Documentation is validated in CI
Why it matters
Documentation that isn't validated in CI can rot silently: links break, code examples go stale, and the docs site fails to build — all without anyone noticing until a user reports it. iso-25010:2011 reliability.maintainability measures exactly this: a project where documentation quality is not continuously verified is a project where documentation quality will degrade over time. For vibe-coded projects that ship quickly and update frequently, undiscovered documentation rot is the rule, not the exception. A single markdown-link-check step in CI catches broken links before they reach users.
Severity rationale
Info because broken documentation validation doesn't affect runtime behavior, but it signals a maintenance posture that allows documentation quality to degrade silently across all future changes.
Remediation
Add a docs validation job to your CI pipeline. A minimal GitHub Actions workflow:
# .github/workflows/docs.yml
name: Docs
on: [push, pull_request]
jobs:
docs:
runs-on: ubuntu-latest
steps:
- uses: actions/checkout@v4
- uses: actions/setup-node@v4
with:
node-version: 20
- run: npm ci
- run: npm run docs:build
- run: npx markdown-link-check README.md docs/**/*.md
At minimum, validate that the docs site builds and that links in README.md resolve. Add npx markdown-link-check for link validation and a docs build step if the project has a generated docs site. Broken CI docs checks should block merge, not just warn.
Detection
-
ID:
docs-ci -
Severity:
info -
What to look for: Check CI configuration (.github/workflows/, .gitlab-ci.yml, etc.) for documentation-related steps: building the docs site, running link checkers (markdown-link-check, lychee, htmltest), checking for broken code examples (mdx compilation), or spell checking. This is a maintenance hygiene signal -- projects that validate docs in CI catch broken links and stale examples before they reach users. Count all instances found and enumerate each.
-
Pass criteria: CI pipeline includes at least one documentation validation step: docs build, link checking, or code example validation. At least 1 implementation must be confirmed.
-
Fail criteria: CI pipeline has no documentation-related steps. Docs can break without anyone noticing until a user reports it.
-
Skip (N/A) when: The project has no CI pipeline configured at all (separate concern from documentation).
-
Detail on fail: Example:
"GitHub Actions workflow has lint and test steps but no documentation validation"or"Docs site build is not in CI -- broken docs pages are only caught in production" -
Remediation: Add a docs validation step to your CI:
# .github/workflows/docs.yml name: Docs on: [push, pull_request] jobs: docs: runs-on: ubuntu-latest steps: - uses: actions/checkout@v4 - uses: actions/setup-node@v4 with: node-version: 20 - run: npm ci - run: npm run docs:build # Verify docs compile - run: npx markdown-link-check README.md docs/**/*.md # Check links
External references
- iso-25010:2011 · reliability.maintainability — Maintainability via CI validation of documentation assets
Taxons
History
- 2026-04-18·v1.0.0·Initial import from developer-documentation·automated