---
name: docs-positive-framing
description: "Docs style — frame guidance positively (what to DO / \"must\"), not negatively (\"don't\" / \"must not\" / \"never\")"
metadata: 
  node_type: memory
  type: feedback
  originSessionId: 7f5a5890-9c8c-4043-bcb6-647b6f7a36d7
---

Operator 2026-06-15: in docs-site (and docs generally), **frame everything positively** — state what the reader needs to / **must** do, rather than what they must **not** do. Flip prohibitions into prescriptions.

**How to apply:** "never cut mid-`<EVENT>`" → "always cut on an `</EVENT>` boundary"; "binary present is NOT an active adapter" → "`adapter add` activates your adapter"; "the manifest can't express it" → "that resolution is logic, so it lives in the binary"; "must not have a [shell] section" → "[shell] is exclusive to shell adapters"; "scripts never prompt" → "scripts run unattended"; "sessions don't lose their delta" → "sessions keep their delta". Lead with the must-do; keep the "why" if it earns its place.

**Scope/limits:** applies to GUIDANCE/instructions phrased as prohibitions. Leave precise descriptive system-behaviour negatives that would lose meaning (e.g. shell "never spooled", "no central server") and generated files (cli/reference.md — drift-gated, hand-edits overwritten). Preserve meaning + precision over a mechanical zero-"not".

**Why:** positive prescriptive writing reads as direct instruction; matches the DOCS-STRATEGY "knowledgeable friend / active voice" voice. Applied across the harness-contract vertical 2026-06-15 (patterns, install-on-demand, integration-checklist, manifest, api + lifecycle/install). See [[adapter-tips-published-docs]], [[public-docs-version-not-milestone]].

**Now upstream in experimplate** (2026-06-15, @2f44ed5): baked into the template's `docs/DOCS-STRATEGY.md` — Principle 7 (voice) requires positive/prescriptive framing + the anti-patterns list flags prohibition-framed guidance. So every adapter scaffolded from experimplate inherits the rule. experimplate is a LOCAL template (no remote; instantiation copies from local main). See [[experimplate-traceable-seed-leaks]].