Documentation Standards

Overview

Standards for writing markdown documentation optimized for both LLM consumption and conversion to professional PDFs using Pandoc. Ensures consistency across all documentation.

When to Use This Skill

Use when:

• Writing markdown documentation (README, skills, guides, specifications)

• Creating new skills that include markdown content

• Authoring content that may be converted to PDF

• Reviewing documentation for standards compliance

Core Principles

1. LLM-Optimized Documentation Architecture

Machine-Readable Priority: OpenAPI 3.1.0 specs, JSON Schema, YAML specifications take precedence over human documentation.

Why: Structured formats provide unambiguous contracts that both humans and LLMs can consume reliably. Human docs supplement, don't replace, machine-readable specs.

Application:

• Workflow specifications → OpenAPI 3.1.1 YAML in specifications/

• Data schemas → JSON Schema with examples

• Configuration → YAML with validation schemas

• Human docs → Markdown referencing canonical machine-readable specs

2. Hub-and-Spoke Progressive Disclosure

Pattern: Central hubs (like CLAUDE.md, INDEX.md) link to detailed spokes (skills, docs directories).

Structure:

CLAUDE.md (Hub - Essentials Only) ↓ links to Skills (Spokes - Progressive Disclosure) ├── SKILL.md (Overview + Quick Start) └── references/ (Detailed Documentation)

Rules:

• Hubs contain essentials only (what + where to find more)

• Spokes contain progressive detail (load as needed)

• Single source of truth per topic (no duplication)

3. Markdown Section Numbering

Critical Rule: Never manually number markdown headings.

❌ Wrong:

1. Introduction

1.1 Background

1.2 Objectives

2. Implementation

✅ Correct:

Introduction

Background

Objectives

Implementation

Rationale:

• Pandoc's --number-sections flag auto-numbers all sections when generating PDFs

• Manual numbering creates duplication: "1. 1. Introduction" in rendered output

• Auto-numbering is consistent, updates automatically when sections reorganize

• Applies to ALL markdown: documentation, skills, project files, README files

Rule: If markdown might ever convert to PDF, never manually number headings. Use semantic heading levels (##, ###) and let tools handle numbering.

Standards Checklist

Use this checklist when creating or reviewing documentation:

Structure

• Follows hub-and-spoke pattern (essentials in main doc, details in references)

• Links to deeper documentation for progressive disclosure

• Single source of truth (no duplicate content across docs)

Markdown Formatting

• No manual section numbering in headings

• Semantic heading levels (##, ###, ####) used correctly

• Code blocks have language identifiers for syntax highlighting

• Links use markdown format text , not bare URLs

Machine-Readable Content

• Workflows documented as OpenAPI 3.1.1 specs (when applicable)

• Data structures use JSON Schema (when applicable)

• Configuration uses YAML with validation (when applicable)

• Human docs reference canonical machine-readable specs

File Organization

• Documentation lives in appropriate location:

• Global standards → docs/standards/

• Skill documentation → skills/{skill-name}/references/

• Project documentation → {project}/.claude/ or {project}/docs/

• Index files provide navigation (INDEX.md, README.md)

Related Resources

• ASCII Diagram Validation: ascii-diagram-validator - Validate ASCII diagrams in markdown

• Skill Architecture: See skill-architecture plugin for creating effective skills

Examples

Good Hub-and-Spoke Structure

Hub (CLAUDE.md):

PDF Generation from Markdown

Quick Start: Use pandoc-pdf-generation skill

Critical Rules:

1. Never write ad-hoc pandoc commands
2. Always verify PDFs before presenting
3. See skill for detailed principles

Spoke (skill/SKILL.md):

• Quick start with examples

• Link to references/ for detailed documentation

• Progressive disclosure as needed

Good Machine-Readable Documentation

Workflow Specification (specifications/hook-prompt-capture.yaml):

openapi: 3.1.1 info: title: Hook Prompt Capture Workflow version: 1.0.0 paths: /capture-prompt: post: summary: Capture user prompt from hook # ... detailed spec

Human Documentation (README.md):

Workflow

See hook-prompt-capture.yaml for complete workflow specification.

Quick overview: ...

Summary

Documentation standards ensure:

• Consistency across all workspace documentation

• LLM optimization through machine-readable formats

• Maintainability via hub-and-spoke + single source of truth

• PDF compatibility through proper markdown formatting

Follow these standards for all documentation.

Troubleshooting

Issue Cause Solution

Double section numbers in PDF Manual numbering in markdown Remove manual numbers, use --number-sections only

Broken links in PDF Relative paths incorrect Use repo-root paths for cross-document links

Code block no syntax color Missing language identifier Add language after opening triple backticks

Tables render poorly Column widths too wide Use shorter headers or pipe-table format

Hub doc too long Too much detail in hub Move details to spoke documents, link from hub

Duplicate content Same info in multiple docs Identify SSoT, remove duplicates, add links

YAML spec not rendering Wrong file extension Use .yaml extension for OpenAPI specs

Index navigation missing No INDEX.md or README.md Create navigation index in each directory