docs: restructure README around user workflow#10
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The README led with tool mechanics ("a worktree orchestrator") rather
than the user's superpower, and buried Getting Started at line 463 of
511 — past the point most newcomers stop reading. PR review and feature
work read as two stories grafted together, leaking the order features
were added rather than what zen does today.
The new README opens with what zen lets you do (parallel reviews and
feature work, each in a Claude-ready worktree), frames both use cases
as one workflow, and surfaces a five-command Quick Start near the top.
Reference material moves into separate files so the README can stay
short.
- docs/architecture.md — daemon design, worktree naming, source tree
- docs/configuration.md — full config reference, terminal setup, state
- docs/mcp.md — MCP tool inventory
- CONTRIBUTING.md — build and test
README is now 263 lines (was 511).
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Move "How it works" below the user-job sections — it's mechanism that
becomes interesting only after the reader knows what zen does for
them. Rename sections to name the moment the user reaches for them
("What needs your attention?", "Review a PR", "Where am I?") rather
than tool nouns ("Inbox", "Dashboard").
Pull `zen inbox` out from under "Reviewing PRs". It returns reviews
waiting on you, your own approved-but-unmerged PRs, and watched-path
PRs, so it's a triage view rather than a review view.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
The README mentioned tabs in the pitch and in the Review section, but Quick start and Work on a feature didn't — readers had to infer that `zen work new` and `zen work resume` behave the same way as `zen review`. Add the tab mention in both gaps, and foreshadow `--no-terminal` in the Work section. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
mgreau
approved these changes
May 6, 2026
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What
Lead the README with what zen lets the user do, surface Quick Start near the top, and split reference material into
docs/.Why
The README opened with tool mechanics ("a worktree orchestrator") rather than what a newcomer gets from zen, and Getting Started lived at line 463 of 511 — past where most readers would have given up. PR review and feature work are framed as two separate stories rather than a single workflow with two entry points.
Notes
docs/architecture.md,docs/configuration.md,docs/mcp.md, andCONTRIBUTING.md.🤖 Generated with Claude Code