Documentation remains grounded only when the generating agent can inspect the authoritative implementation. A purpose-built subagent should receive scoped filesystem and code-search capabilities, identify the relevant modules, interfaces, configuration files, tests, and call sites, and generate documentation from that evidence. This approach minimizes reliance on training-data recall, which cannot represent the repository’s current private code or recent changes.
Subagents are useful because repository exploration occurs in their own context, allowing them to return focused findings or proposed edits without filling the main conversation with every file read. Their tool access should follow least privilege: read access to required paths, narrowly controlled write access, and explicit exclusions for secrets or unrelated repositories.
Generated documentation should enter the team’s established change-control process as a patch, branch, or pull request. Normal review, automated checks, link validation, example execution, and human approval provide accountability and prevent unverified material from being published. Direct publication bypasses these safeguards, while disabling repository tools makes factual grounding impossible.
Study Guide references/topics: [Claude Code custom subagents](https://docs.anthropic.com/en/docs/claude-code/sub-agents); [codebase exploration workflows] (https://docs.anthropic.com/en/docs/claude-code/common-workflows); source-grounded generation; least-privilege tools; human review and lifecycle controls.
