documenting-chores

Documenting Chores

Create lightweight chore task documents that capture maintenance work, dependency updates, refactoring, and minor fixes without the overhead of full feature requirements.

When to Use This Skill

• Documenting dependency updates or version bumps
• Recording planned refactoring work
• Tracking documentation fixes or README updates
• Capturing configuration changes
• Cleaning up dead code or unused files
• Any maintenance task that doesn't warrant full feature requirements

Arguments

• When argument is provided: Use the argument as a pre-filled chore title for the document being created.
• When no argument is provided: Prompt the user interactively for the chore details.

Quick Start

1. Check for existing chores in requirements/chores/ to determine the next Chore ID
2. Ask for GitHub issue URL if not provided (optional but recommended for traceability)
3. Identify the chore category (see references/categories.md)
4. Create chore document using the template
5. Save to requirements/chores/CHORE-XXX-description.md

File Location

All chore documents go in: requirements/chores/

Naming format: CHORE-XXX-{2-4-word-description}.md

Examples:

• CHORE-001-update-dependencies.md
• CHORE-002-fix-readme-typos.md
• CHORE-003-cleanup-unused-imports.md

Chore ID Assignment

To assign the next Chore ID:

1. Check existing files in requirements/chores/
2. Find the highest CHORE-XXX number
3. Increment by 1 for the new chore
4. If no chores exist, start with CHORE-001

Template

See assets/chore-document.md for the full template.

Structure Overview

# Chore: [Brief Title]
- Chore ID, GitHub Issue (optional), Category
- Description (1-2 sentences)
- Affected Files
- Acceptance Criteria
- Completion (status, date, PR link)
- Notes (optional)

Categories

Five supported categories with specific guidance:

Category	Use For
dependencies	Package updates, version bumps, security patches
documentation	README updates, comment fixes, doc corrections
refactoring	Code cleanup, restructuring, naming improvements
configuration	Config file updates, tooling changes, CI/CD modifications
cleanup	Removing dead code, unused files, deprecated features

See references/categories.md for detailed guidance on each category.

Verification Checklist

Before finalizing, verify:

• Chore ID is unique (not already used)
• Category matches the type of work
• Description clearly explains the work
• Affected files list is complete
• Acceptance criteria are testable
• GitHub issue is linked (if one exists)

Relationship to Other Skills

Task Type	Recommended Approach
New feature with requirements	Use documenting-features skill
Chore/maintenance task	Use this skill (documenting-chores)
Quick fix (no tracking needed)	Direct implementation

After documenting a chore, run /reviewing-requirements to verify the document against the codebase and docs, then /documenting-qa to create a test plan. Optionally run /reviewing-requirements again for test-plan reconciliation. Then use /executing-chores to implement it. After PR review, optionally run /reviewing-requirements for code-review reconciliation, then /executing-qa to verify, and /finalizing-workflow to merge.