Reverse Document

/reverse-document — Reverse Engineering Design Docs

Delegate to: systems-designer (with lead-programmer for code analysis)

Use When

• Joining a project with no design documentation
• Code has diverged from original design docs
• Need to produce docs for handoff or publishing
• Preparing for /design-review on an unfinished codebase

Steps

1. Scan the Codebase

Identify major systems by:

• Top-level directories in src/
• Module names
• Service files
• Obvious feature clusters

ls src/ServerScriptService/
ls src/ServerStorage/
ls src/ReplicatedStorage/

2. For Each System, Extract Info

Purpose (from code inspection)

• Module comments (if any)
• File names
• Public function names
• Type definitions

Data Schema

• Find DataStore keys
• Find config tables
• Find Attribute usage
• Find persistent state

grep -rn "DataStore\|Attribute\|ValueObject" src/

Remotes

• Find RemoteEvents / RemoteFunctions created
• Find FireServer / FireClient / InvokeServer / InvokeClient
• Find OnServerEvent / OnClientEvent handlers

grep -rn "RemoteEvent\|RemoteFunction\|OnServerEvent\|OnClientEvent" src/

Client-Server Split

• What files are in ServerScriptService vs. StarterPlayer?
• What's shared via ReplicatedStorage?

UI

• What ScreenGuis exist?
• What buttons/modals/HUDs?
• Sketch the structure

Formulas

• Find numeric operations in gameplay code
• Extract the math into explicit formulas
• Flag magic numbers that should be documented

3. Draft a GDD

For each system, generate a draft GDD using the template. Mark sections as:

• [INFERRED FROM CODE] — extracted from implementation
• [NEEDS USER INPUT] — couldn't determine from code

4. Present for Review

Show each drafted GDD to the user:

• Ask them to fill in sections marked [NEEDS USER INPUT]
• Ask them to correct any [INFERRED FROM CODE] that are wrong
• Look for discrepancies (code says X, user says Y — which is authoritative?)

5. Save and Link

On approval:

• Save each GDD to design/gdd/-gdd.md
• Update or create design/gdd/systems-index.md
• Create design/gdd/master-gdd.md if missing (may need user input for vision/pillars)

6. Flag Discrepancies

Note anywhere the code doesn't match what the user says the design should be:

• "Code implements X, but you said the design is Y — should we update the code or the design?"
• Log these in production/decision-log.md

Output

# Reverse Documentation Results

## Systems Found
1. [System A] — GDD draft saved
2. [System B] — GDD draft needs user input for [sections]

## Discrepancies Found
1. [System X] — Code does Y, but that's not documented anywhere. Intentional?

## Missing Systems (code without doc)
1. [Module] — unclear what this is. User clarification needed.

## Docs Without Code (if master-gdd exists)
- [Planned system] — no code yet

## Recommendations
1. [Action item]

Source & license

This open-source skill is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code.

• Author: CodePhobiia
• Source: CodePhobiia/claude-roblox-game-studio
• License: MIT

Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above.