---
model_tier: high
name: readme-reviewer
description: "Use when reviewing a README for accuracy, usability, and alignment with the actual repository. Detects invented content, broken setup steps, and structural issues."
domain: quality
execution:
  type: assisted
  handler: internal
  allowed_tools: []
workspaces:
  - agent-config-maintainer
packs:
  - meta
---

# readme-reviewer

## When to use

- Reviewing a newly created or rewritten README
- Validating a README matches the actual repository
- Auditing README quality across repos
- Checking for hallucinated setup, commands, or features

Do NOT use when:

- Only proofreading grammar or formatting
- Writing a README from scratch → use `readme-writing` or `readme-writing-package`

## Goal

Ensure the README is correct (no invented content), aligned with the repo,
useful for the intended audience, and has a strong quickstart path.

## Core principles

- Evidence over assumption — verify every claim against the repo
- Commands must exist — check `Taskfile.yml`, `Makefile`, `package.json scripts`
- Examples must match real APIs — compare against source code
- Quickstart quality matters more than completeness
- A clean-looking README can still be technically wrong

## Procedure

### 1. Identify README type and audience

Determine repo type (package, app, CLI, internal, framework) and target audience
(consumers, contributors, team). Check if README structure matches this type.

### 2. Cross-check against repository

Inspect truth-defining files:

- `package.json` / `composer.json` — name, scripts, dependencies
- `Dockerfile` / `docker-compose.yml` — runtime setup
- `Taskfile.yml` / `Makefile` — available commands
- CI workflows — what gets tested
- Source entrypoints — actual public API
- Config files, tests, existing docs

Verify: install steps exist, commands work, features are implemented,
dependencies are real.

### 3. Validate installation and setup

Check:

- Install command is correct and complete
- Required post-install steps are documented
- No hidden setup assumptions
- Environment/config requirements are listed

Flag: missing steps, incorrect steps, implied-but-unwritten steps.

### 4. Validate usage examples

Check:

- First example is minimal and realistic
- Example matches actual API (verify against source)
- Example does not rely on undocumented setup
- Example is not overly complex or abstract

Flag: pseudo-code, oversized examples, API mismatches.

### 5. Validate compatibility and requirements

Check:

- Runtime versions stated (PHP, Node, etc.)
- Framework compatibility is explicit
- Dependencies are declared

Flag: missing compatibility, vague claims ("works with most versions"),
unconfirmed broad support.

### 6. Evaluate structure and clarity

Check:

- Strong first screen (what + why + quickstart visible before scrolling)
- Logical section order for repo type
- No unnecessary sections (padded boilerplate)
- No missing critical sections

Common issues: architecture before installation, no quickstart,
buried usage instructions, generic template sections.

### 7. Detect hallucinations

Explicitly search for:

- Commands not present in repo
- Features not implemented
- Setup steps not supported by scripts/configs
- Assumptions about environment or tools

Classify each finding:

- **Confirmed incorrect** — verifiably wrong
- **Likely incorrect** — no evidence found, needs verification
- **Unclear** — cannot confirm or deny, needs human input

### 8. Check scope, size, and splitting

- README not overloaded with deep technical detail
- Complex content belongs in `/docs`, not README
- Important onboarding info not missing due to over-condensation

Size checks:

- **< 150 lines** — healthy
- **150–300 lines** — expect a Table of Contents; flag if missing
- **300–500 lines** — flag as overloaded; deep content should be in `/docs/`
- **> 500 lines** — flag as broken entry point; hard split required

Structure checks:

- ToC present if > 150 lines or > 6 top-level (`##`) sections
- Multi-platform install (> 5 variants) uses a table with deep links, not stacked blocks
- `<details>` used only for secondary, bulky content — never for install, first example, or requirements
- No duplication between README and `/docs/` (same content in two places drifts)
- Each `/docs/` file linked from README is self-contained (not just a fragment)

→ See `docs/guidelines/docs/readme-size-and-splitting.md` for full thresholds,
splitting strategies, and anti-patterns.

### 9. Validate every link and detect orphans — MANDATORY

For every internal link in the README:

1. Resolve the path. `test -f` files, `test -d` directories. Strip
   `#anchor` and `?query` before the check.
2. For every anchor link (`file.md#section`), grep the target file for
   the heading slug. Missing slug = broken anchor.
3. Group findings:
   - **broken** — target does not exist (❌ Critical)
   - **anchor-broken** — file exists, anchor does not (⚠️ Major)
   - **path-drift** — target moved but a valid path exists elsewhere
     (⚠️ Major, propose the corrected path)

For every documentation file referenced by the README, check whether
it has any **other** references in the repo (`grep -r` over
`AGENTS.md`, `docs/`, `dist/agent-src*/`, `.augment/`, `packages/`).
Files referenced only by this README are **single-use** — note them
so they can be moved or inlined later.

For every doc under `/docs/` that the README **does not** link, check
whether anything else in the repo links it. Files with zero inbound
references are **orphan-candidates** — surface them, never delete
silently.

### 10. Currency check — drift detection

The README may have been correct at write-time but drifted since.
Compare the README's claims to the live repository:

- **Counts** (badges like "Skills: 218") — recount from the source tree
  and flag any drift > 0
- **Commands** — every documented `task`, `npm run`, `npx`, or `bash`
  call must exist in `Taskfile.yml`, `package.json scripts`, or the
  named script file at its claimed path
- **Profiles / user-types / packs** — list members against the live
  directory listing
- **Version pins** — runtime, framework, peer-dep versions stated in
  README vs. the manifest's `engines` / `require` / `dependencies`
- **Visual identity** — banner / hero image references resolve to real
  files (not 404s in GitHub rendering)

## Output format

1. Produce three subsections in order: Summary, Findings, Confidence; no prose outside them.
2. Findings table must use the severity vocabulary (❌ Critical / ⚠️ Major / ℹ️ Minor) and cite the exact section name.
3. Close the report with a *Confidence* block that separates confirmed-correct, needs-verification, and unclear-due-to-missing-context.

### 1. Summary

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Repo type | {type} |
| Audience | {audience} |
| Overall | {short assessment} |

### 2. Findings

| # | Severity | Section | Issue | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ❌ Critical | Install | Command `X` does not exist | Replace with `Y` |
| 2 | ❌ Critical | Profile grid | Link `.agent-src.uncondensed/profiles/` 404s | Repoint to `packages/core/.agent-src.uncondensed/profiles/` |
| 3 | ⚠️ Major | Badges | "Skills: 218" — live count is 207 | Update badge or note drift |
| 4 | ⚠️ Major | Usage | Example uses deprecated API | Update to current API |
| 5 | ℹ️ Minor | Structure | Requirements buried below usage | Move above install |
| 6 | ℹ️ Minor | Docs | `docs/foo.md` only linked by README | Either inline or keep as standalone |

Severity levels:

- **❌ Critical** — breaks onboarding or is factually incorrect
- **⚠️ Major** — confusing, incomplete, or misleading
- **ℹ️ Minor** — clarity improvement, formatting, structure

### 3. Confidence

- What is confirmed correct
- What needs human verification
- What is unclear due to missing context

## Gotcha

- Model tends to trust the README instead of verifying against the repo
- Model may miss subtle mismatches between examples and real APIs
- Model may focus on wording/style instead of correctness
- A well-formatted README with wrong commands is worse than ugly but correct
- Model may accept "looks reasonable" compatibility without checking CI matrix

## Do NOT

- Do NOT assume README is correct without checking the repo
- Do NOT ignore missing or broken setup steps
- Do NOT accept vague compatibility statements as valid
- Do NOT focus only on wording while missing structural/correctness issues
- Do NOT overlook mismatches between examples and actual source code
- Do NOT soften findings — state issues clearly with severity
