Documentation

TDD for process documentation - write test cases (pressure scenarios), watchbaseline fail, write skill, iterate until bulletproof against rationalization.

Patterns and structure for writing functional documentation including guides,conceptual explanations, tutorials, and best practices documentation.

Voice and tone guidelines for technical documentation. Ensures consistent,clear, and human writing across all documentation.

Interview user in-depth about a spec, bead, or feature idea to extract complete implementation details. Use when user wants to flesh out a spec, refine requirements, discuss technical details, clarify a feature before building, or asks to be interviewed about their idea. Triggers on "interview me", "ask me questions about", "flesh out this spec", "refine requirements", "help me think through".

Assess, quantify, and prioritize technical debt using code analysis, metrics, and impact analysis. Use when planning refactoring, evaluating codebases, or making architectural decisions.

Technical writing specialists for functional and API documentation. Dispatch whenyou need to create guides, conceptual docs, or API references following establisheddocumentation standards.

Create conference talk outlines and iA Presenter markdown slides using the Story Circle narrative framework. Use when the user wants to structure a tech talk, create presentation slides, or needs help organizing talk ideas into a story-driven format.

Document database schemas, ERD diagrams, table relationships, indexes, and constraints. Use when documenting database schema, creating ERD diagrams, or writing table documentation.

Create comprehensive technical roadmaps aligned with business goals. Plan technology investments, architecture evolution, and infrastructure improvements over quarters and years.

Gate 0 of the development cycle. Executes code implementation using the appropriatespecialized agent based on task content and project language. Handles TDD workflowwith RED-GREEN phases. Follows project standards defined in docs/PROJECT_RULES.md.

Comprehensive checklist and process for reviewing documentation qualityincluding voice, tone, structure, completeness, and technical accuracy.

Gate 0 research phase for pre-dev workflow. Dispatches 3 parallel research agentsto gather codebase patterns, external best practices, and framework documentationBEFORE creating PRD/TRD. Outputs research.md with file:line references.

Patterns for writing clear, consistent API field descriptions includingtypes, constraints, examples, and edge cases.

Create comprehensive user guides, tutorials, how-to documentation, and step-by-step instructions with screenshots and examples. Use when writing user documentation, tutorials, or getting started guides.

Structured workflow for onboarding new services to the internal platformincluding infrastructure provisioning, observability setup, and documentation.

Master markdown formatting, GitHub Flavored Markdown, README files, and documentation formatting. Use when writing markdown docs, READMEs, or formatting documentation.

Create system architecture diagrams using Mermaid, PlantUML, C4 model, flowcharts, and sequence diagrams. Use when documenting architecture, system design, data flows, or technical workflows.

Specialized workflow for transforming verbose natural language into semantic OCTAVE structures. REQUIRES octave-literacy to be loaded first. Use when refactoring documentation, generating knowledge artifacts, or compressing context. Triggers on: compress to octave, semantic compression, documentation refactoring.

This skill should be used when editing Python code in the erk codebase. Use when writing, reviewing, or refactoring Python to ensure adherence to LBYL exception handling patterns, Python 3.13+ type syntax (list[str], str | None), pathlib operations, ABC-based interfaces, absolute imports, and explicit error boundaries at CLI level. Also provides production-tested code smell patterns from Dagster Labs for API design, parameter complexity, and code organization. Essential for maintaining erk's dignified Python standards.

Creating Makefiles for build automation. Use when writing build rules, dependencies, or compilation workflows.