Technical Documentation

Write clear, maintainable technical documentation for different audiences and purposes.

Document Types

README

• What this is and why it exists

• Quick start (< 5 minutes to first success)

• Configuration and usage

• Contributing guide

API Documentation

• Endpoint reference with request/response examples

• Authentication and error codes

• Rate limits and pagination

• SDK examples

Runbook

• When to use this runbook

• Prerequisites and access needed

• Step-by-step procedure

• Rollback steps

• Escalation path

Architecture Doc

• Context and goals

• High-level design with diagrams

• Key decisions and trade-offs

• Data flow and integration points

Onboarding Guide

• Environment setup

• Key systems and how they connect

• Common tasks with walkthroughs

• Who to ask for what

Principles

• Write for the reader — Who is reading this and what do they need?

• Start with the most useful information — Don't bury the lede

• Show, don't tell — Code examples, commands, screenshots

• Keep it current — Outdated docs are worse than no docs

• Link, don't duplicate — Reference other docs instead of copying