Writing Clean READMEs

A good README answers three questions fast: what is this, how do I run it, and how do I use it. Everything else is secondary.

A structure that works

1. One-line description — what the project does, right under the title.
2. Install / run — the exact commands, in a fenced code block, no prose in between.
3. Usage example — one realistic example, not an exhaustive API reference.
4. Links out — contributing guide, license, issue tracker.

Code blocks matter more than prose

Use fenced code blocks with a language tag so syntax highlighting kicks in:

```bash
npm install
npm run dev
```

A README with copy-pasteable, highlighted commands gets used; a README that describes the commands in a sentence gets skimmed and ignored.

Preview before you push

Since a README is often the first thing anyone sees, it's worth previewing the rendered output before committing — table alignment, list nesting, and code fences don't always look the way you'd expect from the raw text.