git:20260815.fe34639 to git:20260910.522e91c

---

name: "Docs: Readme"

description: "Create or update a README for the project root or any directory"

when_to_use: "When a project or directory has no README, or its existing one no longer matches the current structure or setup steps."

model: sonnet

effort: medium

metadata:

glyph: ᛊ

family: doc

disable-model-invocation: false # programmatic (derives from repo facts), so Claude can offer a refresh when structure drifts; approval gates the write

arguments: ["mode", "target"]

argument-hint: "[create|update] [directory, default ./]"

---

# README create/update

Replaces the former doc-readme-create / doc-readme-create-sub / doc-readme-update trio: `$mode` picks the verb, `$target` picks the directory (project root when empty). If `$mode` is empty, infer it from a **three-way state check**, not a create/update binary:

- **(a) No README at the target** → `create`.

- **(b) Placeholder/auto-generated README** → treated as `create`, free to fully regenerate against the template. Detected by: a `<!-- doc-readme: generated ... -->` marker (see Mode: create below — this skill leaves one on everything it writes from now on), OR a recognisable scaffold-tool stub (a framework's default "Welcome to Create React App" / `npm init` boilerplate / near-empty single-paragraph file with no real project detail).

- **(c) Hand-authored README, no marker, doesn't match a placeholder shape** → `update`, the cautious path.

Say which state you detected and why (marker found, boilerplate pattern matched, or genuinely hand-authored) before proceeding.

## Mode: create

1. Confirm the target directory exists; stop and report if not.

2. Analyse it: purpose, contents, structure, key modules, build system, existing docs. For a sub-directory, read the surrounding context too (parent README, siblings, project docs) to place it in the codebase.

3. Fill the matching skeleton: `~/.claude/library/templates/readme-root.md` for the project root, `readme-sub.md` for a sub-directory. Each {{ slot }} describes its content; drop sections that do not apply, never invent content to fill one.

4. Include actual paths and commands, not placeholders. Match the style of existing project READMEs. Keep it proportional: a README is an overview, not full docs.

5. **Badge row, only for what's real.** Detect what's actually present — a real `.github/workflows/*.yml` → CI badge; a real published version (package manifest, `svu current`) → version badge; a real `LICENSE`/`LICENSE.md` → license badge — and emit a shields.io row from those only. Never a badge for something that isn't in the repo; a badge for CI that doesn't run is a lie the honesty rule in `artefact-conventions.md` exists to prevent, and that value applies here too even though this is Markdown, not HTML.

6. **Collapsibility for secondary sections.** Past roughly 4-5 major sections, wrap the less-critical ones (Contributing, full config reference, detailed dev setup) in GFM's native `<details><summary>` — no custom styling needed, GitHub renders the disclosure triangle itself. Keep What-it-is, Quickstart/Install, and core usage always visible.

7. **Provenance footer.** A short, visible closing line: `Generated by doc-readme against \`{commit-sha}\` on {date}.` Terse, at the very bottom, doesn't compete with the real content.

8. **Marker comment**, placed as the very first line of the file: `<!-- doc-readme: generated {date}. Delete this line once you hand-edit this file. -->` — this is what lets a future run detect state (b) instead of treating a since-regenerated README as hand-authored.

## Mode: update

Reached only for state (c) — a genuinely hand-authored README with no marker and no placeholder shape. Stay conservative here; this is the one path that must never treat someone's real prose as raw material to restructure.

1. Resolve the README (`$target/README.md`, default `./README.md`). If it does not exist, say so and offer create mode instead.

2. Read it for structure and style, then gather what changed in one command:

```bash

"$HOME"/.claude/library/scripts/git-doc-history.sh $target/README.md $target

```

It prints the commits, file changes and diff stat since the README was last touched; analyse that dump rather than running exploratory git calls.

3. Identify what needs updating: outdated descriptions, undocumented additions, removed content to clean up, structural changes.

5. If the changes are minor, say so; don't invent updates for the sake of it. Prefer surgical edits over rewrites; don't remove content unless genuinely obsolete.