llm-docsmith

Generate Python docstrings automatically with LLM and syntax trees and git integration.

Blog post with background on the first release here.

Installation

Install this plugin in the same environment as LLM.

llm install llm-docsmith

Usage

Pass a Python file as argument to llm docsmith:

llm docsmith ./scripts/main.py

The file will be edited to include the generated docstrings.

Options:

• -m/--model: Use a model other than the configured LLM default model
• -o/--output: Only show the modified code, without modifying the file
• -v/--verbose: Verbose output of prompt and response
• --git: Only update docstrings for functions and classes that have been changed since the last commit
• --git-base: Git reference to compare against (default: HEAD)
• --only-missing: Only add docstrings to functions and classes that don't have them yet

Only Missing Mode

The --only-missing flag tells docsmith to only generate docstrings for functions and classes that don't already have one. This is useful when you want to preserve existing docstrings and only add documentation where it's missing:

# Only add docstrings where they are missing
llm docsmith ./scripts/main.py --only-missing

Git Integration

The --git flag enables Git integration, which will only update docstrings for functions and classes that have been changed since the last commit. This is useful for large codebases where you only want to update docstrings for modified code.

# Update docstrings only for changed functions and classes
llm docsmith ./scripts/main.py --git

It's also possible to compare against a different git reference to find changed, for instance the main branch:

# Compare against a specific Git reference
llm docsmith ./scripts/main.py --git --git-base main