Documentation Writing

Write documentation following Metabase's conversational, clear, and user-focused style.

You say
Install this skill Read the source first Free Written by metabase · unverified publisher
Context cost
725 tokensestimated from the bundle, loaded when it triggers
Bundle
1 file · 2.9 kBtext throughout, nothing executable
Licence
AGPL-3.0free to use
Last change
no release on file
Servers it uses
Noneruns standalone

What it does

Write documentation following Metabase's conversational, clear, and user-focused style. Use when creating or editing documentation files (markdown, MDX, etc.).

Installed, it changes the agent in these ways.

What this skill changes about the agent is not written down here yet. The listing was collected from its source, and the description is in its own SKILL.md.

Workflow

Runs a procedure end to end.

documentationwriting

The skill itself

This is the whole product. A skill is instructions the model reads, so there is nothing behind the listing you cannot see first — the front matter loads with every session, and the body below it loads when the skill triggers.

SKILL.md2.9 kB · 97 lines
--- name: docs-write description: Write documentation following Metabase's conversational, clear, and user-focused style. Use when creating or editing documentation files (markdown, MDX, etc.). allowed-tools: Read, Write, Grep, Bash, Glob ---
7# Documentation Writing Skill
8
9@./../_shared/metabase-style-guide.md
10
11## When writing documentation
12
13### Start here
14
151. **Who is this for?** Match complexity to audience. Don't oversimplify hard things or overcomplicate simple ones.
162. **What do they need?** Get them to the answer fast. Nobody wants to be in docs longer than necessary.
173. **What did you struggle with?** Those common questions you had when learning? Answer them (without literally including the question).
18
19### Writing process
20
21**Draft:**
22
23- Write out the steps/explanation as you'd tell a colleague
24- Lead with what to do, then explain why
25- Use headings that state your point: "Set SAML before adding users" not "SAML configuration timing"
26
27**Edit:**
28
29- Read aloud. Does it sound like you talking? If it's too formal, simplify.
30- Cut anything that doesn't directly help the reader
31- Check each paragraph has one clear purpose
32- Verify examples actually work (don't give examples that error)
33
34**Polish:**
35
36- Make links descriptive (never "here")
37- Backticks only for code/variables, **bold** for UI elements
38- American spelling, serial commas
39- Keep images minimal and scoped tight
40
41**Format:**
42
43- Run prettier on the file after making edits: bun run prettier --write <file-path>
44- This ensures consistent formatting across all documentation
45
46### Common patterns
47
48**Instructions:**
49
50```markdown
51Run:
52\\\`
53command-to-run
54\\\`
55
56Then:
57\\\`
58next-command
59\\\`
60
61This ensures you're getting the latest changes.
62```
63
64Not: "(remember to run X before Y...)" buried in a paragraph.
65
66**Headings:**
67
68- "Use environment variables for configuration" ✅
69- "Environment variables" ❌ (too vague)
70- "How to use environment variables for configuration" ❌ (too wordy)
71
72**Links:**
73
74- "Check out the [SAML documentation](link)" ✅
75- "Read the docs [here](link)" ❌
76
77### Watch out for
78
79- Describing tasks as "easy" (you don't know the reader's context)
80- Using "we" when talking about Metabase features (use "Metabase" or "it")
81- Formal language: "utilize", "reference", "offerings"
82- Too peppy: multiple exclamation points
83- Burying the action in explanation
84- Code examples that don't work
85- Numbers that will become outdated
86
87### Quick reference
88
89| Write This | Not This |
90| -------------------------- | ------------------ |
91| people, companies | users |
92| summarize | aggregate |
93| take a look at | reference |
94| can't, don't | cannot, do not |
95| **Filter** button | \Filter\ button |
96| Check out [the docs](link) | Click [here](link) |
97
In the file
SKILL.md417 words
Files1
LicenceAGPL-3.0
Why you can read it

Nothing in a skill executes. The client loads the text and the model follows it, so a skill can be audited the way a runbook is — by reading it.

What it costs in context

Skills are not billed by the call. They are paid for in context: every token the instructions occupy is a token your code, your diff and your conversation cannot use. Here is what this one takes and when it takes it.

≈60
always loaded
The name and description, so the model knows the skill exists and when to reach for it.
665
on trigger
The instruction body, read only when the skill fires.
0.36%
of a 200k window
Ten skills this size would take about 4% of the window before you open a file.
050k100k150k200k context window

725 tokens, estimated from the bundle at four bytes to the token, held for the rest of the session once it triggers. Small enough to keep loaded permanently without thinking about it.

Servers bill, skills cost

A server charges by the month. A skill charges once per session, in context, and then keeps charging it for as long as the session lives.

Before and after

The same question, put to the same model twice: once as it comes, and once with these instructions loaded.

No worked example has been published for this skill yet.

Adoption
Installsnone yet
Ratingno reviews yet

The procedure it runs

The procedure has not been published here. It is in the skill’s own SKILL.md, which its author has not sent to the marketplace yet.

Prose, not code

These steps are written for a model to follow, not executed by a runtime. It can still be told to skip one, and it will say so when it does.

Servers it uses

None. This skill calls no MCP servers at all.

Everything it needs is in the instructions, so it works in a project with nothing connected — the model reads the file and changes how it works with what it can already reach.

It asks the agent to write files, using whatever file access your client already has. It never touches the network.

What it asks for
Writes filesyes
Network accessno

Read from the allowed-tools line of this skill’s own SKILL.md. A skill grants no permissions of its own — it can only ask for tools your client already has.

What it will not do

Every skill is narrow, and the useful ones say where they stop. These are the jobs this one is the wrong tool for.

What this skill is not for has not been published here. Nothing is implied by that: it is a section the author has not filled in.

What is in the bundle

1 file, 2.9 kB on disk. A bundle is text throughout: the instructions the model reads, plus the templates it fills in.

  • SKILL.md2.9 kB
What is not in it

No dependencies and nothing executable: a skill is text the agent reads, so the bundle is 1 file you can review in full before installing. The AGPL-3.0 licence covers the templates and examples as well as the instructions.

Install

Installing copies the bundle into your project. Nothing runs at install time — the files sit on disk until the model reads them.

# Documentation Writing · 725 tokens when loaded npx mcprush@latest skill add metabase/documentation-writing

Writes to .claude/skills/documentation-writing/ in the current project. Add --global to put it in your home directory instead, for every project.

Which clients pick it up on their own

A skill is a folder of text. A client with a skills folder reads it without being told; everywhere else the same text works, it is just handed to the model rather than found.

Claude Code.claude/skills/
Claude Desktop
ChatGPT
Cursor.cursor/skills/
VS Code.github/skills/
Codex CLI.agents/skills/
Gemini CLI.gemini/skills/
Grok.grok/skills/
Zed.agents/skills/
Windsurf.windsurf/skills/
Agent SDK.claude/skills/
HTTP / API
This release
Versionnot versioned
Publishedno release date on file
PriceFree
Referencemetabase/documentation-writing

Versions

Its author publishes no version number, so there is nothing here to pin to: what you install is the folder as it stands today. Instructions change more often than APIs do — a skill can be rewritten entirely without anything it depends on moving.

v
  • No earlier releases have been published to the marketplace.
Pinning

Nothing to pin to: this skill carries no version number of its own. What you install is what the folder holds on the day you install it.

Reviews

no reviews yet · no installs yet

Nobody has reviewed this skill yet. The rating is the mean of the reviews written here, so there is none until somebody writes the first.

Who can post

Only accounts that have had the skill installed for fourteen days, so a review is written after living with it rather than after reading it. Publishers may reply once.

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