Bridging Documentation, Maintenance, and Collaboration in Community Scientific Software

Documentation and maintenance are critical infrastructure for community scientific software, yet they are often treated as secondary to code development. At the same time, community software is rarely built or sustained by a single static team, and practices are frequently implicit rather than documented. Sustainable community software depends on making documentation, maintenance, and collaboration explicit, repeatable, and visible. Drawing on over a decade of experience with the METplus verification software, recent restructuring work for the FastEddy® Large-Eddy Simulation model, and emerging engagement with the NSF NCAR Community Software Facility (CSF), this talk presents practical lessons learned from working across projects and groups within NSF NCAR.

The presentation will describe how METplus integrates documentation and maintenance directly into its development workflow using a Docs-as-Code approach, automated documentation builds, and structured development cycles. These practices support regular releases, transparent prioritization of bugfixes and security work, and ongoing compatibility maintenance across compilers, platforms, and HPC systems. Developer-facing documentation, such as the METplus Release Guide, has proven especially valuable for making complex processes reproducible and reducing reliance on institutional memory.

The talk will also reflect on how some of these practices have been transferred from METplus to FastEddy® and how they are informing discussions around co-design and code audits within the CSF. By documenting procedures explicitly and automating routine checks, teams can strengthen collaboration, improve continuity of work, and support the long-term sustainability of community scientific software.