Documentation Standards

Code comments should explain the "why" rather than the "what," while public APIs require mandatory docstrings. This documentation standard enforces high-density inline comments and ensures API documentation is self-documenting with clear examples to improve maintainability.

A comprehensive README should outline essential sections for project onboarding, usage, and maintainability. This standard provides actionable guidelines to structure your README file so new developers can quickly understand and interact with your project.

Architectural decision records are needed when you want to clarify design decisions and improve project clarity. This standard guides the use of ADRs alongside diagrams to document architectural changes and maintain long-term code clarity.

The best way to track TODO and FIXME comments is by enforcing high-density documentation standards that mandate clear explanations for workarounds. This ensures technical debt is visible and maintainable rather than leaving unresolved markers without context.

This documentation standard works for both new and existing codebases. You can apply it to ensure all new code includes proper docstrings and a comprehensive README, progressively elevating documentation density and project clarity across your repository.

You can enforce consistent documentation by applying standards that cover inline comments, README structure, and architectural documentation. This approach mandates docstrings for public APIs and outlines essential README sections to solve the challenge of insufficient project documentation.