RepoWrangler Documentation Plan — Complete Documentation Suite

Authoritative plan for RepoWrangler's documentation workstream. Runs alongside the platform-neutral architecture addendum (platform-neutrality.md / ADR-013). Deliver RepoWrangler as a fully documented open-source product, not just a source repo.

Objective

A complete, professional documentation suite serving: new-user evaluators, free/low-cost deployers, Azure users, Cloudflare users, container/Kubernetes users, developers, operators, architects, security reviewers, and provider extenders — aligned with Deploy Anywhere. Own Your Data. Everything Is a Provider.

Principles

1. Docs are versioned with the code. 2. Every supported deployment option has a documented path. 3. Reference implementations are clearly separated from architectural requirements. 4. Cloudflare is a reference deployment, not mandatory. 5. Azure, containers, Kubernetes, and local are supported deployment profiles. 6. Guides state prerequisites, cost, limitations, troubleshooting. 7. Diagrams are source-controlled (Mermaid default). 8. Current vs roadmap functionality is distinguished. 9. No security-sensitive values in examples. 10. Every guide has validation steps.

Target structure (docs/)

getting-started/ (overview, quick-start, concepts, first-login, first-provider) · architecture/ (overview, logical, physical, component, data, security, integration, synchronization, extensibility, deployment, + diagrams/) · deployment/ (deployment-options, local-development, docker-compose, cloudflare, azure-static-web-apps, azure-container-apps, azure-app-service, kubernetes, openshift, generic-linux-container) · configuration/ (overview, environment-variables, secrets, database-configuration, authentication, notifications, schedules, feature-flags) · providers/ (provider-overview, github/*, gitlab/*, future-providers) · operations/ (overview, health-monitoring, logging, backup-and-restore, disaster-recovery, upgrades, scaling, performance-tuning, maintenance, incident-response) · security/ (overview, threat-model, identity-and-access, secret-management, webhook-security, data-protection, least-privilege, secure-deployment, vulnerability-reporting) · development/ (overview, local-environment, code-structure, coding-standards, testing, debugging, database-migrations, adding-a-provider, adding-a-storage-adapter, adding-a-deployment-target, contribution-workflow) · reference/ (api-reference, configuration-reference, permissions-reference, database-schema, webhook-events, provider-capabilities, status-and-health-rules, glossary) · design/ (product-requirements, solution-design, user-experience-design, data-model, roadmap, research-spikes/, adr/) · open-source/ (credits, third-party-notices, attribution-policy, licensing, upstream-reuse) · troubleshooting/ (overview, installation-failures, provider-sync-failures, authentication-problems, database-problems, webhook-problems, performance-problems, known-limitations).

Quick starts (separate, not one universal guide)

1. Local Docker (Docker Compose, SQLite/PostgreSQL, env-var secrets, GitHub, local browser).
2. Cloudflare free tier (Workers, D1, Worker secrets, Cron, GitHub) — states Cloudflare is reference, not a dependency.
3. Azure low-cost — two paths: Static Web Apps (with background/sync/schedule limitations noted) and Container Apps (preferred full-featured: Container Apps + PostgreSQL/Azure SQL + Key Vault + Managed Identity + Log Analytics + scheduled jobs + Entra ID + GitHub). Include low-cost and enterprise reference architectures.
4. Kubernetes (AKS/OpenShift): namespace, deployments, services, ingress, secrets, configmaps, persistent storage, DB dependency, CronJobs/workers, health probes, scaling, upgrades; Helm preferred once implemented.

Detailed deployment guides — standard sections

Purpose · Audience · Supported scenarios · Architecture · Prerequisites · Required accounts · Required services · Estimated cost profile · Security considerations · Network requirements · Identity requirements · Database requirements · Step-by-step · Configuration examples · Deployment validation · Operational validation · Backup and recovery · Upgrade procedure · Scaling guidance · Troubleshooting · Known limitations · Removal/cleanup. Exact examples/commands/env-var names/expected responses once code exists.

Deployment decision aids (for non-experts choosing a platform)

Two artifacts live in the deployment guide (docs/deployment.md) so an admin who is not a specialist can pick a target without reading every guide:

• Capability matrix (features × platforms). A table with capabilities down the left (cost floor, backend store, managed secrets, persistence, horizontal scale, custom domain, offline, no-Cloudflare-required, …) and each deployment platform across the top; every cell states how that platform delivers the capability. This is the at-a-glance comparison an evaluator scans first.
• "Choose your deployment" decision flowchart. A formal decision tree (Mermaid flowchart) that walks a person start-to-finish — trying it out vs a real instance, Cloudflare vs self-host, which self-host target, then the real-mode (GitHub App + secrets) steps — ending at the exact recipe to run. A "choose-your-own-adventure" path from "I want to run this" to "it's running."

Keep both in sync with the recipe set and the capability matrix in deploy/README.md; regenerate when a platform or capability is added.

Architecture docs (C4-style, multi-level)

Context, logical, component (each component: responsibility, inputs, outputs, dependencies, interfaces, error handling, logging, security boundary, scaling, failure modes), data (entities, relationships, provider-neutral IDs, provider metadata, sync state, snapshots, retention, migration, indexing, ownership), deployment (per-target diagrams), security (trust boundaries, auth flows, token flows, secret storage, webhook validation, authz, encryption, admin access, audit), synchronization (discovery, auto new-repo, webhooks, reconciliation, retries, rate-limits, outages, partial sync, stale detection).

Diagrams

Mermaid is the source-controlled default. Required: system context, container, component, provider-abstraction, auth sequence, GitHub webhook sequence, repo-discovery sequence, reconciliation flow, deployment diagrams, ERD, security trust-boundary, failure/retry flow, CI/CD, contribution workflow. Lucidchart for polished versions of the executive overview, multi-platform deployment comparison, security, provider-extension, data-flow, operational workflow, roadmap — but every Lucid diagram must have a Mermaid/text equivalent in the repo.

Service catalog

For every logical/external service: name, purpose, required/optional, open-source replacement, Cloudflare impl, Azure impl, self-hosted impl, configuration interface, security requirements, cost, scaling. (Capability × interface × Cloudflare/Azure/Self-hosted matrix — see ADR-013 for the interface list.)

Provider capability matrix

Per repository provider (GitHub/GitLab/Azure DevOps-future): orgs/groups, auto discovery, branch comparison, pipeline status, PR/MR, security findings, budgets/usage, webhooks — each marked supported/partial/future. Never force a provider into GitHub-specific concepts.

API documentation

OpenAPI spec + Swagger-style dev view + versioned contracts + example req/resp + auth + pagination + error model + rate limits + webhook endpoints + admin endpoints + health. Distinguish public product APIs, internal APIs, provider callbacks, admin endpoints.

Configuration reference

Every value: name, description, type, required?, default, sensitive?, supported environments, example, validation rules, restart requirement, related docs.

Operations runbooks

Health checks, provider sync failures, GitHub rate-limit exhaustion, GitLab failures, DB connectivity, webhook signature failures, expired credentials, failed migrations, upgrade rollback, backup restore, high resource use, worker backlog, stale data, missing new repos, notification failures. Each: symptoms · likely causes · diagnostics · corrective actions · validation · prevention · escalation.

Backup / restore / DR

What to back up vs rebuild-from-providers; DB + config + secret recovery; RPO/RTO expectations; restore validation; cross-platform migration (Cloudflare→Azure, SQLite→PostgreSQL, Docker→Kubernetes). Distinguish authoritative provider data from RepoWrangler-generated history/config.

Developer docs

Dev environment, run frontend/API/workers/local DB, migrations, fixtures, simulate webhooks, add GitHub/GitLab features, new provider adapter, storage adapter, auth adapter, scheduler adapter, notification adapter, writing ADRs, updating docs, releases.

Documentation website

Design Markdown so it can publish via a generator later. Evaluate Docusaurus, VitePress, MkDocs Material, Astro Starlight. Favor: Markdown + Mermaid, versioned docs, search, navigation, free deploy, GitHub Actions, and decoupled from the application host. The docs site may be hosted separately from the app.

Required deliverables (min. 25)

README · docs index · product overview · architecture overview · complete solution design · quick-starts · detailed deployment guides · provider setup guides · security architecture · operations guide · backup/recovery guide · troubleshooting guide · developer guide · contributor guide · API reference plan · configuration reference · service catalog · provider capability matrix · deployment capability matrix (features × platforms) · deployment decision flowchart (choose-your-own-adventure) · ADR collection · research-spike collection · roadmap · credits/third-party notices · Mermaid diagram library · Lucidchart diagram plan · publishing plan.

Documentation quality gates

A feature is not complete until: user docs exist · admin docs exist · configuration documented · security implications documented · deployment impact documented · tests/ validation steps documented · troubleshooting guidance exists · diagrams updated on architecture change · API docs updated · credits updated on third-party reuse. PRs must require doc changes when code affects behavior, deployment, configuration, security, or architecture.

Final requirement

A user must be able to understand, compare, select a cost profile, deploy, configure providers, secure, operate, troubleshoot, upgrade, and extend RepoWrangler without undocumented knowledge from the original developers.