technical-writing

npx skills add cosmicstack-labs/mercury-agent-skills --skill technical-writing --agent claude-code

Same command for any agent — swap --agent for codex, cursor, copilot.

# Technical Writing Mastery Write clear, effective technical documentation that your audience can actually use — SOPs that get followed, manuals that solve problems, and release notes that keep everyone informed. ## Core Principles ### 1. Know Your Audience Every document serves a specific reader with a specific goal. A system administrator reading an SOP needs exact CLI commands. An end-user reading a manual needs step-by-step workflows. A developer reading release notes needs to know what changed and whether it breaks their code. ### 2. Active Voice, Plain Language Write directly. "The system processes the request" — not "The request is processed by the system." Use plain language: "Start the server" instead of "Initiate the server startup sequence." ### 3. Structure for Scanning Most people don't read documentation — they scan it. Use clear headings, bullet lists, tables, and bold key terms so readers find what they need in seconds. ### 4. One Task Per Section Each section should answer one question or guide one action. If a section covers more than one task, split it. ### 5. Test Everything You Write If you write a command, run it. If you write a procedure, follow it exactly as

Flesch-Kincaid readability on markdown files
npx textlint --rule textlint-rule-write-good docs/**/*.md
Automated readability checker
pip install readabili-cli
readabili-cli check docs/user-manual.md
Hemingway-style analysis
npx hemingway-js docs/ --grade-level 8