Agent Doc Discipline

Use this skill to apply a writing-time discipline while creating or editing any document an agent consumes to act: the five surfaces (CLAUDE.md, CONTEXT.md, docs/standards/, design-system/, .omc/skills/), specs, tickets, and skill files. The test a document must pass: a fresh agent session can act on it by reading alone.

Mandatory when: drydock generates surface seeds, the launch C5 sediment pass writes a lesson into a slot. Opt-in for every other edit — but any edit to an agent-facing document should survive these rules.

When Not to Use

Documents written for humans only: docs/business/ narrative, ADR decision stories, READMEs for human onboarding. They may still follow the rules where it costs nothing, but they are not held to this discipline.

The Discipline

Write for a reader with no chat history. The document is self-describing: nothing leans on "as discussed", a prior session, or knowledge that lives in someone's head. Test: a brand-new agent session can act on the document by reading alone.

Every rule checkable and carrying a why. No "keep it clean" — write the observable condition and the reason. Test: an agent can decide pass/fail from the text alone, and the why is stated next to the rule.

One meaning, one home. Each rule or definition has a single authoritative place; duplication is drift waiting to happen. Test: changing a behavior is a one-place edit.

Never restate what the environment confesses. Package scripts, directory layouts, --help output are lookups, not documents — a copied lookup goes stale. Document only what cannot be found by looking: the unwritten convention, the reason behind a choice, the gotcha. Test: every line survives "can this be looked up elsewhere?".

Steps first, reference behind, rare material behind a pointer. What to do, in order, at the top; consult-on-demand rules below; low-frequency material pushed behind a pointer whose wording names the branches that should trigger reaching it. Test: the next action is findable within the first screen.

Every step ends on a completion criterion. Done must be tellable from not-done — a vague bound invites premature completion. Test: for each step, "how do I know this is finished?" has an answer in the text.

A procedure longer than two steps is numbered. The numbers are stable references: a reader can name step 3, follow the order, and jump without re-reading. An unnumbered procedure of many steps makes the reader hold the order in their head. Test: every procedure of three or more steps carries its numbers.

A list is capped at what a reader holds in one glance. A list that outgrows the reader's grasp loses its point — nothing in it is findable. A longer enumeration becomes structure (a table, subsections) or splits. This governs the writing of documents; it never touches the machinery of a gate or a batched decision, which lives in the methodology, not the prose. Test: every list in the document fits in one glance, and any longer enumeration has become structure.

Deferred and scheduled work states when. A document that defers work to a later step, session, or release states that timing next to the work it defers — "when" is a fact the reader needs to act, and an unstated deferral reads as an unstarted one. The timing is stated in the prose only; it never rebinds a checkpoint the methodology pushes right deliberately. Test: every deferral in the document carries its when.

Close on a next action a reader can start now. A report, ticket, or session-close pointer ends not with a summary but with the one next step a reader can begin in under two minutes — the destination, the pointer, or the command. A close that only summarizes makes the reader re-derive what to do first. Test: the last line answers "what do I do next?" without scrolling up.

Re-state the position each time the reader rejoins. A document a returning reader touches mid-flight (a long spec, a run report, a map Notes section) opens the new material with where things stand — step, phase, or decision count — before adding anything new. Test: a reader arriving cold can locate the current state in the first two lines of the newest section.

Prompt the positive. State the target behavior; a prohibition is reserved for hard guardrails and is always paired with the positive target. Test: every prohibition in the document names the thing to do instead.

Scrape barnacles on write. When the document contains stale or redundant material, remove it in the same edit; when it does not, add only the required material and do not invent deletions. A sentence the model already obeys by default pays load for nothing — delete the whole sentence. Test: every line re-read earns its place against "does this change behavior versus the default?", and any stale or redundant material found during the edit is gone.

Verification

Before reporting a document change done, confirm:

• a fresh session could act on it without asking a human anything
• every rule is checkable and states its why; no rule restates a lookup
• meanings live in one place; pointers name their trigger branches
• stale or redundant material found during the edit was removed, while valid unrelated content was preserved
• closes end on a next action the reader can start now; rejoining readers find the current state stated before new material
• procedures of three or more steps are numbered; lists fit in one glance; every deferral states its when