Repository Consistency Check

Scans documentation files across the repository to ensure they are internally consistent and aligned with each other.

Invocation

/repo-consistency
"check the consistency of the repo"
"are the documents consistent"
"is everything aligned"
"verify documentation"
"check docs are up to date"

Scope

Files to Check

Location	Type	Priority
./*.md	Root documentation	Primary (can edit)
docs/*.md	Reference documentation	Primary (can edit)
playbooks/*.md	Procedures	Primary (can edit)
SKILLS.md	Skills reference	Primary (can edit)
skills/*/SKILL.md	Skill definitions	Secondary (source of truth for skills)
commands/*.md	Command definitions	Secondary (source of truth for commands)
speckit/**/*.md	Spec-kit templates	Contributed (prefer not to edit)
mcp/**/*.md	MCP server docs	Secondary

Third-Party / Contributed Content

These directories may contain content from external repositories. When conflicts arise, prefer fixing local documentation rather than modifying contributed files:

• speckit/ — from spec-kit
• skills/architecture-*, skills/specialist-*, skills/create-adr, skills/list-members, skills/pragmatic-guard, skills/setup-architect — from ai-software-architect
• commands/project/ — from claude-workflow

Consistency Checks

1. Cross-Reference Validity

Check that references between files are valid:

# Find all internal references
grep -rE "\`~?/?\.?claude/[^'\"]+\`" *.md docs/*.md playbooks/*.md

# Find all skill references
grep -rE "/[a-z-]+" *.md docs/*.md playbooks/*.md | grep -v "http"

Check:

• File paths exist (e.g., ~/.claude/docs/spotlight.md)
• Skill names exist (e.g., /repo-security-scan)
• Command names exist (e.g., /dotfiles-setup)

Report invalid references:

[BROKEN] README.md:42 references `~/.claude/docs/old-guide.md` (file not found)
[BROKEN] SKILLS.md:87 references `/old-skill` (skill not found)

2. Skills Documentation Sync

Compare SKILLS.md against actual skills:

# List documented skills in SKILLS.md
grep -E "^### \`/" SKILLS.md | sed 's/.*`\/\([^`]*\)`.*/\1/'

# List actual skills
ls -d skills/*/SKILL.md | xargs -I{} dirname {} | xargs -n1 basename

Check:

• All skills in skills/*/SKILL.md are documented in SKILLS.md
• No skills documented in SKILLS.md that don't exist
• Descriptions match between SKILLS.md and individual SKILL.md files
• Allowed tools listed correctly

Report discrepancies:

[MISSING] Skill /repo-consistency exists but not documented in SKILLS.md
[STALE] Skill /old-skill documented in SKILLS.md but directory not found
[MISMATCH] /new-project-rails description differs between SKILLS.md and SKILL.md

3. Commands Documentation Sync

Check commands are properly documented:

# List actual commands
find commands -name "*.md" -type f | sed 's|commands/||;s|\.md$||'

Check:

• Commands have consistent naming
• README or SKILLS.md mentions available commands

4. Setup Documentation Accuracy

Verify SETUP.md accurately reflects repo contents:

# What SETUP.md says gets installed
grep -A 20 "What gets installed" SETUP.md

# What actually exists
ls -la *.md
ls -d */ 2>/dev/null

Check:

• All items listed in "What gets installed" exist
• No major items missing from the list
• .gitignore entries match "What gets preserved"

5. README Accuracy

Verify README.md is current:

Check:

• Directory structure matches description
• Setup instructions point to correct files
• Links are valid

6. Naming Conventions

Check consistent naming across documentation:

Check:

• Skill names use kebab-case (repo-security-scan not repoSecurityScan)
• File names follow conventions
• British English spelling where applicable (behaviour, colour, organisation)

7. Duplicate Information

Identify content that's duplicated and might drift:

Check:

• Same procedure documented in multiple places
• Configuration examples duplicated
• Potential for one to be updated without the other

8. Orphaned Files

Find documentation that isn't referenced anywhere:

# List all .md files
find . -name "*.md" -type f | grep -v node_modules

# Check which are referenced
for f in $(find docs -name "*.md"); do
  basename=$(basename "$f")
  grep -r "$basename" --include="*.md" . | grep -v "^$f:" || echo "[ORPHAN] $f"
done

Workflow

Step 1: Gather All Documentation

# Collect all markdown files
find . -name "*.md" -type f | grep -v node_modules | grep -v .git

# Build inventory
- Root: CLAUDE.md, README.md, SETUP.md, SKILLS.md, CONTRIBUTING.md, etc.
- docs/: spotlight.md, terminal-basics.md, etc.
- playbooks/: workflow-guide.md, etc.
- skills/: SKILL.md files
- commands/: command definitions

Step 2: Run Consistency Checks

Execute each check category and collect findings.

Step 3: Categorise Findings

Severity	Meaning
Error	Broken reference, missing required content
Warning	Outdated info, mismatch between files
Info	Suggestion for improvement, minor inconsistency

Step 4: Generate Report

Write findings to console (and optionally consistency-report.md):

# Repository Consistency Report

**Date:** YYYY-MM-DD
**Files scanned:** 42

## Summary

| Severity | Count |
|----------|-------|
| Errors   | 2     |
| Warnings | 5     |
| Info     | 3     |

## Findings

### Errors

#### [E1] Broken reference in README.md
- **File:** README.md:42
- **Issue:** References `~/.claude/docs/old-guide.md` which doesn't exist
- **Fix:** Update reference or create the file

#### [E2] Missing skill documentation
- **File:** SKILLS.md
- **Issue:** Skill `/repo-consistency` exists but not documented
- **Fix:** Add section to SKILLS.md

### Warnings

#### [W1] Description mismatch
- **Files:** SKILLS.md, skills/new-project-rails/SKILL.md
- **Issue:** Skill descriptions don't match
- **SKILLS.md says:** "Creates a new Rails project with personal preferences"
- **SKILL.md says:** "Creates a new Rails project (RSpec, PostgreSQL, Docker, master branch)"
- **Fix:** Align descriptions (update SKILLS.md to match SKILL.md)

### Info

#### [I1] Potential duplicate content
- **Files:** SETUP.md, README.md
- **Issue:** Setup instructions appear in both files
- **Suggestion:** Consider single source of truth with cross-reference

## Recommendations

1. Fix all Errors immediately
2. Address Warnings to prevent drift
3. Consider Info items for future cleanup

Step 5: Offer Fixes

For issues that can be auto-fixed:

Found 2 errors and 5 warnings.

Auto-fixable issues:
  [E2] Add /repo-consistency to SKILLS.md
  [W1] Align description in SKILLS.md

Would you like me to fix these automatically?
  - Fix all
  - Fix errors only
  - Review each
  - Skip (just report)

Step 6: Apply Fixes (if requested)

When fixing, follow the priority:

1. Update local docs (README.md, SKILLS.md, SETUP.md, docs/*.md)
2. Leave contributed files unchanged (speckit/, ai-software-architect skills)
3. Update skill/command source only if it's clearly wrong

Examples

Missing Skill Documentation

Found: skills/repo-consistency/SKILL.md exists but not in SKILLS.md

Fix: Add to SKILLS.md:

### `/repo-consistency`

Checks documentation consistency across the repository.

**Usage:**
...

Broken File Reference

Found: playbooks/development-workflow.md references docs/git-workflow.md which doesn't exist

Fix options:

1. Create the missing file
2. Update the reference to correct path
3. Remove the reference if obsolete

Stale Setup Instructions

Found: SETUP.md lists specs/ in "What gets installed" but specs/ is now gitignored

Fix: Remove specs/ from the "What gets installed" table

Notes

• Run after making significant documentation changes
• Run before committing documentation updates
• Helps maintain documentation quality over time
• Does not modify files without explicit permission