Notes for a tidy digital shelf
A few habits that make small personal systems easier to return to after several months away.
Any system that only one person maintains should be generous to its future maintainer. That usually means fewer clever names, fewer hidden assumptions, and a little more plain documentation than feels necessary today.
The notes I return to most often are simple: what the service does, where its files live, how it starts, and what would be safe to remove. The details do not need to be beautiful. They need to be nearby and current enough to trust.
A useful file
For small projects, a single README with dated changes is often enough. I prefer writing the reason for a change next to the command, because commands without reasons become puzzles later.
The shelf is tidy when maintenance feels boring. Boring is underrated.
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