{
  "id": "doc-coauthoring",
  "handle": "doc-coauthoring",
  "canonicalUrl": "https://bestskillsforclaude.com/en/skills/doc-coauthoring",
  "language": "en",
  "alternates": {
    "en": "https://bestskillsforclaude.com/en/skills/doc-coauthoring",
    "es": "https://bestskillsforclaude.com/es/skills/doc-coauthoring",
    "pt-BR": "https://bestskillsforclaude.com/pt-br/skills/doc-coauthoring",
    "ja": "https://bestskillsforclaude.com/ja/skills/doc-coauthoring"
  },
  "category": {
    "id": "document-work",
    "name": "Document work"
  },
  "publisher": {
    "name": "Anthropic",
    "url": "https://github.com/anthropics"
  },
  "source": "https://github.com/anthropics/skills/tree/main/skills/doc-coauthoring",
  "documentation": null,
  "licenseAsStated": "Apache 2.0",
  "runtime": "Claude apps and Claude Code",
  "lastReviewed": "2026-08-05",
  "headline": "Why does long document work need its own skill?",
  "summary": "Because one prompt and one long answer is the worst way to write anything that matters.",
  "verdict": "The doc-coauthoring skill turns document writing into a staged collaboration: agree the shape, draft in parts, and revise against what was agreed. It is worth loading for documents long enough that a single generated draft would be unreviewable, such as specifications, proposals and policies.",
  "bestFor": "Specifications, proposals, policies and reports that a human has to defend afterwards.",
  "skipIf": "You need a short piece of copy, where the extra structure costs more than it returns.",
  "keyTakeaways": [
    "It front loads the disagreement into the outline, which is the cheapest place to have it.",
    "Section by section drafting keeps every part reviewable at human speed.",
    "It pairs naturally with docx when the deliverable has to be a Word file.",
    "It structures the work. It does not know your subject matter for you."
  ],
  "quickStart": [
    "Install the skill from anthropics/skills, published under Apache 2.0.",
    "Start with the outline and argue about it before any prose is written.",
    "Draft one section at a time and review it before moving on, so mistakes stay local."
  ],
  "sections": [
    {
      "heading": "What it changes in practice",
      "paragraphs": [
        "The usual failure with long documents is that a model produces twenty pages in one pass. It reads fluently, so nobody reviews it properly, and the errors surface later in front of a customer or a regulator.",
        "Working in stages changes the economics. Fixing an outline takes minutes, fixing a section takes an hour, and fixing a finished document that everyone already approved takes a week."
      ]
    },
    {
      "heading": "Where it disappoints",
      "paragraphs": [
        "It is overhead on short work. For a paragraph of marketing copy the ceremony is pure cost, and a direct request is better.",
        "It also cannot supply judgement you do not have. If nobody on your side knows what the document should claim, a better process only produces a well structured guess."
      ]
    }
  ],
  "faq": [
    {
      "question": "How is this different from just asking for a document?",
      "answer": "It splits the work into outline, drafting and revision with review points, instead of producing one long draft nobody checks."
    },
    {
      "question": "Does it produce Word files?",
      "answer": "Not by itself. Pair it with the docx skill when the final artifact has to be a .docx file."
    },
    {
      "question": "What license is it under?",
      "answer": "Apache 2.0, unlike the docx, xlsx, pptx and pdf skills, which are source available."
    }
  ],
  "sources": [
    {
      "label": "anthropics/skills on GitHub",
      "url": "https://github.com/anthropics/skills",
      "kind": "repository"
    },
    {
      "label": "anthropics/skills, doc-coauthoring skill directory",
      "url": "https://github.com/anthropics/skills/tree/main/skills/doc-coauthoring",
      "kind": "documentation"
    }
  ],
  "machineReadable": {
    "markdown": "https://bestskillsforclaude.com/en/skills/doc-coauthoring/content.md",
    "json": "https://bestskillsforclaude.com/en/skills/doc-coauthoring/skill.json"
  },
  "disclosure": "Editorial desk review based on the publisher's own repository. Not a security audit, a benchmark or a guarantee of maintenance."
}