create-steering-documents_skill

Overview

This skill generates comprehensive steering documents for development projects and places them under the .kiro/steering/ directory. It produces project-specific standards, git workflows, technology guidelines, and environment guidance tailored to the project type and scale. Outputs include front-matter to control inclusion logic so assistants include the right documents in context.

How this skill works

Analyze the project description, stack, and files to determine required documents and inclusion rules. Generate core templates such as project-standards.md and git-workflow.md, plus conditional files like frontend-standards.md or api-design.md based on file matches or manual inclusion. Emit files with clear front-matter and actionable content to enforce consistent coding, testing, security, and deployment practices.

When to use it

• Starting a new project and establishing standards and workflows
• Onboarding new team members who need concise project conventions
• Adding AI assistant guidance so code suggestions match your rules
• Preparing a repo for team reviews, CI, or open source publication
• Adapting standards when introducing new technologies or scale changes

Best practices

• Include minimal, specific front-matter: always, fileMatch, or manual
• Keep documents concise and example-driven to ensure actionability
• Use fileMatch patterns for language-specific guidance (package.json, *.tsx)
• Avoid duplication by centralizing cross-cutting rules in project-standards.md
• Update steering documents when architecture, security, or deployment changes

Example use cases

• React TypeScript e-commerce app: generate project-standards, git-workflow, frontend-standards, development-environment
• Python Django REST API: create project-standards, git-workflow, api-design, database-standards, env setup
• Microservices in Node.js: produce workflow, api-design (manual), service-level standards, deployment and monitoring guidance
• Component library: output documentation-standards, versioning-strategy, publishing-guidelines and git rules