> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.thecolliery.org/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.thecolliery.org/patterns/readme.md).

# Patterns

A **Pattern** is one of the series' shared, written shapes: the single source for how every TheColliery repository does one thing (its docs, its layout, its releases, its setup). A repository follows the Pattern instead of inventing its own shape, and a departure is named where it lives.

The seven Patterns live in the [`.github` repository](https://github.com/TheColliery/.github); each link below opens the current version on GitHub.

| Pattern                                                                                                        | What it fixes                                                                         |
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| [Design Principles](https://github.com/TheColliery/.github/blob/main/DESIGN-PRINCIPLES.md)                     | The eleven binding principles every skill, hook, script, config and doc must satisfy. |
| [Public-Doc Pattern](https://github.com/TheColliery/.github/blob/main/DOC-PATTERN.md)                          | How a repository's public docs are written, and the shape of a benchmark directory.   |
| [Skill-Repo Pattern](https://github.com/TheColliery/.github/blob/main/SKILL-REPO-PATTERN.md)                   | The layout and machinery of a skill repository.                                       |
| [Release Pattern](https://github.com/TheColliery/.github/blob/main/RELEASE-PATTERN.md)                         | The shape of a GitHub Release: title, notes body, and which tags get one.             |
| [Sweep Marks](https://github.com/TheColliery/.github/blob/main/SWEEP-MARKS.md)                                 | The recurring events, and the fixed set of doc spots each one leaves stale.           |
| [New-Repo Wizard](https://github.com/TheColliery/.github/blob/main/NEW-REPO-WIZARD.md)                         | How a new repository is set up, by kind.                                              |
| [Installing Coal\* skills on claude.ai](https://github.com/TheColliery/.github/blob/main/CLAUDE-AI-INSTALL.md) | Installing a skill on claude.ai as a custom-skill ZIP, and the limits to know first.  |


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