writing-docs

A method for writing repository documentation such as a README, runbook, or agent-instruction file. It treats each claim as something that should be checked against the current repository or an identified source.

In plain words
What is it for?
Use it when creating or editing project documentation, architecture references, or coding-agent context files. It helps review commands, paths, rules, explanations, and other claims for accuracy.
Why use it?
It reduces outdated, vague, or unsupported statements in documentation. It helps keep written guidance aligned with how the repository actually works.

Skill for Claude CodeCodex

Install

Getting it into your agent

One page per mod, every tool's command on it. A separate URL per tool would split the same page into five that compete with each other.

agentmods
npx agentmods add skills/aj604/toolshed/writing-docs
Any agent
npx skills add aj604/toolshed --skill writing-docs
Clone the repo
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/aj604/toolshed

Made for: Claude Code, Codex.

Per session 190 Skills are progressive disclosure: only the name and description are preloaded; the body loads when the skill is used.
When invoked 1,980 The whole file, excluding the scripts and references it only reads on demand.
Security scan A 0 findings. Scan, not verified.
Origin original No closer match found in the catalogue.
Token cost

What it costs to keep this loaded

Counted locally with the o200k_base tokenizer, which is exact for GPT models; Claude uses its own tokenizer and its counts differ. Treat this as one consistent yardstick across the catalogue rather than a bill. Prices are per million input tokens.

ModelPer sessionOnce invoked
Fable 5 $0.00190 $0.01980
Opus 5 $0.00095 $0.00990
Sonnet 5 $0.00038 $0.00396
Haiku 4.5 $0.00019 $0.00198

Measured 2d ago against content hash 363cba8705e9, method: parsed. Prices are Anthropic first-party input rates as of 2026-08-30, from the pricing page.

Security

Grade A, and why

writing-docs scanned grade A with 0 findings against 26 rules in 11 categories — prompt injection, anti-refusal, data exfiltration, privilege escalation, supply chain, agent snooping, system-prompt leakage, SSRF and excessive agency — measured 2d ago.

A static scan of the body, not an audit. Every finding is printed with the line that produced it so you can judge whether it matters here. A mod is markdown that instructs an agent; that is exactly why what it instructs is worth reading.

Nothing flagged

None of the 26 patterns this scan looks for appear in this file: no shell pipes, no recursive deletes, no credential paths, no hidden text, no instruction-override or anti-refusal phrasing, no agent-config snooping. That is not a guarantee, it is the absence of the things that are checkable.

plugins/doc-lifecycle/skills/writing-docs/SKILL.md · 135 lines

How it starts

The opening of the file, as written. The whole thing — 135 lines — stays where its author put it; the contents beside it link to each section on GitHub.

Writing Docs

Overview

A doc whose job is to track the repo is a set of claims that must be true of the repo. This is the spine: when any guideline conflicts with verifiability, verifiability wins. A smaller all-true doc beats a complete one with unverifiable parts.

Every assertion unit has one of the document model's four assertion classes:

  • Factual — commands, paths, symbols, behavior (output included), structure, values. Must be mechanically checkable against current evidence.
  • Normative — instructions and rules. Must name or sit under a current governing source, or record the current owner's judgment.
  • Rationale — the "why", tradeoffs, rejected alternatives. Must be marked and coherent with current evidence from a governing decision or implementation source.
  • Non-assertive — connective prose or signposting. It carries no truth judgment, and is the only class that does not.

If an assertion cannot discharge its obligation, cut it or mark it explicitly unverifiable; classification never makes a living assertion optional.

Scope: as in the frontmatter above — README/runbook/CLAUDE.md/AGENTS.md/reference (incl. claim-style docs/reference/architecture.md); not a universal theory of documentation — tutorials/narrative-architecture/ADRs stay narrative (growing-docs), never claim-audited.

The rules (these address what agents get wrong)

Strong agents already read package.json and get commands and flags right. They fail on the subtler things below. Spend your discipline here.

1. Example output is a claim — run it or omit it

Never invent illustrative numbers, sample output, or "looks-right" results. Output you didn't produce is a fabricated claim, even when it's "just an example."

  • Run the command, paste the real output.
  • If output is environment-dependent (byte sizes, timestamps, hashes), say so instead of pinning a fragile exact value.
  • Can't run it? Don't show output.

2. Normative and rationale assertions need current authority

Read the full file on GitHub · 135 lines

Files

What ships with it

3 files beside SKILL.md in the same directory: the scripts, references and assets a skill reads on demand. Not counted in the per-session cost; read them before you install if any of them is executable.

Changes

What this file has done since we first saw it

Hashed on every crawl. A supply-chain change to an agent config is a question of when, not whether, so the history is kept rather than the latest state alone.

  1. 2d ago First seen · 135 lines · 190 tokens per session scan A 363cba8705e9

Subscribe to this mod's changes

writing-docs is a skill published in the GitHub repository aj604/toolshed (2 stars, last pushed 26d ago), licensed MIT. It adds 190 tokens to every session and 1,980 once invoked, about $0.0010 per session on Opus 5. A static security scan graded it A with 0 findings. No closer match exists in the catalogue, so it is treated as the original; first seen 2026-08-31.

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