Small projects cannot maintain separate teams for tutorials, reference, support, localization, and portal operations. That makes their best documentation especially useful: every extra step is expensive, and every weak page quickly becomes an issue, a discussion, or a lost user.
The sample covers five popular tools with a narrow product scope and compact source footprint: htmx, ripgrep, bat, jq, and Starship. On August 15, 2026, each had roughly 35k–67k GitHub stars, while files in their primary implementation languages total about 0.57–2.06 MiB. Stars measure repository popularity, not user count; source size is used only as a comparable product-size marker.
Method
We reviewed official guides, READMEs, manuals/reference, FAQ and troubleshooting, migration/versioning, localization, and how closely documentation lives to the code. Eight criteria are scored 0–2. GitHub popularity and source-language byte counts were captured through the GitHub API on August 15, 2026.
Small codebases, large audiences
A focused product can still serve a very large audience. In these projects, documentation becomes the main user interface to a tool whose implementation is comparatively compact.
Documentation organization score
Starship has the most complete path from install to deep configuration and localization. bat and ripgrep follow closely through different strategies: bat turns one README into a strong user manual, while ripgrep builds trust with a dedicated User Guide and an unusually candid FAQ.
Starshipbatripgrephtmxjq| Criterion | Starship | bat | ripgrep | htmx | jq |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First result in minutes | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 |
| Product mental model | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Working examples | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Complete reference | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Troubleshooting and edge cases | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| Versions and migrations | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| Localization | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Docs close to code | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
Five different documentation strengths
Starship
Best overall balancebat
Best README as a productripgrep
Best trust through depthhtmx
Best conceptual teachingjq
Most durable referenceWhat they have in common
Their documentation follows user decisions rather than source-tree structure: understand the idea, get a result, solve a task, find an exact option, recover from failure, and survive an upgrade.
| Pattern | Real example | What to copy |
|---|---|---|
| README is an entrance, not a warehouse | ripgrep routes readers to Guide and FAQ; bat keeps the common journey close to the repository front page. | Put the first success and the next routes beside the project name. |
| Example before abstraction | htmx teaches with working HTML; bat and Starship put executable steps early. | The first example should answer what the user gets in five minutes. |
| Reference is separate from learning | Starship separates Guide from Configuration; ripgrep separates GUIDE, FAQ and regex reference. | Tutorials do not need every option; reference should not pretend to be a tutorial. |
| Document the awkward parts | bat explains `batcat`, truecolor and encodings; ripgrep covers compressed files, multiline search and configuration behavior. | Trust grows when the docs expose real product edges. |
| Keep old versions usable | jq keeps versioned manuals; htmx publishes a 1.x→2.x migration guide. | Behavior changes require version-specific guidance. |
| Ship docs with code | Guides, READMEs, FAQ and config pages live in or are built from the same repositories. | For a small team, docs-as-code removes a second product lifecycle. |
A documentation stack for a two-to-five-person project
A small project does not need hundreds of pages. It needs a short chain: README for value and first success; Guide for core jobs; Reference for every option; FAQ/troubleshooting for real friction; migration notes for change; documentation updates in the same pull request as product behavior.
README— Purpose, installation, one working example, 5–7 routes onwardGuide— Three to five core user jobs from start to resultReference— All commands, parameters, options, and defaultsFAQ / Troubleshooting— Questions from Issues and real edge casesMigration / Changelog— What changed, what broke, how to upgradeContributing— One process for code and documentation changes
| Layer | Job |
|---|---|
README | Purpose, installation, one working example, 5–7 routes onward |
Guide | Three to five core user jobs from start to result |
Reference | All commands, parameters, options, and defaults |
FAQ / Troubleshooting | Questions from Issues and real edge cases |
Migration / Changelog | What changed, what broke, how to upgrade |
Contributing | One process for code and documentation changes |
Primary sources
Only official project sites, repositories, and GitHub API data captured on the snapshot date are included.
The conclusion: discipline scales documentation before headcount does
Starship has the strongest full system for a small project: quick start, guide, configuration reference, advanced topics, FAQ, and localization form a portal that feels much larger than the codebase.
bat proves that one README can be exceptional when it mirrors real user questions. Package managers, `batcat`, terminal colors, encodings, and integrations build more trust than generic overview pages.
ripgrep wins on depth and candor. It documents automatic filtering, binary files, encodings, configuration, performance, and limits without hiding engineering trade-offs.
htmx teaches the concept best. A small pair of HTML examples explains the library faster than an architecture chapter.
jq demonstrates the value of stable reference: users can open the manual for their version years later, and the language model remains predictable.
A small project can have big-company documentation by limiting formats, delivering a working result in minutes, separating learning from reference, documenting uncomfortable edge cases, and shipping docs with code.