System dossier
The scribe maintains the platform map, access, database, domain, deploy and findings, updated with every task.
Deliverable: up-to-date dossierOcto for documentation · scribe arm
What the team learns gets written down.
According to DORA, documentation quality drives every technical practice it has studied, and documentation has to be actively created and maintained. Octo's scribe arm works at this step: it maintains the system dossier (platform map, access, database, domain, deploy and findings), the project's status and decisions, keeping rules, knowledge and status separate. Whatever becomes a project rule is approved by the tech lead.
ArmScribeworks at this step
Conventional Commits1.0.0type, scope and description
Sources6listed at the end of the page
01
What Octo does in documentation.
Four possible deliverables. What becomes a project rule and the team's conventions are decided by the tech lead.
Status and decisions
Records the project's status and dated decisions, separating what is a rule, what is knowledge and what is just the day's status.
Deliverable: dated decisions on recordRules that always apply
Whatever must always happen becomes a hook, a deny rule or managed settings; the project's instructions file is for guidance.
Deliverable: proposed rule for approvalCommits that state why
Small commits, with a short summary line and the reason for the change, in the convention the team chooses, such as Conventional Commits.
Deliverable: a readable Git history
02
Eight arms, one dossier.
The same Octo cycle, applied to this step. Each arm has a narrow role; your company's tech lead is in charge and approves.
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Discovery
Delivers the map
What discovery surveyed becomes the platform map in the dossier.
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Data
Delivers the model
The database study becomes the dossier's database page.
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Security
Delivers the findings
Security findings and accepted risks are recorded.
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Architecture
Delivers the decisions
Each architecture decision goes in with its date and reason.
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Development
Writes clear commits
A message with the summary, the reason and the task reference.
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Review
Checks the documentation
The delivery's documentation also goes through review.
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Release
Records the deploy
How to release and how to verify it lives in the dossier.
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Documentation
Maintains the dossier
Keeps rules, knowledge and status separate, and updates the status at the end of the day.
Octo writes and maintains; approving what becomes a project rule, defining the team's commit convention and validating documentation delivered to third parties belong to the tech lead.
03
Who does what in documentation.
What the scribe maintains and what remains your team's decision.
| Document | Octo arm | Stays with the tech lead |
|---|---|---|
| System dossier | Scribe | Read and correct |
| Project decisions | Scribe | Approve what becomes a rule |
| Commit messages | Dev | Set the team's convention |
| API documentation | Dev, from the OpenAPI description | Validate what goes to third parties |
04
From request to routine.
Three steps. Each one only makes sense once the previous one has shown results on your team.
A proposal, not a promise
Initial dossier
The scribe builds the dossier from what discovery surveyed.
- Platform map
- Database and deploy
- Findings
Dated decisions
Every project decision is now recorded with its date and reason.
- Decisions on record
- End-of-day status
Rules that always apply
Whatever must always happen moves out of the text and becomes a tool rule.
- Hooks and deny rules
- Periodic dossier review
05
Confirmed by source.
Each point below has a source published by the organization responsible for the standard, the specification or the tool, or in Brazilian federal law. The sources are in the next section.
7
points with a published source, each with its reference alongside.
- ConfirmedDocumentation quality
- DORA finds that documentation quality drives the adoption of each of the technical practices it studied.Source: DORA, documentation quality
- ConfirmedOngoing work
- Documentation has to be actively created and maintained, and that takes work.Source: DORA, documentation quality
- ConfirmedInstructions file
- CLAUDE.md is a markdown file at the project root that Claude Code reads at the start of every session.Source: Claude Code, overview
- ConfirmedGuidance and rules
- Whatever must happen every time should become a hook, a deny rule or managed settings.Source: Claude Code, best practices
- ConfirmedConventional Commits
- Conventional Commits 1.0.0 is a specification for adding human- and machine-readable meaning to commit messages, in the format type, optional scope and description; fix maps to PATCH, feat to MINOR and BREAKING CHANGE to MAJOR in SemVer.Source: Conventional Commits 1.0.0
- ConfirmedCommit message
- The Git documentation suggests, without requiring it, starting the message with a short line of up to 50 characters, a blank line and then the description.Source: Git, git-commit
- ConfirmedOpenAPI and documentation
- The OpenAPI description can be used by documentation generation tools to display the API.Source: OpenAPI Initiative, OAS 3.2.1
06
What Octo does and what stays with you.
Octo prepares everything, but does not sign. The document of record stays with whoever is accountable for it.
Octo prepares
Maps, plans, codes on the task branch, reviews with evidence and prepares the release: plans, code, reviews, security reports and the system dossier.
Deliverable: material ready for reviewYour team reviews
Whoever is in charge is the company's tech lead or senior developer: they approve the plan, review the PR and merge it. Nothing goes to production without their approval.
Step: approval by whoever is in chargeWho signs and is accountable
Octo does not sign and is not accountable for the system. The tech lead accepts the risk and is accountable for the system in production; a security report or opinion is signed by a professional at the company.
Accountable: the company's tech lead
07
Sources.
DORA, Claude Code documentation, Conventional Commits, Git documentation and the OpenAPI Initiative. Accessed October 31, 2026.
- DORA: documentation qualityImpact on technical practices
- Claude Code: overviewCLAUDE.md read at the start of the session
- Claude Code: best practicesHooks, deny rules and managed settings
- Conventional Commits 1.0.0Message format and relationship to SemVer
- Git: git-commitThe message's summary line
- OpenAPI Initiative: OAS 3.2.1Use by documentation generators
The system, documented and up to date.
The assessment starts with what your team has already documented, without changing anything. You get the proposed dossier and decide with it in hand.