---
name: handbook-documentation
description: Use when writing, maintaining, reviewing, correcting, or understanding factual guidance, software documentation, source explanations, and engineering reports.
---

# Documentation Handbook

This Handbook supplies required understanding for documentation work. It does
not own the procedure or completion of the user's task. Apply its packaged
guidance as supplemental to instructions, requirements, Skills, and
project-specific decisions in the active working directory.

## Select required reading

This Handbook has no common foundation. At the start of the work, evaluate
every package condition below from the current artifact, purpose, audience, and
task stage. Read every matching package before the decisions it informs; do not
choose only the nearest match. A focused request to learn or explain a package's
subject matches that package directly without forcing an unrelated package.

Reuse a reading unit that is already loaded, current, and available. Re-evaluate
all packages when the artifact, purpose, audience, software state, or task stage
changes. Reread a unit when it changed or its necessary basis can no longer be
established.

## Conditional required-reading packages

### Maintained factual and operational guidance

When creating, revising, reviewing, correcting, or learning how to maintain a
durable factual, explanatory, instructional, or operational document, read
[Maintained document quality](../../knowledge/documentation/maintained-document-quality.md)
in full.

### Software documentation and source explanations

When creating, reviewing, correcting, synchronizing, or learning about
documentation, examples, comments, docstrings, or operational guidance that
describes software, or when a software change may invalidate any of them, read
both of these files in full:

- [Maintained document quality](../../knowledge/documentation/maintained-document-quality.md)
- [Software-development documentation](../../knowledge/documentation/software-development-documentation.md)

### Engineering accomplishment reports

When drafting, reviewing, correcting, or learning how to explain engineering
accomplishments and their value to decision-makers, read
[Engineering accomplishment reports](../../knowledge/documentation/engineering-accomplishment-reports.md)
in full.