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Onboarding Doc Generator

Productivity › Documentation

Generates comprehensive developer onboarding documentation from your codebase structure, package.json, and README. Produces a step-by-step setup guide, architecture overview, common commands cheatsheet, and FAQ — so new team members are productive on day one.

820+ installs
4.7 rating
By community
MIT License
DocumentationOnboardingREADMETeams

What it does

Onboarding Doc Generator reads your project's README, package.json, docker-compose.yml, and folder structure, then produces a complete onboarding guide. The setup section walks from "clone the repo" to "run your first test" with exact commands, expected output, and troubleshooting notes for the most common failure points — missing env vars, port conflicts, Node version mismatches, and Docker permission errors.

The architecture section explains the codebase in layers: what each top-level directory contains, how data flows through the system, and where to find key files like the entry point, route definitions, database models, and environment configuration. It also generates a commands cheatsheet (run, test, lint, build, deploy) and an FAQ based on patterns it recognises in your codebase structure.

How to install

bash
npx skills add user/onboarding-docs

How to use

prompt
Generate onboarding docs for this project: [paste README and package.json]
output
## Getting Started

### Prerequisites
- Node.js 20+ (use nvm: `nvm use 20`)
- Docker Desktop 4.x+
- PostgreSQL client (optional)

### Setup
1. Clone the repo: `git clone ...`
2. Copy env: `cp .env.example .env`
3. Install deps: `npm install`
4. Start services: `docker compose up -d`
5. Run migrations: `npm run db:migrate`
6. Start dev server: `npm run dev`

Configuration

prompt
# Focus on a specific layer
Generate docs focusing on the API layer architecture only

# Different audience
Write this onboarding guide for a non-technical project manager

# Add troubleshooting
Add a Docker troubleshooting section for common permission errors

Tip: Regenerate onboarding docs whenever you make significant architectural changes — stale docs slow down new hires more than having no docs at all.

Related skills

Use Code Documentor to document individual functions and modules, and Project Planner to turn the onboarding plan into a structured first-week checklist for new hires.