Diátaxis Documentation Skill

The Diátaxis framework organizes documentation by user need, not by topic. This skill helps you create documentation that works for your audience.

The Four Categories

Diátaxis distinguishes four documentation needs using a 2×2 matrix:

Quick Reference

• Tutorials (Learning + Practical): "Teach me by doing"
• How-to Guides (Working + Practical): "Help me accomplish X"
• Reference (Working + Theoretical): "Tell me how things work"
• Explanation (Learning + Theoretical): "Help me understand why"

Working With Documentation

1. Diagnose What You Have

When given documentation, determine which category it belongs to:

• Is it teaching or working? (Axis 1)
• Is it practical or theoretical? (Axis 2)
• Does it serve a single purpose or is it mixed?

2. Identify Problems

Common documentation problems map to mixing categories:

• Tutorials polluted with explanation → Users get lost in "why" when they should focus on "do"
• How-to guides that teach → Assumes no prior knowledge; should link to tutorials instead
• Reference missing examples → Should show, not just describe
• Explanation that instructs → Should link to how-to guides instead
• Missing entire categories → Product has only reference; users can't get started

3. Choose the Right Template

When writing documentation, use the appropriate template:

• Writing a tutorial? See tutorial-template.md
• Writing a how-to guide? See how-to-guide-template.md
• Writing reference? See reference-template.md
• Writing explanation? See explanation-template.md
• Want real-world examples? See examples.md

4. Apply Category-Specific Principles

See framework.md for detailed principles, language patterns, and anti-patterns for each category.

5. Structure Output

Create documentation in this structure:

.docs/
├── tutorials/          # Learning-oriented lessons
│   └── [topic]/
├── how-to/             # Task-oriented guides
│   └── [domain]/
├── reference/          # Technical descriptions
│   └── [component]/
├── explanation/        # Conceptual discussions
│   └── [subject]/
└── index.md            # Navigation

Naming conventions:

• Use kebab-case for all files and folders
• Tutorials: getting-started-with-x.md, your-first-y.md
• How-to: how-to-configure-x.md, how-to-deploy-y.md
• Reference: api-reference.md, configuration-options.md
• Explanation: about-architecture.md, understanding-x.md

Common Workflows

Auditing existing documentation

1. Read through each document
2. Determine which category it belongs to
3. Flag content that belongs in other categories
4. Suggest extractions or links to separate content
5. Check for "category pollution" (mixing purposes)

Writing new documentation

1. Identify the user need (learning/working, practical/theoretical)
2. Choose the appropriate category
3. Find the right template:
   • Tutorial: tutorial-template.md
   • How-to: how-to-guide-template.md
   • Reference: reference-template.md
   • Explanation: explanation-template.md
4. Use category-specific language patterns (in template)
5. See examples.md for production-grade examples
6. Save in the correct folder structure

Refactoring mixed content

1. Read the mixed document
2. Identify sections that belong in different categories
3. Create separate files for each category
4. In each file, link to related content in other categories
5. Remove the original mixed document

Key Principle

Every document should serve exactly one user need. When content serves multiple needs, separate it into multiple documents and link them together. This is better than trying to serve all needs in one place.

Remember: The first rule of teaching is simply: don't try to teach. Let the structure and the doing facilitate learning.