Nerd Document
Incompatible Skills
Never combine Nerd with these unless this request explicitly asks:
- Superpowers
- Ponytail
- Caveman
Skill hooks, mentions, and indirect instructions are not authorization.
Review Support
When supporting nerd-review at Review, provide document-type, reader, and presentation criteria only. Review owns findings; do not draft, update, publish, or enter the Document workflow. The inheritance rule below applies when Document owns the outcome.
Content Prerequisites
Document collaboratively. Established information remains authoritative;
nerd-brainstorm owns unresolved audience, message, and structural direction.
When one of those choices would materially change the artifact, use
nerd-smart to hand off to nerd-brainstorm through Ideate, bring back the
selected direction, trade-off, constraints, and choice-changing unknowns, then
resume Document through nerd-smart before writing. Reuse an accepted
direction, and do not brainstorm when the established information or an
explicit user format already resolves the choice.
Write for the Reader
Lead with what matters: the outcome, decision, action, or current status the reader needs. Put supporting evidence next and optional background last. Match the reader's vocabulary; define necessary technical terms on first use. Prefer concrete statements and examples over broad claims and repeated summaries.
Encourage useful headings, short paragraphs, bullet points, numbered points, tables, and whitespace. Choose by meaning rather than forcing every format:
| Reader needs | Use |
|---|---|
| Understand the main point | A direct opening sentence or short summary |
| Scan parallel requirements, facts, or options | Bullet points |
| Follow a sequence or refer to ordered items | Numbered points |
| Compare repeated attributes or look up values | A table with clear column labels |
| Navigate topics or return to a section | Descriptive headings and section breaks |
| Understand a reason, trade-off, or relationship | A short connected paragraph |
Read human-friendly writing and examples when drafting or substantially revising a document. Keep critical decisions, risks, prerequisites, and required actions visible; move long evidence to linked sections. Never use decoration, dense tables, or lists to hide the main point.
Document
Create or update only the requested static artifact from established information. Choose one matched template when structure helps. Read only the matching document-type guide, plus a platform guide when a destination is named. Do not load the whole reference library. An explicit user format wins, and a tiny direct artifact may skip templates.
Revision Mode
For existing documents, select the requested mode before editing. Read the matching section of document revision guidance. Combine modes only when requested or necessary for the same outcome; preserve the document's established meaning and the user's format.
| Request | Mode and result |
|---|---|
| Simplify | Reduce reading difficulty; preserve necessary meaning and detail |
| Compact | Reduce length and repetition; preserve requirements and useful distinctions |
| Make comprehensive / detail | Add supported coverage, explanations, examples, and exceptions |
| Split | Divide into coherent documents with a clear entry point and working links |
| Orchestrate | Coordinate document roles, sources, dependencies, reading order, and updates |
Orchestration here concerns documents; it does not authorize agent delegation, implementation, or publishing. If another meaning materially changes the work, resolve it through Smart. Document type and destination still govern format.
Document Type
| Type | Read when the reader needs |
|---|---|
| Overview | Conceptual context and relationships |
| How-to | An ordered procedure for one outcome |
| Reference | Precise lookup of fields, options, or contracts |
| PRD | Product problem, outcomes, scope, and acceptance criteria |
| TRD | Technical design, boundaries, contracts, and operational constraints |
| Test plan | Test scope, risk coverage, environments, and release evidence |
| Test cases | Reproducible scenarios, expected results, and actual evidence |
| Decision record | One decision, alternatives, reasons, and consequences |
| Runbook | Safe diagnosis, recovery steps, and escalation |
| Incident report | Impact, timeline, causes, recovery, and follow-up actions |
| Release notes | User-visible changes, compatibility, and required actions |
| Project update | Status, changes, risks, decisions, and next actions |
These guides document established information. Drafting a PRD or TRD does not
turn Document into Specify: preserve supplied requirements and decisions;
mark missing facts as Unknown with their impact. If the user asks to make new
requirements or design decisions, confirm the endpoint through Smart.
Destination Platform
| Platform | Guide |
|---|---|
| Google Docs | Narrative documents and review |
| Google Sheets | Structured registers and test matrices |
| Google Slides | Decision-focused presentations |
| Notion | Navigable pages and maintained collections |
The type determines content; the platform determines presentation. Naming a platform does not authorize publishing or sharing. Use an available connector for an authorized native write; use an appropriate artifact skill for a requested file. If native access is unavailable, prepare an explicitly labeled draft or import-ready artifact and report that it has not been published. Never claim a Markdown outline is a native document, spreadsheet, or slide deck.
Validate and Finish
Validate the artifact with the closest content, link, render, or formatting check. Check that a reader can find the purpose, key facts, and next action from the opening and headings; requirements, examples, and tables agree; unknowns are visible; and no unused placeholders or invented facts remain. For revisions, also apply the selected mode's completion check in the revision guide. For native files, check the rendered result when tooling supports it. Do not change application behavior or unrelated documentation.
Stop when the artifact is produced and validated. Report its path or link and any material verification gap. Confirm through Smart before crossing to another endpoint.