Authority. This skill is maintained only in ariestools/ariestools-skills. Copies under XYOracleNetwork/xyo-skills are redirect stubs — edit here, never there.
This skill defines how a repository tells an agent what is true. It covers one entry point (AGENTS.md), thin per-tool adapters, and a documentation tree whose folders encode lifecycle rather than topic — so that a document's age, authority, and supersession are readable without opening it.
Read the repository's own AGENTS.md first. It is authoritative for that repository. This skill describes the shape those files should take; it never overrides what a specific repository says about itself.
The rule this exists to enforce: an instruction file is only useful while it is true. Every convention below exists to make untruth detectable — by a linter, by an audit, or by an agent that reads a status column and stops.
This skill builds on the Development Skill. It is recommended, not required: a repository that does not follow this pattern is not defective, and you should follow whatever convention that repository already uses rather than converting it mid-task.
References
Repository structure
Read first when orienting in an unfamiliar repository, deciding where a new document belongs, or setting up the pattern in a repository that lacks it. Covers the canonical tree, the papers/ vs specs/ vs docs/ split, lifecycle subfolders, and immutable source archives.
The AGENTS.md entry point
Read when writing, editing, or trimming AGENTS.md, or when wiring the per-tool adapters. Covers the required sections and what each is for, the authority table's status column, the size budget, @AGENTS.md imports, .claude/rules/ path scoping, and nested package files.
Document lifecycle
Read when adding any document, changing a document's status, superseding one document with another, or archiving. Covers the front-matter schema, the state vocabulary, decision records, dated evidence documents, the generated index, and the archive procedure.
Auditing and maintenance
Read when asked to audit repository documentation, when you notice a document that no longer matches the code, or before declaring a documentation task complete. Covers the check catalog, staleness and orphan detection, how findings become xy work items, and the current tooling status.
Templates
Read when creating a file this convention describes. Copy-paste skeletons for AGENTS.md, the adapter files, a decision record, an evidence record, a runbook, the archive banner, and the docs index.
Related skills
- xy-development — TypeScript, Git, testing, and the definition of done this pattern plugs into.
- xy-toolchain — the
xyCLI, includingxy work, which this pattern uses to track documentation maintenance.