Rtfm Testing

RTFM Testing

A documentation quality methodology that spawns fresh agents to validate whether docs are actually usable.

"If an amnesiac can't follow your docs, your docs suck."

The Problem

Documentation written by the person who built the thing is almost always incomplete. They fill in gaps unconsciously. They assume context. They skip "obvious" steps.

RTFM Testing fixes this by spawning a fresh agent with zero context and asking: can you complete this task using only the docs?

How It Works

1. Identify the task — What should someone be able to do after reading the docs?
2. Bundle the docs — Collect all relevant documentation (and nothing else)
3. Spawn a fresh tester — Use the TESTER.md prompt with sessions_spawn
4. Analyze failures — Every confusion point is a doc bug
5. Fix and repeat — Update docs, respawn, retest until clean

Quick Start

sessions_spawn(
  task: "Complete the following task using ONLY the provided documentation.\n\nTASK: [describe what user should accomplish]\n\n---\n\nDOCUMENTATION:\n\n[paste your docs here]"
)

The tester will:

• Attempt the task literally, using only provided docs
• Report every gap with type, location, impact, and suggested fix
• Return SUCCESS, PARTIAL, or FAILURE

Gap Types

Type	Description
MISSING_STEP	A required action is not documented
MISSING_PREREQ	A prerequisite is not listed
UNCLEAR	Instructions are ambiguous
INCORRECT	Documentation is wrong or outdated
MISSING_CONTEXT	Assumes undocumented knowledge
ORDERING	Steps are in wrong sequence

Metrics

• Cold Start Score — Number of spawn cycles until SUCCESS (lower = better)
• Gap Count — Total gaps per run
• RTFM Certified — Docs pass when fresh tester succeeds with zero blocking gaps

Files

• SKILL.md — Detailed methodology guide
• TESTER.md — System prompt for fresh agent spawn
• GAPS.md — Gap report format specific