Repository documentation generator: start with the code

Choose the first question your documentation must answer

A developer joining a project usually needs a route through the code: where execution starts, which module owns a decision, and which configuration changes behavior. A directory listing alone cannot explain those relationships. Start with one concrete task, such as adding a delivery pricing rule, then identify the files the developer would need.

Use that task to review the generated documentation. Can another person locate the pricing module and understand how it connects to the public API? This gives you a useful acceptance criterion before adding more pages.

Run a deterministic first pass

RepoDocs has a local CLI. The scaffold command indexes the target repository and writes architecture and reference Markdown without making an LLM request. It also writes MkDocs navigation. Run it in a disposable copy first so you can review the output alongside the original files.

The checked-in parcel example is intentionally small: quote calls functions in pricing in the source. Its source is CC0. A real scaffold run indexed four entities, including quote, base_fee and weight_fee. It did not recover dependency edges for this fixture. The saved output makes that limitation visible.

cargo build --release -p repodocs-cli
cargo run --release -p repodocs-cli -- scaffold /path/to/disposable-repository

Review the output against the source

Open the generated reference page and compare its four entity names with the source. In this demo, the graph reports zero edges even though calls exist in the code. The overview also includes a generic RepoDocs CLI diagram. Neither artifact should be presented as a faithful map of this target repository. Use the reference list as a starting point and review each generated page.

Keep generated and editorial responsibilities explicit. Before regenerating, commit or back up your documentation. Scaffold also writes mkdocs.yml, so inspect its changes before publishing.

1. Select a public entry point and locate it in the reference pages.
2. Check its dependencies against the source.
3. Explain one business constraint in an editorial page.
4. Build your documentation site and check its navigation.

Separate today’s workflow from future hosting

The current product is a repository CLI. Generated files live in your working copy; cloud onboarding, hosted repository upload, and a browser dashboard are not promised by this page. LLM-assisted commands are separate from deterministic scaffolding and require appropriate provider configuration.

Subscribe on the RepoDocs landing page for release updates. Use the demo and your own repository review to decide whether the approach fits your team.