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Structure a README that gets someone running

A project with working code and a README that says only its name.

Longreadmestructureonboarding
Write a README for the project below, aimed at someone who found it five minutes ago and is deciding whether to use it.

Order, and keep it in this order:
1. **One sentence** saying what it is and who it is for. No taglines.
2. **What problem it solves**, and one sentence on what it deliberately does not do.
3. **Install**, exact commands, with prerequisites and versions stated.
4. **Smallest working example**, copy-pasteable, with the real output shown underneath.
5. **Common tasks**, the three or four things most users will actually do.
6. **Configuration**, or a link to it if long.
7. **Limitations and known issues**, honestly.
8. **Contributing and licence**, last and brief.

No badges beyond build and version. No architecture diagram. If you need information I have not supplied, list the questions at the end rather than inventing details.

Project:

Making it yours

  • Paste your own material where the prompt asks for it. Everything above that line is instruction, not content.
  • Delete any rule that does not apply to you. A shorter prompt that fits beats a thorough one that does not.
  • If the answer comes back vague, add a line saying what you do not want. Constraints work better than encouragement.

Getting someone started. READMEs, setup guides, onboarding and glossaries for the person meeting this for the first time.

Related prompts

Write a getting-started guide that ends in a winNew users install the thing and then don't know what to do next.Build a glossary for this domainNew starters keep asking what a word means and getting three answers.Write onboarding docs for a new teammateSomeone starts Monday and the setup knowledge lives in three people's heads.One-line descriptionThe first sentence of a README, or a repo description field.What is this README missing?Before publishing a README you wrote in one sitting.Summarise this for a newcomerSomeone joins next week and this is the thing they'll meet first.

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