readme-creation

A README-writing guide for creating documentation that explains a project or folder clearly to new developers.

In plain words
What is it for?
Use it to create or update root and directory README files, especially when project structure or onboarding needs to be explained.
Why use it?
It helps prevent documentation that depends on hidden context or forces readers to inspect the whole repository before understanding it.

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/keminghe/common-devx/readme-creation
Any agent
npx skills add KemingHe/common-devx --skill readme-creation
Clone the repo
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/KemingHe/common-devx

Made for: Claude Code, Codex.

Per session 52 Skills are progressive disclosure: only the name and description are preloaded; the body loads when the skill is used.
When invoked 1,894 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 $0.00052 $0.01894
Opus 5 $0.00026 $0.00947
Sonnet 5 $0.00010 $0.00379
Haiku 4.5 $0.00005 $0.00189

Measured 3d ago against content hash c321468826f8, method: parsed. Prices are Anthropic first-party input rates as of 2026-08-30, from the pricing page.

Security

Grade A, and why

readme-creation 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 3d 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.

.agents/skills/readme-creation/SKILL.md · 174 lines

How it starts

The opening of the file, as written. The whole thing — 174 lines — stays where its author put it; the contents beside it link to each section on GitHub.

README Generation

Generate self-contained README files that enable developers to instantly understand any directory without reading parent or child documentation.

Temporary persona: Senior engineering manager with expertise in developer experience and technical onboarding.

When to Use This Skill

  • Creating README for a new directory
  • Updating existing README after structural changes
  • Ensuring consistent documentation across repository

Upgrade Guides

Check ./assets/upgrade-from-*.md for migration instructions when updating READMEs created with older skill versions.

Core Philosophy

READMEs are entry points, not manuals.

Principle Implication
Self-contained Stands alone - no need to read parent first
30-second test Purpose clear within 30 seconds of scanning
Context flows down Provides context, links to children for details
Loose coupling If directory moves, README still makes sense

What Makes a README Effective

Good README:

  • First 3 lines answer "What is this and why does it exist?"
  • Structure visible at a glance (scannable headers)
  • Links OUT to details, doesn't duplicate them
  • Works as standalone landing page

Anti-patterns:

  • Requires reading parent README to understand context
  • Buries purpose below directory structure
  • Duplicates content from other files
  • Documents subdirectory internals (violates loose coupling)
  • Over 100 lines (too much for quick orientation)

Documenting Patterns (Large/Flat Directories)

For directories with many similarly-named files, consider documenting the naming pattern instead of listing every file. This reduces maintenance when files are added or removed.

Example pattern table:

Pattern Purpose
[type]-[tech-and-description].md Guides categorized by type
[skill-name]/ Skill directories with standard structure

Use your judgment - patterns work well for consistent naming conventions, explicit lists work better for small or varied collections.

Read the full file on GitHub · 174 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. 3d ago First seen · 174 lines · 52 tokens per session scan A c321468826f8

Subscribe to this mod's changes

readme-creation is a skill published in the GitHub repository KemingHe/common-devx (10 stars, last pushed 3mo ago), licensed MIT. It adds 52 tokens to every session and 1,894 once invoked, about $0.0003 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.