---
type: types/instruction.md
name: doc-pull-through
description: Which document makes a claim about a surface you are about to change - a wikitool command's behaviour, a stage's rules, an AGENTS.md rule/gate/invariant, a README-shaped human doc, a docs/ page's reasoning - and so needs updating in the same session, since tools/wikitool docs verify never reads a cell's prose.
---
# Update every document that makes a claim about the surface you changed

`tools/wikitool docs verify` is a hard oracle over presence, not content: it checks that a
command is *listed*, that a contract *exists*, that an ignore canary is (or isn't) caught - never
what a table cell, a contract section, or a README paragraph actually *says*. A command's flag
can change, a gate's threshold can move, a contract's wording can go false, and every one of
those checks stays green (Gitea #90; Gitea #91 narrows what the command-table check matches, but
adds no reading of cell content). Content quality of every document below is therefore session
work, the same duty AGENTS.md's Changelog section states for `README.md`/`EVALS.md`/
`tools/README.md` - this instruction exists because that duty used to stop at those three files
while the contracts rotted next to a green check (ten stale error-contract rows accumulated this
way; see Gitea #89 for one).

## When to run

Before `tools/wikitool docs verify`/`publish` in a `stack-dev` session that changed behaviour -
`stack-dev` step 5 sends you here. Read the table below and update every row whose surface you
touched; a row that does not apply needs no action.

## Steps

1. **Name the surface(s) you changed.** A `wikitool` command's flags or behaviour, a stage's
   rule, an `AGENTS.md`-level rule/gate/invariant, a workflow a human runs by hand, or the
   reasoning behind a design decision - one change can touch more than one row.

2. **For each surface, update every document the table names - not only the one you were already
   editing:**

   | Touched surface | Document(s) that make a claim about it |
   |---|---|
   | A `wikitool` command's behaviour, flags, or interface | Both tables in [tools/CONTRACT.md](../../tools/CONTRACT.md): the command reference row, and its per-command error contract (exit codes, atomicity, retry-safety) |
   | A stage's authoring rules (`raw/`, `kb/`, `types/`, `reports/`, `work/`, `tools/`, `instructions/`) | The touched `<stage>/CONTRACT.md` |
   | A rule, gate, or invariant `AGENTS.md` itself states | The relevant `AGENTS.md` section (Invariants, Gates, File naming, Routing, ...) |
   | A workflow, stage, or command a human operates by hand | Whichever of `README.md`, `EVALS.md`, `tools/README.md`, `INSTALL.md`, `DEVELOPMENT.md` names it - AGENTS.md § File naming says which document is for which reader |
   | The reasoning behind a gate, boundary, or design decision | The `docs/` page that carries it, if one exists (AGENTS.md § File naming lists all four) |
   | A skill's own step sequence or catalogue | The skill's `SKILL.md` source under `instructions/<name>/` or `instructions/dev/<name>/` |

3. **Do not re-derive what `docs verify` already checks mechanically** - existence, table-row
   membership, ignore-canary state. That enumeration lives once, in
   [tools/CONTRACT.md](../../tools/CONTRACT.md)'s own `docs verify` row; copying it here would be a
   second copy that drifts, the exact failure this instruction exists to describe (Gitea #90).
   This instruction is only about the prose no check reads.

## Decision points

- **The change touched no document in the table?** Nothing to do - not every stack change moves
  a claim. A pure bugfix with an unchanged interface is the common case.
- **Unsure whether a `docs/` page's reasoning moved?** Read it. A `docs/` page carries no
  normative sentence and nothing verifies it by construction (AGENTS.md § File naming), so an
  unsure guess defaults to reading the page rather than skipping the question -
  [`stack-close`](stack-close/SKILL.md) step 3 asks it again at the end of the session as a
  backstop, not as the only time it is asked.
- **The surface is a whole new stage, collection, or gate?** The table's rows are the steady
  state; a new row-worthy category is itself a change to this instruction - add the row here
  rather than leaving the next session to rediscover the gap.

## Scope

Applies to `stack-dev` sessions only - wiki content changes have their own provenance and
cross-reference rules (`kb/CONTRACT.md`, `wiki-manage`), which already pull the relevant pages
through as part of the normal skill. Not a replacement for `stack-close` step 3, which re-asks
the `docs/`-staleness question after publish as the second, session-final check.