# hackergrrl/art-of-readme

:love_letter: Things I've learned about writing good READMEs.

Repository: https://github.com/hackergrrl/art-of-readme
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/art-of-readme
License Family: other
Archived: true
Last push: 2022-08-21T15:42:02+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 10/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-02T17:46:02.011165+00:00)
- activity 0, release rhythm 35, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 3623, "days_push": 1473, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: no_releases, archived, no_license
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 7148, forks 447 (observed 2026-08-28T04:09:56.236238+00:00)

## What it is
An essay-style guide on how to write effective READMEs for open-source projects, originally focused on the Node/npm ecosystem but applicable broadly. It covers the history of READMEs, why documentation matters, and practical advice for module creators and consumers.

## Use cases
- learn how to write a good README for my open-source project
- improve documentation for my npm package
- what sections should a README include
- guide for documenting a library so users understand it
- best practices for open-source project documentation
- teach contributors how to write better project docs

## When to choose
- you are publishing a library or module and need to write its README
- you want a concise, opinionated essay on documentation craft
- you mentor developers on open-source best practices

## When to avoid
- you need a README template or generator tool rather than prose guidance
- you need comprehensive documentation tooling or site generators
- you need framework-specific documentation standards

## Facets
- artifact type: learning-resource
- maturity: maintenance
- function: documentation, developer-tools
- domain: documentation, developer-tools, tutorials
- platform: cross-platform
- tags: readme, writing-guide, open-source, nodejs, essay

## Member repositories
- hackergrrl/art-of-readme (main) score 10

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:09:56.236238+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-29T17:40:00.711288+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/hackergrrl/art-of-readme (fetched 2026-08-28T04:09:56.236238+00:00, sha 3526f2cd5047)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.