README 4-File Sync Procedure
The GitHub-facing README set is 4 files at the repo root:
| File | Locale | Role |
|------|--------|------|
| README.ko.md | ko | canonical / primary — author here first |
| README.md | en | derived |
| README.ja.md | ja | derived |
| README.zh.md | zh | derived |
Chain history: the canonical locale was English until 2026-08-17, when card t47 promoted the ko new-skeleton (feature-oriented section structure) to canonical per the operator decision — aligning the README chain with the docs-site chain, which was already ko-canonical. The former en-skeleton redesign reference (
.moai/reports/readme-docs-redesign-20260713.md) is superseded by the ko skeleton and kept as history only.
Procedure
- Author the change in
README.ko.md(Korean) only. Respect the canonical ko section skeleton; keep the file length in the range of the current set. - Derive en, ja, zh — same PR, one derived file per translator worker. Translate the changed sections minimally; do not rewrite untouched prose.
- Preserve verbatim across all 4 files: code blocks, command names, badges, version strings, file paths, tables' structure, Mermaid direction, and the switcher header (below).
- Verify parity (checklist below) before returning.
Language-switcher header contract [HARD]
All 4 files share the same switcher header near the top, linking the sibling files with the label set exactly:
English · 한국어 · 日本語 · 中文
- The current file's own label renders as plain text; the other 3 are links to the sibling README files.
- Never reorder, drop, or re-label the 4 entries.
Section-order parity checklist
- [ ]
grep -c '^## ' README.md README.ko.md README.ja.md README.zh.md— identical H2 counts across the 4 files. - [ ] H2 section ORDER matches ko (compare
grep '^## 'output order). - [ ] H3 counts per section match for sections you touched.
- [ ] Table row counts match in touched sections.
- [ ] Code-block count matches (
```` grep -c '^```' ````is even and equal). - [ ] Switcher header present and correct in all 4.
- [ ] URL blacklist clean:
grep -n 'docs\.moai-ai\.dev\|adk\.moai\.com\|adk\.moai\.kr' README*.md→ no matches.
Manual verification recipe
No linter exists for the README set — verification is the manual recipe above
plus rendering sanity: preview the markdown (GitHub-flavored) for the touched
sections and confirm Mermaid blocks declare TD/TB only. The runnable
docs-site checks live in Skill("hns-oss-docs-verify"); the README-specific
checks are the greps above.
Anti-patterns
| Anti-pattern | Correct approach |
|--------------|------------------|
| Editing README.md first "because GitHub is English-facing" | README canonical is ko — author README.ko.md, then derive |
| Re-authoring an entire derived file for a 3-line canonical change | Minimal-diff derivation of the changed sections |
| "Improving" facts/figures during translation | Report the discrepancy; amend canonical first |
| Dropping the switcher header in a redesign | The 4-entry header is a HARD shared contract |