An agentic skills framework & software development methodology that works.
Repo docs skill pack for Claude Code and Codex
Repo-Docs is a skill package that teaches an agent to write and maintain living project docs beside the source. It focuses on walkthroughs, evidence, references, glossary terms, and sync rules so the next run starts from current understanding instead of stale memory.
Builders who want Claude Code or Codex to keep repository understanding up to date while they work.
You can keep a repo’s guides, handoff notes, and change maps synced to the current code instead of rediscovering context each session.
What it does
Walkthrough-driven docs
Builds a guide around one real run from entry to output instead of a file-tree dump.
Concept and reference pages
Separates durable concepts from source evidence and review notes so each fact has a clear home.
Change log and sync rules
Records meaningful doc updates and tells future agents when the smallest stale page needs a patch.
Validation script
Includes `validate_repo_docs.py` to check doc structure and source links against a repository.
Language overlay
Provides a Chinese skill variant in `skills/repo-docs-zh/`.
How to get it
- 1Give this natural-language install request to your coding agent
Install the repo-docs skill from this project: https://github.com/YurunChen/repo-docs-skills Make both repo-docs and repo-docs-zh available in my agent skill directory.
- 2Then ask it to run the skill in any repository
Use the repo-docs skill to create docs for this repository.
- 3Use this when you prefer a shell install. The URL is a GitHub repository raw-file URL;…
curl -fsSL https://github.com/YurunChen/repo-docs-skills/raw/main/install.sh | bash
- 4Windows PowerShell
irm https://github.com/YurunChen/repo-docs-skills/raw/main/install.ps1 | iex
- 5From this source checkout
./install.sh # Install into all known locations: ~/.codex/skills, ~/.claude/skills, ~/.agents/skills ./install.sh --agent all # Install into one explicit skills directory ./install.sh --target ~/.agents/skills
README
Repo-Docs: Keep up with the code your agents write.
An evidence atlas for agent-built code.
Vibe coding makes code move faster than memory. Repo-Docs turns each real run into walkthroughs, concepts, references, and sync rules that live beside the source.
Chinese README | Skill contract | Project homepage | Install
Why now | The loop | Artifacts | Quality bar
Understand the repo before you memorize paths.
The Problem
Agent-built repos often feel like this
|
Repo-Docs leaves this behind
|
Repo-Docs is not a file-tree tour, a generated API dump, or a chat transcript. It is a small project guide that tells a reader what the repo does, how the behavior moves, where the proof lives, and how to keep that understanding fresh.
Why This Exists Now
AI coding is no longer a niche workflow. Two 2026 open-source studies make the scale visible: AIDev reports 932,791 agent-authored pull requests across 116,211 GitHub repositories, while a multi-method census of 180 million repositories shows that many agent traces are missed by single-signal detection.
That growth creates a new maintenance problem: the code may be real, but the project understanding is often temporary. Repo-Docs gives coding agents a repeatable way to preserve the reasoning layer inside the repository itself.
The Repo-Docs Loop
flowchart LR
A["User asks or agent changes repo"] --> B["Understanding sync check"]
B --> C["Update README and walkthrough"]
B --> D["Update change-log"]
B --> E["Patch modules / glossary / references"]
B --> F["Update AGENTS.md / CLAUDE.md"]
C --> G["User can read the current project"]
D --> G
E --> G
F --> G
The loop is intentionally conservative. A good update touches the page that would otherwise mislead the next reader, not every page that could be polished.
What It Builds
| Artifact | Job |
|---|---|
repo-docs/README.md | Orient the reader and point to the first useful path. |
walkthroughs/one-real-run.md | Follow one real behavior from observable entry to output. |
code-map.md | Map in-scope source directories to responsibilities, important code, tests, and likely change points. |
modules/ | Explain durable concepts the walkthrough names. |
references/ | Hold source evidence and optional quality review. |
glossary.md | Translate repeated project terms into plain meaning. |
change-log.md | Record meaningful guide work, verification, and sync anchors. |
AGENTS.md / CLAUDE.md | Tell future coding agents when and how to keep docs current. |
Install In 30 Seconds
Give this natural-language install request to your coding agent:
Install the repo-docs skill from this project:
https://github.com/YurunChen/repo-docs-skills
Make both repo-docs and repo-docs-zh available in my agent skill directory.
Then ask it to run the skill in any repository:
Use the repo-docs skill to create docs for this repository.
Command-line install
Use this when you prefer a shell install. The URL is a GitHub repository raw-file URL; GitHub serves the raw script bytes through its raw content host after redirect.
curl -fsSL https://github.com/YurunChen/repo-docs-skills/raw/main/install.sh | bash
Windows PowerShell:
irm https://github.com/YurunChen/repo-docs-skills/raw/main/install.ps1 | iex
From this source checkout:
./install.sh
# Install into all known locations: ~/.codex/skills, ~/.claude/skills, ~/.agents/skills
./install.sh --agent all
# Install into one explicit skills directory
./install.sh --target ~/.agents/skills
Use It Naturally
Use the repo-docs skill to create docs for this repository.
Use repo-docs-zh to create a Chinese repo guide for this project.
Explain how this subsystem works using repo-docs and the current source.
Modes
| Mode | Use when | What it preserves |
|---|---|---|
| Seed | The repo is new or has little runtime evidence | Goals, decisions, planned work, and unknowns |
| Build | The repo needs its first guide | Walkthrough, concepts, references, glossary, and sync rule |
| Sync | A repo question or guide-covered behavior may make docs stale | The smallest page that would otherwise mislead |
| Cleanup | The user asks to remove generated docs | Docs package and stale root-agent pointers |
| Question refinement | A question exposes a wrong reader model | The corrected page, then an answer linked to it |
Validation
python skills/repo-docs/scripts/validate_repo_docs.py /path/to/repo-docs --repo-root /path/to/repo
Use --lite for small projects and --seed for repositories that still need
status-labeled plans instead of implementation claims. --repo-root checks
source locators and post-anchor drift.
Quality Bar
A good Repo-Docs package is useful after the chat ends.
| Principle | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Behavior before inventory | Teach one real workflow before listing files. |
| Reader handles before locators | Explain the concept, then link to the exact path, function, field, or command. |
| One durable fact, one home | Concepts and needed details live in modules; evidence and quality audit live in references; history lives in the change log. |
| Evidence stays visible | Current source, tests, config, data, commands, and artifacts outrank memory or stale docs. |
| Patches stay surgical | When understanding drifts, update the smallest page that fixes the reader model. |
Source Layout
repo-docs-skills/
├── skills/
│ ├── repo-docs/ # installable skill package
│ └── repo-docs-zh/ # Chinese language overlay
├── site/ # homepage source
├── docs/ # GitHub Pages publish tree
├── install.sh
├── install.ps1
├── README.md
└── README_CN.md
The installable skill source lives under skills/. The site/ directory is homepage source, while docs/ is the GitHub Pages publish tree.
Installed Package Contents
<skills-dir>/
├── repo-docs/
│ ├── SKILL.md
│ ├── REFERENCE.md
│ ├── WRITING.md
│ ├── PAGE_RULES.md
│ ├── SCOPE_MODES.md
│ ├── SYNC_RULES.md
│ ├── QUALITY_RULES.md
│ ├── EXAMPLES.md
│ ├── validate_repo_docs.py
│ └── scripts/
│ └── validate_repo_docs.py
└── repo-docs-zh/
└── SKILL.md
Acknowledgements
Repo Docs Skills is developed by the AI4GC Lab at Zhejiang University.
Walkthroughs, evidence, references, sync rules, and project memory for fast-moving code.
Files in the repo
- docs
- site
- skills
- .gitignore
- AGENTS.md
- install.ps1
- install.sh
- README_CN.md
- README.md
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