Adopt canonical documentation ownership policy
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# Go Project Documentation Policy
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# Documentation Policy
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## Purpose
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Project documentation must help four audiences:
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1. users who need to run the application;
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2. administrators/operators who need to configure and operate it;
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3. developers who need to understand and change it safely;
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4. LLM coding agents that need clear scope, boundaries, and invariants.
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Docs should be accurate, concise, task-oriented, and organized by audience. Prefer links to canonical docs over repetition.
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This policy assigns each documentation topic to one canonical owner. Its goal is
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to keep Narratio documentation accurate, concise, discoverable, and resistant
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to drift for users, operators, developers, integrators, and LLM coding agents.
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## Core Rules
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### 1. Keep docs concise
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### One Canonical Owner
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Each authoritative fact belongs in one document. A non-owning document may give
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a short, stable summary for orientation, but it must link to the canonical owner
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instead of repeating volatile details.
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Volatile details include commands, flags, configuration fields and defaults,
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stage or integration keys, schemas, file names, paths, status codes, retry
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behavior, and runtime guarantees. If readers could reasonably treat a statement
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as a contract, maintain it only in the owning document.
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Each document should cover a defined scope and only the essentials for that scope.
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### Current And Future Behavior
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Outside `docs/roadmap/`, documentation describes implemented behavior only.
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Partial features may be described only to their implemented boundary.
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ADRs are the narrow exception: an ADR may record an accepted architectural
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decision before implementation, but acceptance must not be presented as proof
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that the behavior exists. The roadmap owns implementation status and sequencing
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until the decision is implemented. Current architecture, user, operator,
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integration, and internal documentation are updated when the behavior lands.
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### Audience And Detail
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Write for the document's stated audience and include only the detail needed for
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its owned topic. User and operator docs should not expose implementation detail.
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Developer docs should link to user-facing and external contracts rather than
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restate them.
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### Examples
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Avoid:
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- long background explanations;
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- repeated reference material;
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- implementation detail in user-facing docs;
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- aspirational language outside roadmap docs;
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- verbose examples where one minimal example is clearer.
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### 2. Document only implemented behavior outside roadmap files
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Unimplemented, planned, aspirational, experimental, or future work may be described only under:
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- `docs/roadmap/`
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No other documentation file, including `README.md`, should describe code, features, modules, stages, commands, config fields, or behaviors that do not currently exist.
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If a feature is partial, non-roadmap docs may describe only the implemented portion and its current boundary.
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### 3. Use canonical homes
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Each type of information should have one canonical location.
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Canonical homes:
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- project purpose and quickstart: `README.md`
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- development principles: `docs/architecture.md`
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- configuration reference: `docs/config.md`
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- CLI reference: `docs/cli.md`
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- operations and recovery: `docs/operations.md`
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- troubleshooting: `docs/troubleshooting.md`
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- implemented internals: `docs/internal/`
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- future work: `docs/roadmap/`
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- contributor workflow: `docs/development.md`
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- copyable examples: `examples/`
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Other files should summarize briefly and link to the canonical source.
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### 4. Keep examples real
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Examples should be valid, maintained, and free of secrets.
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Where practical:
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- example configs should load successfully;
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- example commands should match real CLI syntax;
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- important examples should be covered by tests.
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## Documentation Profiles
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All projects require:
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- `README.md`
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- `docs/architecture.md`
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Additional docs depend on the project.
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### Small library
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Recommended:
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- `docs/development.md`, if contributor conventions are non-obvious
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### Simple CLI
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Required:
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- `docs/cli.md`
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Recommended:
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- `docs/development.md`
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### Config-driven CLI
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Required:
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- `docs/cli.md`
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- `docs/config.md`
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Recommended:
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- `examples/`
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- `docs/development.md`
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### Stateful or operator-facing application
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Required:
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- `docs/cli.md`, if CLI-based
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- `docs/config.md`, if config-driven
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- `docs/operations.md`
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Recommended:
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- `docs/troubleshooting.md`
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- `examples/`
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- `docs/development.md`
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### Modular, staged, service-oriented, or orchestration application
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Required:
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- `docs/cli.md`, if CLI-based
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- `docs/config.md`, if config-driven
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- `docs/operations.md`
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- `docs/internal/`
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- `docs/development.md`
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Recommended:
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- `docs/troubleshooting.md`
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- validated examples under `examples/`
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## Required Documents
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### README.md
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**Audience:** users, administrators, operators
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The README is the outward-facing project orientation page.
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It should include, in order:
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1. concise description;
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2. elevator pitch;
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3. shortest useful command or usage example;
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4. links to targeted docs.
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The README should be short. It is not a manual.
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The “shortest useful command” means the simplest command that performs the project’s core use case. (It does not mean `app --help`.)
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### docs/architecture.md
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**Audience:** developers, LLM coding agents
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`docs/architecture.md` is required for every project.
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It is an inward-facing development policy document. It should describe how the project is intended to be built and changed.
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It should include:
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- project shape;
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- core design principles;
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- package and boundary philosophy;
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- state/persistence philosophy, if applicable;
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- external integration philosophy, if applicable;
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- error-handling and logging principles;
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- testing expectations;
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- documentation expectations;
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- architectural invariants;
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- explicit non-goals, if useful.
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For small projects, this file may be brief. It may simply state that the project is intentionally narrow, monolithic, and dependency-light.
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### docs/config.md
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**Audience:** administrators, operators, advanced users
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Required for applications with configuration files.
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It should include, in order:
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1. config file locations and discovery precedence;
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2. minimal working config;
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3. production-oriented config;
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4. full configuration reference;
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5. secrets handling, if applicable;
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6. links to maintained examples.
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The full configuration reference should be canonical.
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### docs/cli.md
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**Audience:** users, administrators, operators
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Required for CLI applications.
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It should include, in order:
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1. shortest useful command;
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2. command overview;
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3. complete flag reference;
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4. common workflows;
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5. diagnostic or recovery commands, if applicable.
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Explain when commands are useful, not just their syntax.
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### docs/operations.md
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**Audience:** administrators, operators
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Required for applications that maintain state, support resume behavior, run multiple stages, write durable artifacts, use remote storage, or require recovery procedures.
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It should cover:
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- normal workflow;
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- filesystem layout;
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- remote storage layout, if applicable;
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- logs and manifests;
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- resume/retry behavior;
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- cleanup behavior;
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- archive/backup behavior;
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- safe recovery procedures;
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- operational caveats.
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### docs/troubleshooting.md
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**Audience:** administrators, operators
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Recommended once recurring failure modes exist.
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Each entry should include:
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- symptom;
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- likely cause;
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- diagnostic command or inspection step;
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- safe fix;
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- relevant links.
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### docs/development.md
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**Audience:** developers, LLM coding agents
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Required for projects maintained by humans and LLM coding agents.
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It should include:
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- repository layout;
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- build/test commands;
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- coding conventions;
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- dependency policy;
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- how to add config fields;
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- how to add CLI flags;
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- how to add stages/modules/adapters, if applicable;
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- how to update examples;
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- documentation update expectations.
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### docs/internal/
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**Audience:** developers, LLM coding agents
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Required for modular, staged, service-oriented, or orchestration projects.
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This directory describes implemented internal components. It is not the roadmap.
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Use one file per major component where useful.
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Each component doc should include:
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1. purpose;
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2. inputs and outputs;
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3. boundaries;
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4. config fields used;
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5. external adapters used;
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6. state or manifest behavior, if applicable;
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7. skip/resume behavior, if applicable;
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8. failure behavior;
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9. tests to inspect before changing;
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10. architectural invariants.
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### docs/roadmap/
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**Audience:** maintainers, developers, LLM coding agents
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This is the only place for planned, future, aspirational, experimental, or unimplemented work.
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Roadmap docs should clearly distinguish:
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- proposed work;
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- accepted plans;
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- deferred ideas;
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- rejected ideas;
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- implementation prompts or task breakdowns, if useful.
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Roadmap docs should not be confused with current behavior.
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### docs/integrations/
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**Audience:** developers, LLM coding agents
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Required for projects that depend on external CLIs, APIs, services, protocols, or file formats where the integration contract is important to maintain.
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This directory contains concise, versioned reference notes for external integration contracts. It should document only the parts of the external system that this project actually uses.
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Use one file per integration where useful.
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## Examples Directory
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Projects with non-trivial configuration or workflows should include `examples/`.
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Useful examples include:
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- minimal working config;
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- production-oriented config;
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- full annotated config;
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- local development config;
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- remote/object-storage config;
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- minimal session/input file.
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Examples should be valid, maintained, tested when practical, and linked from relevant docs.
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## Security and Privacy
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Docs and examples must not include:
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- real API keys;
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- tokens;
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- passwords;
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- private keys;
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- private environment dumps;
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- sensitive user data;
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- raw private transcripts;
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- private infrastructure details unless intentionally public.
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Document secret-handling mechanisms, not actual secret values.
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## Maintenance Rules
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When docs change, verify the affected behavior.
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Where practical:
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- load example config files in tests;
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- test CLI examples or command parser behavior;
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- validate documented flags against real flags;
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- remove stale references;
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- update links after renames;
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- keep roadmap content out of non-roadmap docs.
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If documentation and code disagree, fix the documentation and/or open a roadmap item; do not leave aspirational behavior in current-behavior docs.
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Documentation is complete only when it matches the current code.
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## Documentation Change Checklist
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Before merging documentation changes, verify:
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- README is concise and orientation-focused.
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- `docs/architecture.md` describes development principles.
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- Future work appears only under `docs/roadmap/`.
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- User-facing docs avoid unnecessary internals.
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- Developer-facing docs preserve boundaries and invariants.
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- Config examples match the schema.
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- CLI examples match real commands and flags.
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- Defaults appear in the canonical config reference.
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- No secrets or private data are included.
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- Links are accurate.
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Complete copyable files belong in `examples/`. Documentation may use the
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smallest illustrative snippet needed to explain its owned topic, but should link
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to maintained examples instead of embedding a second complete copy.
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Examples must be valid, secret-free, and tested where practical. Commands and
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configuration used in documentation should match the application.
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### Security And Privacy
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Documentation and examples must not contain real credentials, private keys,
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private environment dumps, sensitive source material, or private infrastructure
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details unless intentionally public. Document secret-handling mechanisms, not
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secret values.
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## Canonical Ownership
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| Topic | Canonical owner | Owned content | Content owned elsewhere |
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| --- | --- | --- | --- |
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| Product orientation and minimal end-to-end quickstart | `README.md` | What Narratio is, why it is useful, one shortest successful invocation, and links onward. | Complete command reference, configuration reference, operational procedures, implementation detail. |
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| Contributor entry point | `docs/development.md` | Task-oriented reading guide, minimal contributor orientation, baseline validation commands, and links to canonical docs. | Package inventory, architecture rules, subsystem behavior, detailed change recipes. |
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| Current application architecture | `docs/policy/architecture.md` | System shape, normative ownership, dependency direction, architectural boundaries, invariants, safety properties, and non-goals. | Concrete package inventory, implementation mechanics, contributor procedures, decision history, future work. |
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| Documentation organization | `docs/policy/documentation.md` | Documentation ownership, audience boundaries, maintenance rules, and ADR/document lifecycle. | Application architecture or product behavior. |
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| Testing policy | `docs/policy/testing.md` | Test philosophy, risk-based sufficiency, test boundaries, doubles, coverage guidance, regression-test policy, and criteria for adding, rewriting, or deleting tests. | Subsystem behavior, application contracts, subsystem-specific test inventories, and implementation plans. |
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| CLI contract | `docs/cli.md` | Commands, arguments, flags, invocation semantics, output conventions, and exit behavior. | End-to-end operating procedures, configuration field definitions, runtime filesystem layout, stage implementation details. |
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| Configuration contract | `docs/config.md` | Discovery and precedence, file schemas, fields, defaults, environment overrides, validation rules, and user-selectable stage or integration settings. | Complete example files, CLI syntax, runtime state lifecycle, implementation details. |
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| Operations | `docs/operations.md` | Runtime workflows, physical filesystem and remote-state layout, output and diagnostic handling, resume, cleanup, permissions, recovery, and operational limits. | CLI flag syntax, configuration field definitions, logical artifact schemas, implementation mechanics. |
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| Troubleshooting | `docs/troubleshooting.md` | Symptom-driven diagnosis, likely causes, safe inspection steps and remedies, and links to relevant contracts. | CLI syntax, configuration definitions, operational procedures, integration contracts, implementation mechanics. |
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| Public HTTP contract, if introduced | `docs/api.md` | Routes, authentication, media types, request and response schemas, status codes, pagination, caching, idempotency, rate limits, and HTTP retry semantics. | Client walkthroughs, upstream or downstream integration internals, implementation detail. |
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| Consumer guidance, if a public package or API is introduced | `docs/consumers/` | Task-oriented use of the public interface, minimal client examples, and consumer responsibilities. | HTTP wire semantics, external protocol contracts, internal implementation detail. |
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| External and durable integration contracts | `docs/integrations/` | External file formats and protocols, upstream and downstream contracts, logical artifact paths and schemas, media types, and compatibility behavior. | Physical runtime placement and lifecycle, internal transformations, CLI syntax, configuration defaults. |
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| Implemented component inventory | `docs/internal/overview.md` | Current packages and components, their implemented responsibilities, and links to focused internal docs. | Normative architecture, contributor reading policy, external contracts. |
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| Internal component behavior | Other files under `docs/internal/` | Implementation flow, internal collaborators and state transitions, package-local guarantees and failures, and relevant tests. | Global architecture invariants, configuration definitions and defaults, external schemas, operator procedures. |
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| Architectural decision history | `docs/adr/` | Significant decisions, context, alternatives, rationale, consequences, and supersession history. | Current behavior reference, implementation status, task sequencing. |
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| Future work and implementation status | `docs/roadmap/` | Proposed, accepted, deferred, or rejected work; implementation status; sequencing; and task breakdowns. | Implemented behavior reference and architectural decision rationale. |
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| Complete copyable artifacts | `examples/` | Maintained configuration, inputs, and other files intended to be copied or run. | Field-by-field reference, command reference, prose explanation. |
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Documents that do not exist are required only when the corresponding interface
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or responsibility exists. Do not create placeholder API, consumer, integration,
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or operations documents for behavior the application does not have.
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## Boundary Rules
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### Orientation
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The README owns product orientation. The developer guide routes contributors.
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Architecture owns normative structure. Internal overview owns the current
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concrete component map. These documents may link to one another but should not
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maintain parallel package or behavior descriptions.
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### Commands, Configuration, Operations, And Troubleshooting
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CLI documentation answers how to invoke the application. Configuration
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documentation answers what settings mean. Operations answers what happens to
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runtime state and how to operate or recover the application. Troubleshooting
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starts from observable symptoms and links readers to the owning command,
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configuration, operational, or integration contract. When a workflow crosses
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these topics, choose the document that owns the task and link to the other
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contracts.
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### Contracts And Implementation
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Integration and API documents define externally observable shapes and
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semantics. Internal documents explain how Narratio implements or consumes those
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contracts. Internal docs may name a field, file, or protocol to identify a
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dependency, but must link to its canonical contract for the definition.
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### Security Topics
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This policy owns what documentation and examples may contain. Architecture owns
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application security invariants. Configuration owns credential-supply
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mechanisms. Operations owns permissions and handling of sensitive runtime
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artifacts. Troubleshooting owns safe diagnostic and remediation guidance.
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Internal docs own implementation mechanisms only.
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## Architecture Decision Records
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Use sequentially numbered ADR filenames such as
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`0001-record-architecture-decisions.md`. Follow the lightweight Nygard format:
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1. title;
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2. status;
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3. date;
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4. context;
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5. decision;
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6. alternatives considered;
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7. consequences.
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Treat the decision content of an accepted ADR as immutable. When a decision
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changes, create a new ADR and update the earlier ADR's status to superseded.
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Rejected architectural alternatives belong in the ADR; rejected product ideas
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belong in the roadmap.
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## Maintenance
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When behavior changes, update its canonical owner in the same change. If
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ownership moves, remove the old definition and replace it with a link where
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navigation remains useful.
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Before completing documentation work:
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- verify affected behavior and examples;
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- check commands, flags, fields, defaults, schemas, and paths against their
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implementation;
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- keep unimplemented behavior in the roadmap, subject to the ADR exception;
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- remove stale references and validate links;
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- confirm that non-owning documents summarize and link rather than redefine;
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- confirm that no secrets or sensitive private data were added.
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Reference in New Issue
Block a user