" table |
| SPEC | doc/SPEC.md | No false "not supported" claims, major model/schema accuracy |
| PRODUCT | doc/PRODUCT.md | Core concepts, feature list, principles accuracy |
Out of scope: DEVELOPING.md, DATABASE.md, CLI.md, doc/plans/, skill files, release notes. These are dev-facing or ephemeral — lower risk of user-facing confusion.
Workflow
Step 1 — Detect what changed
Find the last review cursor:
# Read the last-reviewed commit SHA
CURSOR_FILE=".doc-review-cursor"
if [ -f "$CURSOR_FILE" ]; then
LAST_SHA=$(cat "$CURSOR_FILE" | head -1)
else
# First run: look back 60 days
LAST_SHA=$(git log --format="%H" --after="60 days ago" --reverse | head -1)
fiThen gather commits since the cursor:
git log "$LAST_SHA"..HEAD --oneline --no-mergesStep 2 — Classify changes
Scan commit messages and changed files. Categorize into:
- Feature — new capabilities (keywords:
feat,add,implement,support) - Breaking — removed/renamed things (keywords:
remove,breaking,drop,rename) - Structural — new directories, config changes, new adapters, new CLI commands
Ignore: refactors, test-only changes, CI config, dependency bumps, doc-only changes, style/formatting commits. These don't affect doc accuracy.
For borderline cases, check the actual diff — a commit titled "refactor: X" that adds a new public API is a feature.
Step 3 — Build a change summary
Produce a concise list like:
Since last review (<sha>, <date>):
- FEATURE: Plugin system merged (runtime, SDK, CLI, slots, event bridge)
- FEATURE: Project archiving added
- BREAKING: Removed legacy webhook adapter
- STRUCTURAL: New .agents/skills/ directory conventionIf there are no notable changes, skip to Step 7 (update cursor and exit).
Step 4 — Audit each target doc
For each target document, read it fully and cross-reference against the change summary. Check for:
- False negatives — major shipped features not mentioned at all
- False positives — features listed as "coming soon" / "roadmap" / "planned" / "not supported" / "TBD" that already shipped
- Quickstart accuracy — install commands, prereqs, and startup instructions still correct (README only)
- Feature table accuracy — does the features section reflect current capabilities? (README only)
- Works-with accuracy — are supported adapters/integrations listed correctly?
Use references/audit-checklist.md as the structured checklist. Use references/section-map.md to know where to look for each feature area.
Step 5 — Create branch and apply minimal edits
# Create a branch for the doc updates
BRANCH="docs/maintenance-$(date +%Y%m%d)"
git checkout -b "$BRANCH"Apply only the edits needed to fix drift. Rules:
- Minimal patches only. Fix inaccuracies, don't rewrite sections.
- Preserve voice and style. Match the existing tone of each document.
- No cosmetic changes. Don't fix typos, reformat tables, or reorganize sections unless they're part of a factual fix.
- No new sections. If a feature needs a whole new section, note it in the PR description as a follow-up — don't add it in a maintenance pass.
- Roadmap items: Move shipped features out of Roadmap. Add a brief mention in the appropriate existing section if there isn't one already. Don't add long descriptions.
Step 6 — Open a PR
Commit the changes and open a PR:
git add README.md doc/SPEC.md doc/PRODUCT.md .doc-review-cursor
git commit -m "docs: update documentation for accuracy
- [list each fix briefly]
Co-Authored-By: Paperclip <noreply@paperclip.ing>"
git push -u origin "$BRANCH"
gh pr create \
--title "docs: periodic documentation accuracy update" \
--body "$(cat <<'EOF'
## Summary
Automated doc maintenance pass. Fixes documentation drift detected since
last review.
### Changes
- [list each fix]
### Change summary (since last review)
- [list notable code changes that triggered doc updates]
## Review notes
- Only factual accuracy fixes — no style/cosmetic changes
- Preserves existing voice and structure
- Larger doc additions (new sections, tutorials) noted as follow-ups
🤖 Generated by doc-maintenance skill
EOF
)"Step 7 — Update the cursor
After a successful audit (whether or not edits were needed), update the cursor:
git rev-parse HEAD > .doc-review-cursorIf edits were made, this is already committed in the PR branch. If no edits were needed, commit the cursor update to the current branch.
Change Classification Rules
| Signal | Category | Doc update needed? |
|---|---|---|
feat:, add, implement, support in message | Feature | Yes if user-facing |
remove, drop, breaking, !: in message | Breaking | Yes |
| New top-level directory or config file | Structural | Maybe |
fix:, bugfix | Fix | No (unless it changes behavior described in docs) |
refactor:, chore:, ci:, test: | Maintenance | No |
docs: | Doc change | No (already handled) |
| Dependency bumps only | Maintenance | No |
Patch Style Guide
- Fix the fact, not the prose
- If removing a roadmap item, don't leave a gap — remove the bullet cleanly
- If adding a feature mention, match the format of surrounding entries (e.g. if features are in a table, add a table row)
- Keep README changes especially minimal — it shouldn't churn often
- For SPEC/PRODUCT, prefer updating existing statements over adding new ones (e.g. change "not supported in V1" to "supported via X" rather than adding a new section)
Output
When the skill completes, report:
- How many commits were scanned
- How many notable changes were found
- How many doc edits were made (and to which files)
- PR link (if edits were made)
- Any follow-up items that need larger doc work