Documenter Coauthoring

Add this to documenter; it changes collaboration, not documentation rules.

Workflow

1. Establish the working state:

• read supplied files and existing docs before asking discoverable questions
• infer the audience, outcome, template, constraints, and output target
• invite an unstructured context dump when useful
• ask one batched set of questions only for unknowns that materially affect

the next checkpoint

• track the accepted outline and sections, decisions, general preferences,

assumptions, open questions, delegated authority and its limits, checkpoint cadence, and next action

• on resume, or before switching from chat-only draft to applied edits,

refresh the canonical artifact, relevant evidence, repository state, and initial diff; mark affected accepted sections stale when material evidence or decisions changed

1. Agree on structure and user control:

• confirm and reuse an established structure; when structure is unresolved,

propose an outline with material alternatives, assumptions, and a recommendation

• derive checkpoint cadence from the request; if it is unspecified, propose

the smallest useful next checkpoint

• let the user approve, revise, waive, or delegate checkpoints and decisions
• treat delegation as authority to skip covered pauses, not as authority to

hide ripple effects, weaken evidence or safety checks, or cause external side effects

• pause only at an agreed checkpoint or for a material choice outside

delegated authority; do not add gates because the document is large or uncertain

1. Draft the agreed section or logical tranche:

• work in dependency order; prototype a high-uncertainty section first only

when it could change the outline

• write summaries after the decision and evidence are stable, then place them

where readers need them

• preserve accepted material and decisions
• treat section-specific feedback as local; carry clearly general preferences

such as tone, terminology, or audience forward, and ask only when their scope is materially ambiguous

• surface ripple effects before changing an accepted decision; when delegated

authority covers the change, disclose them without adding a checkpoint and mark affected accepted sections stale until reconciled

1. Reconcile at each checkpoint:

• keep one canonical artifact rather than parallel conflicting drafts
• show the current tranche or changed blocks during iteration while keeping

the complete artifact coherent at milestones and completion

• report what changed, current decisions and assumptions, unresolved material

questions, validation state, and the next proposed action or gate

1. Finish or hand off:

• apply the baseline validation rules
• before declaring completion, perform a cold-read pass against the named

audience and task without relying on conversational context; report it as self-review, not an independent fresh-reader test

• declare completion only when the baseline completion criteria and cold-read

pass are satisfied; seek approval at an agreed completion checkpoint, or complete autonomously within delegated authority

• when the user pauses or requests a handoff, return the working state needed

to resume and do not claim the document is complete