codebase-documenter

name: codebase-documenter version: 1.0.0 model: claude-sonnet-4-6 allowed-tools: - Read - Write - Edit - Glob - Grep description: "Scaffold project documentation (README, ARCHITECTURE, API, CODE_COMMENTS) from templates with documented standards. Use when bootstrapping docs for a new or under-documented codebase." license: MIT

Codebase Documenter

Generate documentation scaffolding for a project that has none, or has the wrong shape. This skill produces structured starters with bracketed placeholders the team fills in. It does not write prose for you.

Triggers

When to Use

Use this skill when:

• A repository has no README.md, ARCHITECTURE.md, or API reference, and you need a populated skeleton.
• A team is onboarding without a tech writer and wants documented standards alongside the templates.
• You need a starting point for code-comment conventions in a polyglot project.

Use a different skill when:

• Documentation already exists and you want to verify accuracy, detect missing XML docs / docstrings / JSDoc, or audit README / CLAUDE.md drift. Use doc-accuracy for verification, missing-doc detection, and structural sync.
• You want narrative prose generated for an existing component. Use the explainer agent.

Boundaries

• Writes scaffolding and standards references only. Does not write narrative prose for the project.
• Placeholders use bracket convention [Like this] so a writer can search and replace.
• Templates must be filled in by a human or downstream skill. The skill does not infer project specifics.

Process

1. Confirm the target directory and confirm no overwrite of existing docs without explicit user consent.
2. Copy assets/templates/README.template.md to README.md (or path the user requests).
3. Copy assets/templates/ARCHITECTURE.template.md to ARCHITECTURE.md if a separate architecture doc is wanted.
4. Create parent directories (docs/, docs/standards/, or any user-requested path) before any copy step that targets them.
5. Copy assets/templates/API.template.md to docs/API.md (or equivalent) if the project exposes an API.
6. Copy assets/templates/CODE_COMMENTS.template.md to docs/standards/CODE_COMMENTS.md (or link from the README).
7. Point the team at references/documentation_guidelines.md and references/visual_aids_guide.md for voice and visual standards.

Templates

References

Verification Checklist

• No environment-specific paths in any template
• All user-provided paths are validated against path traversal
• Bracketed placeholders match the [Word or short phrase] convention
• Code fences are balanced and use language identifiers on the opener only
• Voice is active, audience is the project's reader (not the documenter)
• No marketing language, weasel words, or filler
• Diagrams added only when they reduce ambiguity (see references/visual_aids_guide.md)

Anti-Patterns