diff --git a/spec/readme-structure.md b/spec/readme-structure.md index 3174c221..32c417d4 100644 --- a/spec/readme-structure.md +++ b/spec/readme-structure.md @@ -24,6 +24,8 @@ The preferred `README.md` shape for a fleet project. The audit's `readme-structu Shields are not a top-level section. They live under **Build and Distribution** as the **Build Status** and **Releases** sub-sections. Each shield is a reference-style link, with the definitions grouped under `` at the bottom of the file. Stack a group's badges by ending each line except the last with a trailing backslash. +**Repository visibility does not change the structure.** A private repo carries the same sections and the same shield set as a public one, written in full. A private repo cannot be read by shields.io, so its GitHub-sourced badges render broken until it goes public, and that is accepted rather than worked around. The alternative, writing a reduced README while private and adding the missing shields at the visibility flip, makes the shape depend on a property that is temporary by design, since a repo is usually private precisely **while** it is being made presentable, which is exactly when its README is written. Carrying the full shape means going public is a visibility change and nothing else, with no README work owed at the flip and no second shape for the audit to accept. + ## Style - Write in the current state, present tense, so the reader needs no knowledge beyond what they are reading (GOVERNANCE.md Documentation Style).