# Documentation Checklist

## Audience

- Identify who needs the document and what decision it should unblock.
- Separate contributor guidance from end-user guidance.
- Decide whether the document is reference, tutorial, explanation, or runbook.

## Content Quality

- Lead with the current state and the critical path.
- Prefer exact commands, paths, and examples over abstract advice.
- Call out prerequisites, failure modes, and verification steps.

## Maintenance

- Link the doc to the code paths, commands, or APIs it describes.
- Remove drift-prone statements that can be derived automatically elsewhere.
- End with the shortest useful next step for the reader.