README Documentation Generator AI Prompt
Writing a clear README is hard when you’re racing to ship. You know the project inside out, but others don’t. Missing prerequisites, vague setup steps, and no examples slow adoption and flood your inbox with questions. Poor docs derail onboarding and handoffs.
A strong prompt fixes that by forcing clarity: audience, environment, installation, usage, examples, and support paths. When you spell out these pieces, AI can draft a predictable, complete README that others can trust.
AskSmarter.ai guides you with targeted questions to capture the context you’d forget, like supported versions, CLI flags, and license details. You’ll go from “write a README” to a structured, developer-ready document in minutes.
Use this prompt to generate an accurate, polished README that reduces confusion, speeds onboarding, and boosts adoption.
The transformation
Before — Vague prompt
Write a README for my project with install and usage.
After — Optimized prompt
You are a senior developer advocate. Draft a production-ready README for a public GitHub repository.
- Project: Node.js CLI that audits package.json for outdated deps.
- Audience: JavaScript developers using Node 18+.
- Include: badges, brief overview, features, architecture diagram note, install via npm and npx, basic usage + flags (-f, --minor), examples, exit codes, supported OS, performance notes, troubleshooting, FAQs, version support, contributing guide, testing commands, release process, security policy, license (MIT).
- Style: concise, imperative, code blocks, numbered steps.
- Constraints: under 900 words, headings with anchors, consistent code fences.
- Add a quickstart that runs in under 60 seconds.
Why this works
The optimized prompt wins because it adds what AI needs to produce useful technical docs. It improves:
- Clarity: It names the project type (Node.js CLI) and target environment (Node 18+), removing guesswork.
- Context: It specifies audience and concrete features, flags, and exit codes. That context shapes examples and messaging.
- Structure: It lists mandatory sections—badges, install, usage, troubleshooting, security, license—so the README is complete and predictable.
- Tone and format: It requests concise, imperative language with code blocks and numbered steps, which developers expect.
- Constraints: It sets a word limit, anchor headings, and consistent code fences to keep output scannable and GitHub-ready.
AskSmarter.ai gets this detail by asking focused questions about environment, audience, distribution, workflows, and support policies. That question-driven approach captures specifics you’d likely skip under time pressure, leading to a first draft that requires minimal edits and actually helps teammates and users succeed.
When to use this prompt
Open-Source Maintainers
Create consistent READMEs across repositories with clear install steps, usage, and contribution guidelines to reduce repeated issues.
Product Managers
Document internal tools so QA and stakeholders can self-serve setup and testing without developer hand-holding.
Engineers
Ship new CLIs or libraries with reliable docs that cover flags, examples, and troubleshooting for faster adoption.
Customer Success
Publish integration READMEs customers can follow, cutting onboarding time and support tickets.
Researchers
Package reproducible experiments with setup, dataset links, and commands for peer review and collaboration.
Pro tips
- 1
Specify environment details like language version, OS support, and package manager to prevent setup failures.
- 2
List must-have sections (troubleshooting, exit codes, security) to avoid gaps that cause support churn.
- 3
Provide concrete examples and flags you want demonstrated so usage mirrors real workflows.
- 4
Define formatting constraints (word limit, headings, code fences) to keep the README scannable and consistent.
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Build a prompt for your situation
This example shows the pattern. AskSmarter.ai guides you to create prompts tailored to your specific context, audience, and goals.