What should I put in the thoughts/ directory?

The thoughts/ directory is for informal notes, experiments, brainstorming, and any information that isn't yet ready for formal documentation.

Can I use this for existing projects?

Yes, this skill can be applied to existing projects to help organize current knowledge and plan future feature development.

What is the primary goal of the Structured Project Documentation skill?

The primary goal is to prevent documentation clutter by enforcing a strict separation between objective research, architectural decisions, and implementation steps.

Where are the files stored in my project?

All documentation generated or managed by this skill is stored within the docs/plans/ directory of your repository.

What is the difference between research.md and design.md?

Research.md contains only facts about the codebase or external tools, while design.md is strictly for decisions and the rationale behind choosing specific options.

Structured Project Documentation

Name: Structured Project Documentation
Author: gvarela

bygvarela

0•

Productivity & Workflow

Enforces a clear separation of concerns in project documentation by organizing research, design, and implementation into specific directories.

The Structured Project Documentation skill provides a rigorous framework for managing project knowledge within Claude Code. By enforcing the use of specific files in the docs/plans/ directory—research.md for facts, design.md for decisions, and tasks.md for implementation—it ensures that technical documentation remains clean, searchable, and logical. This skill is essential for teams and solo developers who want to avoid documentation rot and maintain a clear distinction between what is known, what has been decided, and what needs to be built.

Key Features

01Isolated implementation task lists to streamline coding workflows

02Strict separation of factual research from architectural decisions

03Dedicated thoughts/ directory for brainstorming and exploration

04Standardized docs/plans/ directory structure

05Prevents cognitive overload by categorizing information by intent

060 GitHub stars

Use Cases

01Onboarding new developers by providing a clear trail of project rationale

02Planning complex new features where research and design choices must be audited

03Managing large-scale refactors with step-by-step implementation tracking

What are Skills?·How to Install

Install with 🐟 Skill.Fish

npx skillfish add gvarela/prompts project-structure

For use in Claude.ai and ChatGPT

Download Skill