This reminds me of technical documentation for embedded devices. Usually you get multiple classes of documents: data sheets, application notes, reference design

This reminds me of technical documentation for embedded devices. Usually you get multiple classes of documents: data sheets, application notes, reference designs, user guides, erratas. The problems described come from trying to be everything in one place, but it does not have to be. As I understand you try to be mostly a data sheet, which is probably a net good, because it is the document needed to be maintained, even if hard to navigate. However, there are more document classes that can be produced. Yes, a reference design is inevitably going to be opinionated, whether it is produced by project team or some internet person. A reference design produced by project team at least has a fighting chance at staying somewhat up to date. And one can discuss tradeoffs between different approaches in an application note.