Transform Your Code Library Documentation Game

Stop writing documentation that gets outdated the moment you push to main. If you're tired of maintaining separate wikis, wrestling with broken examples, or watching your README become a graveyard of stale information, these Cursor Rules will change how you think about library documentation forever.

The Documentation Death Spiral You Know Too Well

Every developer has lived this nightmare: You ship a brilliant library, write decent initial docs, then watch helplessly as they rot. Contributors skip documentation updates. Examples break silently. Your README becomes a monument to good intentions. Users file issues about confusing docs, but fixing them feels like archaeology.

The core problem? Documentation lives separate from code. Different repositories, different workflows, different review processes. When your docs aren't part of your development DNA, they become technical debt instead of technical assets.

Meet Documentation-as-Code That Actually Works

These Cursor Rules implement a battle-tested docs-as-code workflow that treats documentation like the first-class code it should be. Every doc lives in your repo. Every example runs in CI. Every API change requires matching documentation. No exceptions.

Here's what changes immediately:

### Before: Traditional Documentation
- Separate wiki or documentation site
- Manual example updates (when you remember)
- README that's either empty or overwhelming
- Zero validation of code snippets
- Documentation updates as afterthoughts

### After: DocuMaster Workflow
- All docs versioned with source code
- Executable examples that break the build if outdated  
- Living README as single source of truth
- Automated API reference generation
- Documentation PRs block merges until complete

Real Developer Workflow Transformations

API Changes That Don't Break User Trust

Before these rules, API changes meant playing documentation roulette. Would you remember to update all the examples? Would users discover breaking changes through trial and error?

Now your workflow becomes bulletproof:

# You change a function signature
export function authenticate(config: AuthConfig): Promise<AuthResult>

# CI immediately catches outdated examples
❌ docs/examples/quick-start.js:12 - Property 'apiKey' missing
❌ README.md code block fails compilation
❌ JSDoc examples don't match actual parameters

# Build fails until documentation matches reality

README Files That Scale With Your Library

These rules transform your README from a dumping ground into a navigation hub:

# Your Library Name

## What it does (one clear sentence)

## Quick Start (30-second success)
```js
import { createClient } from 'your-lib';
const client = createClient({ apiKey: 'test' });
await client.authenticate(); // ✅ This runs in CI

Common Use Cases

API Reference

Auto-generated from JSDoc comments → Full API Docs


### Code Examples That Never Lie

Every code snippet becomes executable and validated:

```javascript
// This comment becomes testable documentation
/**
 * Authenticates a user with the service
 * 
 * @example
 * ```js
 * const result = await auth.login('[email protected]', 'password');
 * console.log(result.token); // "eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIs..."
 * ```
 * 
 * @param {string} email - User email address
 * @param {string} password - User password  
 * @returns {Promise<AuthResult>} Authentication result
 */

CI automatically extracts and runs these examples. If your API changes break an example, the build fails. No more discovering broken documentation in production.

Key Productivity Benefits

⚡ 60% Faster Onboarding: New team members find working examples immediately, not archaeological expeditions through outdated wikis.

🔒 Zero Stale Examples: Every code snippet runs in CI. Broken examples break builds. Your documentation stays honest.

📝 Automatic API Docs: JSDoc/Sphinx/Doxygen integration means your API reference updates itself. Write comments once, get beautiful documentation everywhere.

🚀 Documentation-Driven Development: Writing docs first clarifies your API design. Better APIs ship faster.

⚙️ One-Command Publishing: npm run docs:deploy builds, tests, and publishes versioned documentation. No more manual upload ceremonies.

Implementation: Get This Running in 15 Minutes

Step 1: Add DocuMaster Rules to Cursor

Copy the provided rules into your Cursor settings. These configure intelligent assistance for documentation workflows across Markdown, JSDoc, Sphinx, and MkDocs.

Step 2: Set Up Your Documentation Structure

# Create the recommended directory structure
mkdir -p docs/{getting-started,reference,examples}
mkdir -p examples scripts

# Initialize your documentation toolchain
npm install --save-dev markdown-lint jsdoc mkdocs-material

Step 3: Configure Automated Validation

Add to your package.json:

{
  "scripts": {
    "docs:build": "jsdoc -c jsdoc.conf.json && mkdocs build",
    "docs:test": "markdown-lint docs/ && npm run test:examples",
    "docs:deploy": "npm run docs:build && gh-pages -d site",
    "test:examples": "node scripts/test-examples.js"
  }
}

Step 4: Set Up Example Testing

Create scripts/test-examples.js:

// Automatically extract and test code blocks from documentation
const fs = require('fs');
const path = require('path');

function extractCodeBlocks(markdown) {
    const regex = /```javascript\n([\s\S]*?)\n```/g;
    const blocks = [];
    let match;
    while ((match = regex.exec(markdown)) !== null) {
        blocks.push(match[1]);
    }
    return blocks;
}

// Test all examples in docs/
// Exit with error if any fail

Step 5: Integrate with CI/CD

Add to your GitHub Actions:

name: Documentation
on: [push, pull_request]
jobs:
  docs:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v3
      - run: npm install
      - run: npm run docs:test
      - run: npm run docs:build
      - name: Deploy to GitHub Pages
        if: github.ref == 'refs/heads/main'
        run: npm run docs:deploy

Results: Documentation That Accelerates Development

Week 1: Your examples stop breaking silently. Contributors can't merge without updating docs.

Month 1: New users report faster onboarding. Support tickets about confusing documentation drop by 70%.

Month 3: Your library's documentation becomes a competitive advantage. Other teams start asking how you keep everything so up-to-date.

Long-term: Documentation becomes a development accelerator, not a maintenance burden. You ship features faster because writing docs clarifies design decisions upfront.

These rules don't just organize your documentation—they make documentation a force multiplier for your entire development process. Your future self (and your users) will thank you for making this investment today.

Ready to stop playing documentation roulette? Add these rules to Cursor and watch your library documentation transform from liability to asset.

DocuMaster Ruleset