README Checklist Generator
Check a README against the sections readers expect and get a checklist of what is missing.
What is README Checklist?
A README reviewer. It scans a pasted README for the eighteen sections a reader looks for, ranks the gaps by how much they matter, and reports the small things that make documentation look unfinished.
How it works
Each section is matched by its own patterns — headings for most, badge URLs for the badges row, fenced code blocks for usage examples — so renaming "Getting Started" to "Installation" is enough to satisfy the check. Statistics on headings, code fences, images and links feed the quality notes, and the result can be copied as a Markdown checklist to work through or paste into the README as a TODO section.
- Paste or fill in the input. Drop in a commit message, a diff, a package.json, a path list or a set of options. The tool reads it locally — nothing is uploaded and no repository is contacted.
- Adjust the rules to match your project. Every linter here takes its convention from a setting you can change: allowed commit types, header length, target branch length, known branch names. Set them once to what your team actually uses.
- Copy the result. Generated files copy straight to the clipboard or download as a real file with the right name (.gitignore, CODEOWNERS, LICENSE, COMMIT_EDITMSG), and Reset returns every field to its default.
Examples
A commit message that fails CI
"Updated(auth): Fixed the expired-token redirect." is rejected by release automation and reported here with the exact reasons: unknown type, capitalised description, past tense and a trailing period.
A .gitignore that only half works
The Checker shows which rule decides a path — and why `!keep.txt` inside an ignored directory never fires, the mistake that sends people to Stack Overflow.
A dependency bump nobody reviewed
The package.json Diff separates added, removed and changed entries per section, so a caret bump of a runtime dependency does not hide inside a lockfile-sized pull request.
A diff pasted from a code review comment
The Diff Viewer understands several `diff --git` blocks, mode-only changes, renames and binary stubs, and calls out a pasted `--stat` summary instead of rendering an empty box.
Common mistakes
Committing a .gitignore without checking it
Rules look right and behave differently: a pattern containing a slash is anchored to the root, a trailing slash means directories only, and a file inside an ignored directory cannot be re-included. Check the paths that matter before you commit the file.
Rewriting published history
A clean commit history is worth having, but amend, rebase and filter-repo change commit hashes. Only rewrite commits that nobody has pulled; after a rewrite, push with --force-with-lease rather than --force.
Treating a generated file as if it were reviewed
These tools produce a starting point, not a decision. Check the licence text against the canonical source, read the security policy before publishing it, and make sure a CODEOWNERS team actually exists — GitHub silently ignores rules whose owner has no write access.
Putting slow checks in a pre-commit hook
A hook that takes 30 seconds gets bypassed with --no-verify within a week, and then it protects nothing. Keep pre-commit to formatting and linting, move type checks and tests to pre-push or CI.
Frequently asked questions
How is this different from a full README generator?
It does not write your README — it tells you which parts are missing from the one you have and where to add them. That works better for an existing project than replacing prose you already wrote.
Why does it flag a code block with no language?
Because a fenced block without a language renders without syntax highlighting, and GitHub's copy button still works while the reader has to guess which shell or runtime the snippet is for.
What should a README have at minimum?
A one-line description, installation, a usage example with real code, how to run the tests, and the licence. Everything else — badges, screenshots, roadmap — helps but is optional.