Cognitive Doc Design
Write docs that are quick to scan, easy to retain, and simple for reviewers to verify.
- Repository
- Gentleman-Programming/gentle-ai
- Stars
- 8,181
- Licence
- MIT
- Files
- 1 file
What it does
When installed, the agent follows a set of documentation habits meant to reduce the mental effort readers need. It puts the answer or action first, breaks content into short sections, uses tables and checklists instead of long paragraphs, and gives reviewers a clear path through pull requests. It supplies a default doc template (quick path, details, checklist, next step) unless the project already has its own template.
Great for
- Developers writing README files, contributor guides, or architecture and onboarding docs
- Engineers writing PR descriptions that reviewers need to check quickly
- Maintainers who want consistent, scannable documentation across a repo
Skip it if
- Creative or marketing copy, where a structured, checklist-style format would be wrong (the skill targets technical review-facing docs)
- Projects with their own strict documentation templates, since the skill defers to those only if the agent notices them; the default shape may otherwise conflict
Try asking
- “Rewrite this README so a new contributor can get running in five minutes”
- “Draft a PR description that tells reviewers what to look at first and what is out of scope”
- “Restructure this long architecture doc into a quick path with details and a checklist”
- “Review the markdown files changed on this branch for readability”
Install in 3 steps
- 1
Download the skill
The ZIP contains the 1 original files, the MIT licence and an attribution note.
cognitive-doc-design.zip - 2
Add it to your agent
Claude Code (all projects)
mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills && unzip cognitive-doc-design.zip -d ~/.claude/skills/Claude Code / Agent SDK (this project only)
mkdir -p .claude/skills && unzip cognitive-doc-design.zip -d .claude/skills/Claude apps (web/desktop): Settings → Capabilities → Skills → Upload skill, and choose the ZIP.
- 3
Ask for the task
No special command needed — the agent reads the skill's description and loads it when your request matches. Try one of the prompts above.
Get better results
- Name the audience and reader goal in your request (for example, 'for a new contributor') so the agent picks the right depth.
- Let the agent suggest the structure first, then ask it to fill in details, to avoid over-formatting short docs.
- Check that the agent's changes still match your project's own doc conventions before merging.
What's inside
- SKILL.md
Redistributed unmodified from Gentleman-Programming/gentle-ai under the MIT licence. The assessment was drafted with AI from the skill's files on 2026-10-29. Skills can instruct your agent to run code — read SKILL.md and any scripts before installing.