13 KiB
description
| description |
|---|
| Audit existing README.md compliance with standards without making changes |
Validate README
Activated Agent
Activate: readme-author agent
The agent will audit your README.md against Personal minimal standards.
Objective
Validate existing README.md structure and content against 8-section minimal requirements, identify missing or incomplete sections, and provide actionable recommendations for improvement.
Command Parameters
| Parameter | Options | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
--tier |
prototype, mvp, production |
Auto-detect | Project tier to validate against |
--format |
console, markdown |
console |
Output format (console display vs. report file) |
--output |
<path> |
./reports/readme-validation-report.md |
Custom report path (requires --format=markdown) |
Examples:
/document-generator:validate-readme # Console output, auto-detect tier
/document-generator:validate-readme --tier=mvp --format=markdown
/document-generator:validate-readme --format=markdown --output=./docs/readme-validation.md
Activated Skills
The agent will activate these skills:
readme-standards- minimal README validation criteriareadme-authoring- Reference templates for comparison
Process
The agent will follow this workflow:
1. Pre-flight Checks
Check if README.md exists:
-
If
README.mdnot found in current directory:❌ No README.md found in current directory. Use `/document-generator:generate-readme` to create one. Aborting validation.- Stop execution
-
If
README.mdexists: Proceed with validation
2. Detect Project Tier
Agent will detect project tier (if not specified via --tier) and display for user. Validation will use tier-appropriate standards from readme-standards skill.
3. Parse README Structure
Read and analyze README.md:
-
Extract sections - Identify which of the 8 sections are present (with flexible section names):
- Title & One-Liner (check for
# {Title}and description) - Badges Block (check for shield.io badges or similar)
- Short Description (
## Descriptionor## Overviewacceptable) - Installation (
## Installationor## Quick Start) - Documentation (dedicated
## Documentationsection OR links within## Guides/other sections) - Supporting Components (
## Supporting Components) - Contributing (dedicated
## Contributingsection OR link within## Documentation/## Guides) - Issue Reporting (dedicated
## Bugssection OR link within## Contributing/## Documentation)
- Title & One-Liner (check for
-
Check heading hierarchy:
- Title uses
# - Sections use
## - No
###headings (keep it minimal)
- Title uses
-
Count sections - Track which required vs. optional sections are present
4. Validate Content Quality
For each section, validate content:
Title & One-Liner (REQUIRED):
- ✅ Level 1 heading present
- ✅ One-liner present (1-2 sentences)
- ✅ Description is specific, not vague
- ⚠️ If missing or vague: Flag as incomplete
Badges (OPTIONAL, tier-dependent):
- ℹ️ Note if missing for MVP/Production projects
- ✅ If present, check format (shields.io or similar)
- ⚠️ If placeholder badges: Flag as incomplete
Short Description (REQUIRED):
- ✅
## Descriptionor## Overviewheading present - ✅ Paragraph length appropriate (3-5 sentences)
- ✅ Business problem context included
- ✅ Solution context included
- ℹ️ Separate
## Business Problemor## Solutionsections acceptable if brief and focused - ✅ Preferred approach: Integrate business/solution context into single Description/Overview paragraph
- ⚠️ If business context missing: Flag as incomplete
Installation (REQUIRED):
- ✅
## Installationheading present - ✅ Installation command in code block
- ✅ Command is actionable (not "install this project")
- ✅ Link to setup guide if
docs/setup.mdexists - ⚠️ If missing link to existing setup guide: Flag as incomplete
Documentation (REQUIRED):
- ✅ Documentation links present (can be in dedicated
## Documentationsection OR within## Guidesor similar section) - ✅ At least one documentation link provided
- ✅ Links point to existing files (validate)
- ⚠️ If ADRs exist in
adr/but not linked anywhere: Recommend linking - ⚠️ If architecture docs exist but not linked anywhere: Recommend linking
- ⚠️ If minimal documentation: Suggest additions
Supporting Components (OPTIONAL):
- ℹ️ Note if missing (not an error)
- ✅ If present, lists actual dependencies with links
Contributing Link (REQUIRED):
- ✅ Contributing guidance or link present (can be dedicated
## Contributingsection OR link within## Documentation/## Guides) - ✅ Link to
CONTRIBUTING.mdif file exists (can be in any section) - ✅ If no
CONTRIBUTING.md, basic guidance provided somewhere in README - ⚠️ If
CONTRIBUTING.mdexists but not linked anywhere: Recommend linking - ⚠️ If MVP/Production without
CONTRIBUTING.md: Suggest creating one
Issue Reporting (REQUIRED):
- ✅ Issue reporting link or guidance present (can be dedicated
## Bugssection OR link within## Contributing/## Documentation) - ✅ Issue tracker link provided somewhere in README
- ⚠️ If no clear path to report issues: Flag as missing
5. Validate Links
Check documentation links referenced in README:
-
Relative links - Verify files exist:
docs/setup.mddocs/architecture.mdadr/CONTRIBUTING.md
-
External links - Note but don't verify (assume valid):
- GitHub Issues URLs
- API documentation URLs
- Confluence links
-
Flag broken links:
❌ Broken link: docs/quickstart.md (file not found)
6. Check for Undiscovered Documentation
Scan for documentation not linked in README:
# Check for common doc files
test -f docs/architecture.md && echo "Architecture doc exists"
test -d adr && echo "ADRs exist"
test -f CONTRIBUTING.md && echo "Contributing guide exists"
If documentation exists but not linked:
⚠️ Found documentation not linked in README:
- docs/architecture.md exists but not linked in Documentation section
- adr/ exists (3 ADRs) but not linked
7. Generate Compliance Report
Tier-appropriate validation using readme-standards skill criteria.
Calculate compliance score:
- Count required content present (out of 6 core requirements: Title, Description/Overview, Installation, Documentation links, Contributing link, Issue reporting)
- Note: Section names can vary - focus on whether essential content/links exist somewhere in README
- Count optional sections present (out of 2: Badges, Supporting Components)
- Count content quality issues (missing business context, broken links, etc.)
Assign compliance level:
- ✅✅✅ Excellent - All required content present, business context clear, comprehensive links, tier-appropriate
- ✅✅ Standard - All required content present, minor content gaps
- ✅ Minimal - Required content mostly present, some significant gaps (missing contributing link or issue reporting)
- ❌ Non-compliant - Missing multiple core requirements
8. Present Results
Console format (--format=console, default):
📋 README Validation Report
Project: {Project Name}
Tier: {Detected Tier}
Compliance Level: ✅✅ Standard
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
✅ COMPLIANT SECTIONS (5/6 required, 1/2 optional)
1. Title & One-Liner - Clear and descriptive
2. Short Description - Business context included
3. Installation - Simple command with setup link
4. Documentation - 3 resources linked
5. Bugs & Enhancements - Issue tracker linked
ℹ️ OPTIONAL SECTIONS
6. Badges - Not present (MVP tier - recommended)
7. Supporting Components - Not applicable
⚠️ INCOMPLETE SECTIONS (1)
8. Contributing - Section present but CONTRIBUTING.md not linked
→ CONTRIBUTING.md exists at ./CONTRIBUTING.md
→ Add link in Contributing section
❌ MISSING SECTIONS (1)
9. (None)
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
📌 RECOMMENDATIONS
Priority 1 (Required):
- Link to CONTRIBUTING.md in Contributing section
Priority 2 (Suggested):
- Add badges (project is MVP tier - version, lifecycle, docs, code style)
- Link to ADRs in Documentation section (3 ADRs found in adr/)
Priority 3 (Optional):
- Create quickstart guide (docs/quickstart.md)
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
✨ NEXT STEPS
Run `/document-generator:update-readme` to automatically fix issues.
Markdown format (--format=markdown):
Generate detailed report using structure from readme-standards skill Resources section.
Write to output path (default: ./reports/readme-validation-report.md):
# README Validation Report
**Project**: {Project Name}
**Date**: {Date}
**Tier**: {Detected Tier}
**Compliance Level**: ✅✅ Standard
## Summary
- ✅ 5 of 6 required sections compliant
- ⚠️ 1 section incomplete
- ❌ 0 sections missing
- ℹ️ 1 of 2 optional sections present
## Detailed Assessment
### ✅ Compliant Sections
1. **Title & One-Liner** - Clear and descriptive
- Title: "Customer Segmentation Engine"
- One-liner present and specific
2. **Short Description** - Business context included
- Business problem: Marketing teams need customer segmentation
- Solution: Clustering service for targeted campaigns
- Core functionality described
...
### ⚠️ Incomplete Sections
8. **Contributing** - Section present but incomplete
- Section exists with basic guidance
- CONTRIBUTING.md exists at `./CONTRIBUTING.md` but not linked
- **Recommendation**: Add link to CONTRIBUTING.md
### ❌ Missing Sections
(None)
## Recommendations
### Priority 1 (Required)
- Link to CONTRIBUTING.md in Contributing section
### Priority 2 (Suggested)
- Add badges (MVP tier: version, lifecycle, docs, code style)
- Link to ADRs in Documentation section
### Priority 3 (Optional)
- Create quickstart guide
## Next Steps
Run `/document-generator:update-readme` to automatically fix issues.
Create reports directory if needed:
mkdir -p reports
Confirm report creation:
✓ Validation report saved to ./reports/readme-validation-report.md
Output Format
Console output - Structured, scannable report with emojis for visual clarity
Markdown report - Detailed, archivable document following structure from readme-standards skill
Validation Levels
Using progressive validation from readme-standards skill:
Level 1: Structure (must pass for minimal compliance):
- All 6 required pieces of content present (title, description/overview, installation, docs links, contributing link, issue reporting)
- Section names can vary - essential content matters more than exact section structure
- Proper heading hierarchy
Level 2: Content (standard compliance):
- Business problem/solution context included (in Description, Overview, or separate sections)
- Actionable installation command
- Valid documentation links
- Contributing guidance accessible (dedicated section or link within docs/guides)
- Issue reporting path clear (dedicated section or link within contributing/docs)
Level 3: Quality (excellent compliance):
- Tier-appropriate badges
- Comprehensive documentation links (architecture, ADRs, guides)
- CONTRIBUTING.md exists and linked for mature projects
- All available documentation linked appropriately
Constraints
- Read-only - This command does not modify README.md
- Link validation - Only check relative links, not external URLs
- Tier-appropriate - Validation criteria adjust based on project tier
- No speculation - Only flag issues based on actual file checks
- Actionable recommendations - Every issue should have clear fix
Error Handling
README.md not found:
- Display clear error message
- Suggest using
/document-generator:generate-readme - Stop execution
Cannot create reports directory:
- Display error with permission issue
- Suggest alternative output path
README.md unreadable:
- Display error (encoding issue, permissions)
- Suggest checking file permissions
Success Criteria
Validation report should:
- ✅ Accurately identify missing/incomplete sections
- ✅ Provide tier-appropriate recommendations
- ✅ Flag broken links and missing doc references
- ✅ Give clear, actionable next steps
- ✅ Assign appropriate compliance level
Related Commands
/document-generator:generate-readme- Create new README/document-generator:update-readme- Fix identified issues