🤖 AI Documentor

AI-powered documentation generator for any codebase

Generate comprehensive, beautiful documentation for your projects using advanced AI analysis. Simply run one command and get instant, professional documentation with live preview and auto-updates.

NPM Package

https://www.npmjs.com/package/ai-documentor

✨ Features

• 🚀 One Command Setup - Just run ai-documentor (no flags needed)
• 🤖 AI-Powered Analysis - Uses OpenAI to understand and document your code
• 🌐 Live Server - Instant preview at localhost:3000 with hot reload
• 👀 File Watching - Auto-regenerates docs when code changes
• 📊 Rich Documentation - Comprehensive coverage including:
  • Project overview and architecture
  • Frontend components and pages
  • Backend APIs and services
  • Database schema and queries
  • User flows with diagrams
  • Deployment guides
  • Troubleshooting sections
• 🎨 Beautiful UI - Modern, responsive web interface
• 🔄 GitHub Integration - Auto-update docs on push
• 📈 Real-time Progress - See what's being analyzed in real-time

🚀 Quick Start

Installation

npm install -g ai-documentor

Setup

1. Get an OpenAI API key from OpenAI Platform

2. Add your API key to .env in your project root:

   OPENAI_API_KEY=your_openai_api_key_here

3. Generate documentation:

   ai-documentor

That's it! Your documentation will be generated and served at http://localhost:3000 🎉

📋 Requirements

• Node.js 16+
• OpenAI API key
• Internet connection for AI analysis

💡 How It Works

1. Codebase Analysis - Scans your entire project structure
2. AI Processing - Uses OpenAI GPT-4 to understand code patterns and purpose
3. Documentation Generation - Creates comprehensive docs in multiple sections
4. Live Serving - Hosts documentation on local server with live reload
5. Auto-Updates - Watches for file changes and regenerates automatically

📖 Generated Documentation Includes

🏠 Project Overview

• Project purpose and technology stack
• Architecture overview and key features
• Getting started instructions
• Project structure explanation

🎨 Frontend Documentation

• React/Vue/Angular component analysis
• Props, state, and user interactions
• Page routing and navigation
• Styling and UI patterns

⚙️ Backend Documentation

• API endpoints with parameters and responses
• Database queries and data models
• Authentication and middleware
• Service architecture

🗄️ Database Documentation

• Schema overview and relationships
• Table structures and columns
• Query patterns and performance notes
• Data model explanations

🔄 User Flows

• Step-by-step user journeys
• Frontend-to-backend interaction mapping
• Database operations for each action
• Error handling flows

🏗️ Architecture Diagrams

• System architecture visualization
• Component relationships
• Data flow diagrams
• Database schema diagrams

🚀 Deployment Guide

• Platform-specific deployment instructions
• Environment setup and configuration
• Build and deployment scripts
• Monitoring and troubleshooting

🛠️ Configuration

Create a .documentor.json file in your project root:

{
  "openaiApiKey": "your-api-key-here",
  "outputDirectory": "./docs",
  "watchMode": false,
  "includePatterns": [
    "**/*.{ts,tsx,js,jsx,py,go,rs,java}",
    "**/*.{json,md,yml,yaml}"
  ],
  "excludePatterns": [
    "node_modules/**",
    "dist/**",
    "build/**",
    ".git/**",
    "**/*.test.*"
  ],
  "frameworks": ["React", "Express", "Next.js"],
  "deploymentPlatforms": ["Vercel"],
  "databaseType": "PostgreSQL"
}

🎯 Supported Technologies

Frontend Frameworks

• ⚛️ React (including Next.js)
• 💚 Vue.js (including Nuxt.js)
• 🅰️ Angular
• 🧡 Svelte

Backend Frameworks

• 🟢 Node.js (Express, Fastify, NestJS)
• 🐍 Python (Django, Flask)
• 🐹 Go (Gin, Echo)
• 🦀 Rust (Actix Web)
• ☕ Java (Spring Boot)

Databases

• 🐘 PostgreSQL
• 🐬 MySQL
• 🍃 MongoDB
• 🔥 Firebase Firestore
• ⚡ Supabase
• 📱 SQLite

Deployment Platforms

• ▲ Vercel
• 🌐 Netlify
• ☁️ AWS
• 🌩️ Google Cloud
• 🔷 Azure
• 🚂 Railway
• 🎨 Render

📖 CLI Commands

# Initialize documentor in your project
documentor init

# Generate documentation
documentor generate [options]
  -w, --watch     Watch for file changes
  -o, --output    Output directory (default: ./docs)

# Start documentation server  
documentor serve [options]
  -p, --port      Port to serve on (default: 3000)

# Configure settings
documentor config

# Show help
documentor --help

🔧 Advanced Usage

Custom Prompts

You can customize the LLM prompts in your configuration:

{
  "customPrompts": {
    "overview": "Create a technical overview focusing on...",
    "frontend": "Analyze React components with emphasis on...",
    "backend": "Document APIs with special attention to...",
    "database": "Explain the database schema highlighting..."
  }
}

Programmatic Usage

import { CodebaseAnalyzer, DocumentationGenerator, Config } from 'documentor';

const config = await Config.load();
const analyzer = new CodebaseAnalyzer(process.cwd());
const generator = new DocumentationGenerator(config);

const analysis = await analyzer.analyze();
const documentation = await generator.generate(analysis);

console.log(documentation.overview);

Integration with CI/CD

# .github/workflows/docs.yml
name: Generate Docs
on: [push]
jobs:
  docs:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v2
      - uses: actions/setup-node@v2
        with:
          node-version: '18'
      - run: npm install -g documentor
      - run: documentor generate
        env:
          OPENAI_API_KEY: ${{ secrets.OPENAI_API_KEY }}
      - run: # Deploy docs to your platform

🤝 Contributing

We welcome contributions! Here's how to get started:

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch (git checkout -b feature/amazing-feature)
3. Make your changes
4. Add tests if applicable
5. Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add amazing feature')
6. Push to the branch (git push origin feature/amazing-feature)
7. Open a Pull Request

Development Setup

git clone https://github.com/aleclindz/documentor.git
cd documentor
npm install
npm run build
npm link

# Test with a sample project
cd ../your-test-project
documentor init

📋 Roadmap

• VS Code Extension - Generate docs directly in your editor
• Team Collaboration - Share docs with team members
• API Documentation - OpenAPI/Swagger integration
• More Languages - C#, Ruby, PHP support
• Custom Templates - Customizable output formats
• Git Integration - Automatic docs on commits
• Performance Metrics - Code quality insights
• Cloud Hosting - Optional hosted documentation

❓ FAQ

Q: How much does this cost? A: Documentor is free and open-source. You only pay for OpenAI API usage (typically $1-5 per project).

Q: Is my code sent to OpenAI? A: Only code snippets and structure are sent to OpenAI for analysis. Your full codebase stays local.

Q: Can I use this without internet? A: You need internet for the initial documentation generation, but the local server works offline.

Q: How accurate is the generated documentation? A: Very accurate for code structure and flow. The LLM provides intelligent explanations based on actual code analysis.

Q: Can I customize the output? A: Yes! You can customize prompts, templates, and output formats.

🐛 Troubleshooting

Common Issues

"OpenAI API key not found"

documentor config
# Re-enter your API key

"Failed to analyze codebase"

# Check file permissions and patterns
documentor generate --verbose

"Documentation server won't start"

# Check if port is in use
documentor serve --port 3001

Getting Help

• 📚 Documentation
• 🐛 Report Issues
• 💬 Discussions

📄 License

MIT License - see LICENSE file for details.

🙏 Acknowledgments

• OpenAI for providing the GPT-4 API
• The open-source community for inspiration and feedback
• All contributors who help make this project better

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Made with ❤️ by Alec Lindsay

⭐ Star this repo if you find it helpful!