git:20260907.9b8b81c to git:20260916.c33e50c

65 added, 36 removed. Audit A to A.

---

name: document

- description: "Record a decision or document existing code. Use for 'we decided', 'record this decision', 'document why we chose X', 'make it our standard', 'draft an RFC', 'should we switch to Y' proposals, 'resolve the RFC', 'we accepted the proposal', 'document the auth module', 'capture how the payment system works', reference material, or how-to instructions. Use document research to file an existing investigation report, or document evidence to file one external material. Planning a feature → /archcore:plan. Checking docs against code or docs health → /archcore:review."

+ argument-hint: "[decision|code|research] [subject]"

+ description: "Record a decision, document existing code, or file a supplied research material. Modes: document decision (ADR, RFC, or rule), document code (spec, doc, guide, or scenario for existing behavior), document research (only when a finished report or one external material is already in hand). Use for 'we decided', 'record this decision', 'document why we chose X', 'make it our standard', 'draft an RFC', 'should we switch to Y' proposals, 'resolve the RFC', 'we accepted the proposal', 'document the auth module', 'capture how the payment system works', reference material, how-to instructions, or a user flow with examples over an existing spec. Name the type inside the subject to skip the type question. Planning a feature or an intended user journey → /archcore:plan. Checking docs against code or docs health → /archcore:review."

---

# /archcore:document

- Record a technical decision or document existing code. The skill classifies the

- request, then executes a gated track: decision, describe, or research for an

- explicit report or material. Write affinity: knowledge types; a filed `research`

- and the decision cascade's `plan` belong to vision. The standard cascade can

- add a `cpat` (experience).

+ Record the present state: a technical decision, existing code, or a supplied

+ research material. The first word of the arguments selects the mode; a gate

+ inside the mode's track selects the document type. Write affinity: knowledge

+ types; a filed `research` and the decision cascade's `plan` belong to vision.

+ The standard cascade can add a `cpat` (experience).

Command tense: `/archcore:plan` declares a future canon delta, `/archcore:document`

records the present state — including work that shipped without a plan — and

`/archcore:review` reconciles a past declared delta. Δ vocabulary:

`skills/_shared/delta-routing.md`.

Load `skills/_shared/gate-contract.md` and `skills/_shared/elicitation-contract.md` before executing any gate.

+ ## Modes

+ | Mode | Track and entry | Types the entry gate selects |

+ |---|---|---|

+ | `decision` | `skills/_shared/tracks/decision.md`, `decision.classify` | `adr`, `rfc`; `rule` through the standard cascade; an existing `rfc` draft on the topic → `decision.resolve`, which records an `adr` on an accepted verdict |

+ | `code` | `skills/_shared/tracks/describe.md`, `describe.read` | `spec`, `doc`, `guide`, `scenario` |

+ | `research` | `skills/_shared/tracks/research.md`, `research.frame` | `research`, `rnd` by the closing test; one external material → `evidence` |

+ A document type name is not a mode. When the subject text names a type (`skills/_shared/gate-contract.md`,

+ Entry terms) that the mode's track produces, the selecting gate treats that type as settled and asks no

+ type question: `document decision rfc for gRPC` reaches the RFC branch. A leading

+ word that is not a mode is topic text and goes through classification (Step 3).

+ No mode produces a `journey`; an intended user path belongs to `/archcore:plan`.

## When to use

- "We decided to go with microservices" — settled decision

- "Record the decision to use PostgreSQL"

- "Document why we chose JWT over sessions"

- "Make this our team standard for error handling"

- "Draft an RFC for switching from REST to gRPC"

- "Should we switch to Kubernetes?" — open proposal

- "We accepted the proposal — resolve the RFC" — proposal resolution

- "Document the auth module"

- "Capture how the payment system works"

- "Create reference docs for the config system" — reference material

- "Write a guide for the release process" — how-to instructions

+ - `document code scenario for checkout` — a user flow with examples over an existing spec

- `document research <report>` — file a ready investigation

- - `document evidence <material>` — file one external material

+ - `document research <material>` — file one external material as evidence

**Not document:**

- - Planning a feature or initiative → `/archcore:plan`

+ - Planning a feature, an initiative, or an intended user journey → `/archcore:plan`

- Checking documents against code, reviewing branch changes, or docs health → `/archcore:review`

- First-time setup → `/archcore:init`

## Routing table

| Signal | Route |

|---|---|

- | The invocation names a type — `adr`, `rfc`, `spec`, `doc`, `guide`, `rule`, `research`, `evidence` | → expert form, no routing (Step 2) |

+ | No arguments | → git investigation of the branch changes, then one classifying question (Step 3, Unclear) |

+ | The first word is a mode — `decision`, `code`, `research` | → mode entry, no routing (Step 2) |

| Decision signals: "we decided", "record this decision", "document why we chose X", "make it our standard", "draft an RFC", a "should we switch to Y" proposal. A bare "compare X vs Y" with no proposed target belongs to `/archcore:plan`'s research track; a proposal to add a new capability with no named technical target ("should we add caching?") is feature framing → `/archcore:plan`, sdd track | → decision track — `skills/_shared/tracks/decision.md`, entry at `decision.classify` |

| Resolution signals: "resolve the RFC", "we accepted the proposal", "reject the RFC" — an `rfc` draft exists on the topic | → decision track — `skills/_shared/tracks/decision.md`, entry at `decision.resolve` |

- | Code-doc signals: "document the auth module", "capture how the payment system works", reference material (registry, glossary, lookup), how-to instructions | → describe track — `skills/_shared/tracks/describe.md`, entry at `describe.read` |

+ | Code-doc signals: "document the auth module", "capture how the payment system works", reference material (registry, glossary, lookup), how-to instructions, a user flow with examples over an existing `spec` | → describe track — `skills/_shared/tracks/describe.md`, entry at `describe.read` |

+ | Research-material signals: a supplied investigation report, benchmark, transcript, or vendor document to file as is | → research track — `skills/_shared/tracks/research.md`, entry at `research.frame` |

| Unclear | → git investigation, then one classifying question (Step 3) |

## Execution

### Step 1: Ground

Apply `skills/_shared/research-compatibility.md` under its condition 1 — a

request or type naming `research` or `evidence`, the research track, or a

grounding result of either type. If this skill has no shell tool and no probe

result was supplied, report `needs-vocabulary-probe` with the helper path and

stop before the first MCP call that names either type.

Before delegating research or evidence work, pass the current vocabulary probe

result and absolute plugin root to the assistant. If the assistant returns

`needs-vocabulary-probe`, run the helper and resume the same task.

+ Apply `skills/_shared/actor-subject-compatibility.md` under its own condition 1 —

+ a request whose subject names `scenario` or `journey`, or a grounding result of

+ either type. When that probe returns `yes`, add `scenario` and `journey` to the

+ type filter below. On older engines, keep the legacy filter; a `code` request

+ whose subject names `scenario` then reports the required version and exits

+ without a write.

When the probe returns `yes`, add `research` and `evidence` to the type filter

below. On older engines, keep the legacy filter.

Search `.archcore/` on the request topic across all three categories — vision,

knowledge, experience. Do not exclude a category from reads. Pass a type filter

matched to this command's moment (`adr`, `rfc`, `spec`, `doc`, `guide`, `rule`,

plus `rnd` as decision evidence, and `research` and `evidence` when the probe returned `yes`) instead of relying on the global type ranking. When a found document carries

`implements` or `related` relations, pull the linked documents one hop across

categories. Duplicate handling lives in the tracks' check-existing gates — do

not resolve duplicates here.

If `.archcore/` does not exist, announce initialization in one line and call

`mcp__archcore__init_project` without asking a question. If `.archcore/` exists

but contains no documents, proceed on outer-context grounding and report that

zero documents were found.

**Global sources.** If a `mcp__archcore__list_documents` /

`mcp__archcore__search_documents` result has `global: true` / `read_only: true` /

`source_kind: "global"`, load `skills/_shared/globals.md`. Also load it when a

`search_documents` response's `coverage` names a source other than `"local"` —

even when `results` is empty: the empty page is exactly where that file's retry

ladder applies. Never modify a global document and never target one with

`add_relation`. Absent any global match, proceed as usual.

- ### Step 2: Expert form

+ ### Step 2: Mode entry

- If the invocation names a type, execute the named path without routing:

+ If the first word is a mode, execute the mapped entry without routing:

- - `research` → research track at `research.frame`; the track selects `research`

- or `rnd` by its closing test — a report that ends in a recommendation is an

- `rnd`, a report that covers a scope is a `research`; the supplied report satisfies frame inputs without an interview.

- - `evidence` → research track at `research.gather`, standalone material;

- the request satisfies frame, recorded in the evidence draft's Clarifications.

- This entry needs no parent investigation and exits after gather. Follow the

- compatibility contract's no-write exit when the type is unsupported.

- - `adr` → decision track at `decision.adr`

- - `rfc` → decision track at `decision.rfc`

- - `spec`, `doc`, `guide` → describe track at `describe.read`; the named type

- settles `describe.draft`'s type question, so its elicitation trigger does not

- fire. `describe.read`'s own skip_when fast-paths a request that already

- carries the evidence.

- - `rule` → decision track, creation at `decision.cascade`; a missing upstream

- document routes per `skills/_shared/gate-contract.md`

+ - `decision` → decision track. An `rfc` draft on the topic plus resolution

+ wording enters `decision.resolve`; any other request enters

+ `decision.classify`, which selects `adr`, `rfc`, or the standard outcome. A

+ type name in the subject (`adr`, `rfc`, `rule`) satisfies that gate's

+ `skip_when`.

+ - `code` → describe track at `describe.read`. `describe.draft` selects `spec`,

+ `doc`, `guide`, or `scenario`; a type name in the subject settles its type

+ question. `describe.read` records `features/*.feature` files as evidence when

+ present; a `scenario` with no covering `spec` routes to the earliest gate that

+ produces the `spec` per `skills/_shared/gate-contract.md`.

+ - `research` → research track at `research.frame`; the supplied report satisfies frame inputs without an interview (investigation versus one external material: `skills/_shared/gate-contract.md`, Entry terms), and the closing test selects the type — a

+ report that ends in a recommendation is an `rnd`, a report that covers a scope

+ is a `research`. One external material with no investigation enters

+ `research.gather` as standalone evidence, records the request in the evidence

+ draft's Clarifications, and exits after gather. Follow the compatibility

+ contract's no-write exit when the type is unsupported.

Then go to Step 4.

### Step 3: Classify

- Classify the target as resolution, decision, code-doc, or unclear:

+ Classify the target as resolution, decision, code-doc, research material, or unclear:

- **Resolution** — the request names a verdict on an existing open proposal

(resolution signals above) and an `rfc` draft on the topic exists → decision

track at `decision.resolve`. Check this before Decision: wording that also

reads as a settled-decision signal ("we accepted the proposal") routes here

whenever a matching `rfc` draft exists.

- **Decision** — the request records a settled choice or an open proposal

(decision signals above) → decision track at `decision.classify`.

- - **Code-doc** — the request describes existing code, reference material, or a

- procedure (code-doc signals above) → describe track at `describe.read`.

+ - **Code-doc** — the request describes existing code, reference material, a

+ procedure, or a user flow over an existing `spec` (code-doc signals above) →

+ describe track at `describe.read`.

+ - **Research material** — the request supplies a ready report or one external

+ material to file (research-material signals above) → research track at

+ `research.frame`.

- **Unclear** — inspect git state and the working tree first: recent commits and

changed files are evidence of what the user has been working on. If the

evidence still supports both readings, ask one classifying question — "Is this

a decision to record or existing code to document?" — with the recommendation

drawn from the git evidence.

### Step 4: Execute the track

Run the selected track gate by gate per `skills/_shared/gate-contract.md`. The

track owns check-existing, per-gate elicitation, composition, and relation

wiring.

Question budget: per `skills/_shared/elicitation-contract.md` — auto mode draws

- from the shared per-invocation ceiling; expert invocation raises to the track's

+ from the shared per-invocation ceiling; a mode entry raises to the track's

per-gate maxima.

## Result

Report the produced documents grouped by category:

- - **knowledge** — `adr`, `rfc`, `spec`, `doc`, `guide`, `rule`, `evidence`

+ - **knowledge** — `adr`, `rfc`, `spec`, `doc`, `guide`, `rule`, `evidence`, `scenario`

- **vision** — `research` (scope-covering report), `rnd` (recommendation-closed report, or compatibility fallback), `plan` (architecture cascade)

- **experience** — `cpat` (standard cascade opt-in)

- List each document's path and relation edges. Close with one recommended next

- action naming only `/archcore:plan`, `/archcore:review`, or a repeat

- `/archcore:document` invocation.

+ List each document's path and relation edges. Name tracks and steps in plain

+ words; do not print a gate address of the form `<track>.<stage>`. Close with one

+ recommended next action naming only `/archcore:plan`, `/archcore:review`, or a

+ repeat `/archcore:document` invocation with its mode.