/update-docs
Keep documentation in sync with code. Detects what changed, updates the right tiers, leaves changes staged for review.
How it works
1. Detect changes → git diff vs main (or vs HEAD if standalone)
2. Classify → categorize files into doc tiers
3. Update → edit relevant docs per tier
4. Verify stats → run stats tools, refresh counts
5. Stage → git add (no commit — let parent commit per-phase)
Bundling behavior
When called from /ship (Phase D):
- Apply doc updates
- Stage changes (
git add) - Do NOT commit — let
/shipcommit asdocs(<scope>): sync documentation - Return summary of what was updated
When called standalone:
- Apply doc updates
- Commit as
docs: update documentation
Phase 1: Detect Changes
BRANCH=$(git branch --show-current)
BASE=$(git merge-base origin/main HEAD 2>/dev/null || echo HEAD~5)
git diff --name-only $BASE..HEAD
git diff --name-only HEAD # also include unstaged
Phase 2: Documentation Tiers
| Tier | Files | Trigger |
|---|---|---|
| 1 Core | README.md, CLAUDE.md, top-level package READMEs | Any significant change |
| 2 Architecture | docs/architecture.md, docs/database-schema.md | Structural changes |
| 3 Journey | docs/journey/*.md (user flows) | Business logic changes |
| 4 Claude Config | .claude/rules/*.md, .claude/skills/**/references/*.md | Tool/workflow changes |
Phase 3: Stats Verification
If your project has a stats sync tool, run it first — it's the single source of truth for counts in README/CLAUDE.md.
# Example — replace with your project's tool
bun run tools/stats-sync.ts --update # writes diffs into core docs
bun run tools/stats-sync.ts # check-only mode for CI
If no automated tool, verify common counts manually:
# Components, endpoints, tests — adjust globs to your structure
find src/components -name "*.tsx" | wc -l
grep -rcE "@(Get|Post|Patch|Delete|Put)\(" --include="*.ts" src/api/
Phase 4: Per-Change Update Checklist
| Change type | Update |
|---|---|
| New feature | README features list, relevant journey doc, CLAUDE.md if it affects how AI agents work |
| New API endpoint | API doc / journey doc with endpoint table, CLAUDE.md endpoint count |
| New component | Component README, design system doc if it introduces a pattern |
| Database change | docs/database-schema.md, migration notes, related journey docs |
| Config change | Doc that explains the config option, rule files that reference it |
| Refactor | Update file paths in any doc that linked to moved/renamed files |
| Dependency upgrade | CHANGELOG, README if version is documented |
Phase 5: Stage & Report
git add README.md CLAUDE.md docs/ .claude/
Report format:
Documentation Update — Summary
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Scope: <auto-detected files>
Updated: path/to/doc.md — what changed
Verified: Components: X | Tests: X | Endpoints: X
Skipped: path/to/doc.md — already up to date
Manual: path/to/doc.md — needs human review (reason)
Guidelines
- Concise — lead with the answer, not the context
- Scannable — tables, bullet lists, headers
- Cross-reference, don't duplicate — link to related docs
- Match code reality — every code example, path, count must match the current code
- Stage everything, commit nothing when called from
/ship
Exit conditions
- All affected tiers updated, OR
- Reported as "no doc-worthy changes" if diff is purely internal (formatting, comments, test-only)
- Manual-review items flagged with reason