documentation-audit

Documentation Audit Skill

Version: 1.0 Created: 2026-02-11 Purpose: Provide a structured, repeatable process for auditing project documentation, combating documentation drift, and ensuring all documents remain a reliable source of truth.

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I. The Philosophy: Tending the Garden of Knowledge

Project documentation is a garden. When tended with care, it is a source of clarity, guidance, and shared understanding. When neglected, it becomes overgrown with outdated information, broken links, and misleading instructions -- a phenomenon known as documentation drift. This drift erodes trust and creates confusion.

The documentation audit is the practice of tending the garden. It is a recurring ritual: walking through documentation, pulling the weeds of inaccuracy, and pruning the branches of irrelevance. It is an act of stewardship, ensuring that the shared garden of knowledge remains a welcoming and reliable resource.

Documentation drift is insidious because it happens silently. Code changes daily; documentation changes monthly (if you're lucky). The longer the gap between code changes and doc updates, the wider the drift. Regular audits catch drift early, when corrections are small and cheap.

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II. When to Use This Skill

• After a major release: To ensure all documentation reflects new features and changes.
• Before onboarding a new contributor or agent: To ensure they receive accurate information.
• As a scheduled, recurring task: (e.g., monthly) to maintain regular review cadence.
• When documentation "feels" out of sync with the code.
• After a refactor or architectural change: These are the highest-risk moments for drift.
• As part of a broader health audit: Dimension 5 (Documentation) of the health audit can trigger a deep documentation audit.

When NOT to use: For writing new documentation from scratch (that's a different skill). For reviewing a single document in isolation (just read and fix it). For auditing code quality (use the health audit skill instead).