# Doc Archaeology > Excavate aging documents for staleness, dead links, process drift, phantom dependencies, and obsolete examples. Parent: [Writing and Documentation](https://llms-explorer.com/tree/writing-and-documentation/) · 10 facets · 37 facts · page: https://llms-explorer.com/tree/doc-archaeology/ ## Doc Archaeology - Excavate aging documents for staleness, dead links, process drift, phantom dependencies, and obsolete examples. — [source](https://llms-explorer.com/sources/mdb-context-hub/doc-archaeology/#doc-archaeology) ## Five categories of doc decay - Stale Facts - claims about state-of-the-world that have changed — [source](https://llms-explorer.com/sources/mdb-context-hub/doc-archaeology/#five-categories-of-doc-decay) - Dead Links - URLs that 404, redirect to unrelated destinations — [source](https://llms-explorer.com/sources/mdb-context-hub/doc-archaeology/#five-categories-of-doc-decay) - Drift from Current Process - procedures that no longer reflect actual practice — [source](https://llms-explorer.com/sources/mdb-context-hub/doc-archaeology/#five-categories-of-doc-decay) - Phantom Dependencies - scripts, files, tools, people that no longer exist — [source](https://llms-explorer.com/sources/mdb-context-hub/doc-archaeology/#five-categories-of-doc-decay) - Obsolete Examples - code snippets reflecting prior API or UI — [source](https://llms-explorer.com/sources/mdb-context-hub/doc-archaeology/#five-categories-of-doc-decay) ## Five-pass workflow - Last-Updated Lens - estimate age, catalog time-sensitive claims, set decay risk (low/medium/high) — [source](https://llms-explorer.com/sources/mdb-context-hub/doc-archaeology/#five-pass-workflow) - Fact-Check Pass - verify each claim against current state — [source](https://llms-explorer.com/sources/mdb-context-hub/doc-archaeology/#five-pass-workflow) - Link-Check Pass - verify every URL; flag auth-gated as "unverified" — [source](https://llms-explorer.com/sources/mdb-context-hub/doc-archaeology/#five-pass-workflow) - Process-Check Pass - verify procedures against current practice at step level — [source](https://llms-explorer.com/sources/mdb-context-hub/doc-archaeology/#five-pass-workflow) - Dependency-Check Pass - check scripts, files, tools, channels, people — [source](https://llms-explorer.com/sources/mdb-context-hub/doc-archaeology/#five-pass-workflow) ## Findings table - Severity: Critical/Misleading → High/Outdated → Medium/Cosmetic → Low/Historical — [source](https://llms-explorer.com/sources/mdb-context-hub/doc-archaeology/#findings-table) ## Salvage decisions - Update in place - targeted fixes; structure is sound — [source](https://llms-explorer.com/sources/mdb-context-hub/doc-archaeology/#salvage-decisions) - Restructure and refresh - major rewrites needed — [source](https://llms-explorer.com/sources/mdb-context-hub/doc-archaeology/#salvage-decisions) - Deprecate with pointer - superseded, add deprecation banner — [source](https://llms-explorer.com/sources/mdb-context-hub/doc-archaeology/#salvage-decisions) - Archive - historical state; remove from search — [source](https://llms-explorer.com/sources/mdb-context-hub/doc-archaeology/#salvage-decisions) - Delete - fully phantom, all claims stale — [source](https://llms-explorer.com/sources/mdb-context-hub/doc-archaeology/#salvage-decisions) ## Anti-patterns - Noting a doc is old without running any passes (ostrich mode) — [source](https://llms-explorer.com/sources/mdb-context-hub/doc-archaeology/#anti-patterns) - Rewriting when targeted refresh would suffice — [source](https://llms-explorer.com/sources/mdb-context-hub/doc-archaeology/#anti-patterns) - Deleting load-bearing historical context — [source](https://llms-explorer.com/sources/mdb-context-hub/doc-archaeology/#anti-patterns) - Treating unverifiable as confirmed — [source](https://llms-explorer.com/sources/mdb-context-hub/doc-archaeology/#anti-patterns) ## Where this helps - Auditing an old runbook or onboarding doc before a team relies on it during an incident, to catch dead links, phantom dependencies, and obsolete examples before they cause real damage. — [source](https://llms-explorer.com/tree/doc-archaeology/) *(AI-suggested, synthesized from this pack's existing facts — not extracted from a source document.)* - Deciding whether to archive, rewrite, or leave alone a legacy doc during a documentation cleanup sprint, using explicit salvage-decision criteria instead of gut feel. — [source](https://llms-explorer.com/tree/doc-archaeology/) *(AI-suggested, synthesized from this pack's existing facts — not extracted from a source document.)* - Investigating why a "known good" setup guide keeps failing for new hires, which often traces back to process drift the doc never captured. — [source](https://llms-explorer.com/tree/doc-archaeology/) *(AI-suggested, synthesized from this pack's existing facts — not extracted from a source document.)* - Preparing a docs repo for a migration or major version bump, where stale examples and phantom dependencies need to be found systematically rather than one broken report at a time. — [source](https://llms-explorer.com/tree/doc-archaeology/) *(AI-suggested, synthesized from this pack's existing facts — not extracted from a source document.)* ## How to apply this - Run the five-pass workflow in order rather than trying to fix everything on a first read-through, since staleness, dead links, drift, phantom dependencies, and obsolete examples each need a dedicated pass to catch reliably. — [source](https://llms-explorer.com/tree/doc-archaeology/) *(AI-suggested, synthesized from this pack's existing facts — not extracted from a source document.)* - Log every finding in a structured findings table — what's wrong, where, severity — before deciding what to do with it, so triage happens after full discovery rather than doc by doc in isolation. — [source](https://llms-explorer.com/tree/doc-archaeology/) *(AI-suggested, synthesized from this pack's existing facts — not extracted from a source document.)* - Apply explicit salvage-decision criteria (rewrite, archive, delete, flag-for-owner) rather than defaulting to "just leave it," which is how stale docs accumulate in the first place. — [source](https://llms-explorer.com/tree/doc-archaeology/) *(AI-suggested, synthesized from this pack's existing facts — not extracted from a source document.)* - Check for phantom dependencies specifically — references to tools, services, or steps that no longer exist — since these are the failures that cost a reader the most time before they realize the doc is wrong. — [source](https://llms-explorer.com/tree/doc-archaeology/) *(AI-suggested, synthesized from this pack's existing facts — not extracted from a source document.)* ## Common mistakes - Fixing individual broken links or examples as you happen to notice them instead of running a structured pass, which leaves the rest of the same decay category undetected. — [source](https://llms-explorer.com/tree/doc-archaeology/) *(AI-suggested, synthesized from this pack's existing facts — not extracted from a source document.)* - Archiving a doc because it looks old without checking whether it's still the only documentation for a still-active process, silently breaking someone else's workflow. — [source](https://llms-explorer.com/tree/doc-archaeology/) *(AI-suggested, synthesized from this pack's existing facts — not extracted from a source document.)* - Rewriting a doc's content without first confirming which of the five decay categories actually caused the problem, which risks fixing the symptom (an outdated example) while leaving the root cause (process drift) untouched. — [source](https://llms-explorer.com/tree/doc-archaeology/) *(AI-suggested, synthesized from this pack's existing facts — not extracted from a source document.)* - Auditing docs in isolation from their actual usage, deprioritizing a heavily-referenced doc with minor issues while over-investing in a rarely-read doc with cosmetic problems. — [source](https://llms-explorer.com/tree/doc-archaeology/) *(AI-suggested, synthesized from this pack's existing facts — not extracted from a source document.)* ## Known issues - Doc archaeology is inherently a point-in-time audit; without a recurring cadence or an owner, the same categories of decay creep back in within months. — [source](https://llms-explorer.com/tree/doc-archaeology/) *(AI-suggested, synthesized from this pack's existing facts — not extracted from a source document.)* - Dead-link and phantom-dependency detection can be automated, but detecting process drift, where the doc's steps no longer match how the team actually works, usually still requires a human who knows current practice. — [source](https://llms-explorer.com/tree/doc-archaeology/) *(AI-suggested, synthesized from this pack's existing facts — not extracted from a source document.)* - A five-pass audit takes real time proportional to the size of the doc corpus, so it doesn't scale well as a fully manual process for large, sprawling documentation sets. — [source](https://llms-explorer.com/tree/doc-archaeology/) *(AI-suggested, synthesized from this pack's existing facts — not extracted from a source document.)* - Salvage decisions are judgment calls — reasonable auditors can disagree on whether a doc is worth rewriting versus archiving, especially when usage data on who actually reads it isn't available. — [source](https://llms-explorer.com/tree/doc-archaeology/) *(AI-suggested, synthesized from this pack's existing facts — not extracted from a source document.)* ## Context files - [Doc Archaeology](https://llms-explorer.com/downloads/sources/mdb-context-hub/doc-archaeology.md)