AutoDoc: Your Automated Documentation Generator

AutoDoc is a command-line tool designed to streamline the documentation process for JavaScript/Node.js projects. It automatically generates a basic README.md file by parsing your code and extracting relevant information, saving you valuable time and effort.

Key Features:

• Automated README Generation: Quickly create a foundational README.md with project details.
• JSDoc Parsing: Extracts documentation from JSDoc-style comments in your code.
• Dependency Listing: Automatically lists your project's dependencies from package.json.
• Configurable Sections: Organize your README with sections for installation, usage, contributing, etc.
• Customizable Output: Tailor the generated README to your project's needs.

Important Note: AutoDoc is currently in development and requires manual setup. Future releases will be published to npm for easier installation.

Table of Contents

• Installation
  • Installing via npm (Recommended)
  • Using the Source Code
• Usage
• Configuration
• Dependencies
• Contributing
• License

Installation

You can install and use AutoDoc in two ways:

Installing via npm (Recommended)

This is the easiest and most convenient way to use AutoDoc.

npm install -g autodoc-cli

This will allow you to use the autodoc command from anywhere in your terminal.

Using the Source Code

If you want to contribute to AutoDoc, modify it, or use the latest development version, you can download and use the source code directly.

Clone the repository or download a release:

Clone:

git clone [https://github.com/ColePoppleton/AutoDoc-cli](https://github.com/ColePoppleton/AutoDoc-cli)
cd AutoDoc-cli

Download a release:

• Go to the Releases page on the GitHub repository.
• Download the source code (usually a zip or tar.gz file) for your desired release.
• Extract the downloaded archive.
• Navigate to the extracted directory in your terminal.

Install dependencies:

AutoDoc relies on several Node.js packages. Make sure you have Node.js and npm installed. Then, run:

npm install

Run AutoDoc:

You can now run AutoDoc commands using node index.js (or ./index.js if you've made it executable):

node index.js init
node index.js generate

Usage

AutoDoc provides two main commands: init and generate.

init Command

The init command initializes a AutoDoc.yaml configuration file and sample Markdown files in your project's root directory.

autodoc init

This command will prompt you for:

• Project name: The name of your project.
• Project description: A brief description of your project.
• Generate INSTALL.md?: Whether to create an INSTALL.md file.
• Generate CONTRIBUTING.md?: Whether to create a CONTRIBUTING.md file.
• Generate USAGE.md?: Whether to create a USAGE.md file.
• generate Command

The generate command generates the README.md file based on the settings in docgen.yaml and the content of your code and Markdown files.

autodoc generate

This command will create (or overwrite) the README.md file in your project's root directory.

Configuration

AutoDoc uses a docgen.yaml file for configuration. This file is created by the init command and allows you to customize the README generation process.

Example docgen.yaml:

projectName: MyProject
projectDescription: A cool project.
files:
  - src/**/*.js
exclude:
  - src/test/**/*.js
output: README.md
sections:
  - title: Installation
    files:
      - ./INSTALL.md
  - title: API Documentation
    files:
      - src/index.js
      - src/utils.js
  - title: Contributing
    files:
      - ./CONTRIBUTING.md
  - title: Dependencies
    files:
      - ./DEPENDENCIES.md
  - title: Usage
    files:
      - ./USAGE.md

Configuration Options:

• projectName: The name of your project (used in generated files).
• projectDescription: A description of your project (included at the beginning of README.md).
• files: An array of file paths or glob patterns to include in documentation generation.
• exclude: An array of file paths or glob patterns to exclude.
• output: The name of the output README file (default: README.md).
• sections: An array of objects defining the sections of your README:
• title: The title of the section.
• files: An array of file paths to include in the section.

Dependencies

AutoDoc relies on the following Node.js packages:

• commander: For parsing command-line arguments.

• fs-extra: For enhanced file system operations.

• js-yaml: For parsing the docgen.yaml configuration file.

• glob: For file globbing.

• acorn: For parsing JavaScript code into Abstract Syntax Trees (ASTs).

• doctrine: For parsing JSDoc-style comments.

• prompts: For interactive command-line prompts.

  These dependencies are automatically installed when you install AutoDoc via npm.

Contributing

We welcome contributions to AutoDoc! Please follow these guidelines:

• Fork the repository on GitHub.
• Create a new branch for your feature or bug fix.
• Make your changes and commit
• Submit a pull request.

License

MIT