skills/notion-knowledge-capture/reference/documentation-database.md

# General Documentation Database

**Purpose**: Store all types of documentation in a searchable, organized database.

## Schema

| Property | Type | Options | Purpose |
|----------|------|---------|---------|
| **Title** | title | - | Document name |
| **Type** | select | How-To, Concept, Reference, FAQ, Decision, Post-Mortem | Categorize content type |
| **Category** | select | Engineering, Product, Design, Operations, General | Organize by department/topic |
| **Tags** | multi_select | - | Additional categorization (languages, tools, topics) |
| **Status** | select | Draft, In Review, Final, Deprecated | Track document lifecycle |
| **Owner** | people | - | Document maintainer |
| **Created** | created_time | - | Auto-populated creation date |
| **Last Updated** | last_edited_time | - | Auto-populated last edit |
| **Last Reviewed** | date | - | Manual review tracking |

## Usage

```
Create pages with properties:
{
  "Title": "How to Deploy to Production",
  "Type": "How-To",
  "Category": "Engineering",
  "Tags": "deployment, production, DevOps",
  "Status": "Final",
  "Owner": [current_user],
  "date:Last Reviewed:start": "2025-10-01",
  "date:Last Reviewed:is_datetime": 0
}
```

## Views

**By Type**: Group by Type property
**By Category**: Group by Category property
**Recent Updates**: Sort by Last Updated descending
**Needs Review**: Filter where Last Reviewed > 90 days ago
**Draft Docs**: Filter where Status = "Draft"

## Creating This Database

Use `Notion:notion-create-database`:

```javascript
{
  "parent": {"page_id": "wiki-page-id"},
  "title": "Team Documentation",
  "schema": "CREATE TABLE (\"Title\" TITLE, \"Type\" SELECT('How-To':blue, 'Concept':green, 'Reference':gray, 'FAQ':yellow), \"Category\" SELECT('Engineering':red, 'Product':purple, 'Design':pink), \"Tags\" MULTI_SELECT(), \"Owner\" PEOPLE, \"Status\" SELECT('Draft':gray, 'Final':green, 'Deprecated':red), \"Created\" CREATED_TIME, \"Last Updated\" LAST_EDITED_TIME, \"Last Reviewed\" DATE)"
}
```

## Best Practices

1. **Start with this schema** - most flexible for general documentation
2. **Use relations** to connect related docs
3. **Create views** for common use cases
4. **Review properties** quarterly - remove unused ones
5. **Document the schema** in database description
6. **Train team** on property usage and conventions