Codebase Documenter

Generate structured documentation designed for consumption by AI assistants and code agents working on dependent projects.

Workflow

1. Determine Mode

Check if documentation/config.json exists:

• Does not exist: Bootstrap Mode (first run)
• Exists: Check the user's argument:
  • regenerate [doc-type]: Regenerate Mode (targeted re-generation)
  • Otherwise: Incremental Mode (subsequent runs)

2. Bootstrap Mode

Execute when documentation/config.json is absent.

2.1 Detect Stack

Check for these files in order:

File	Stack
package.json	nodejs
requirements.txt, pyproject.toml, setup.py	python
go.mod	go
Cargo.toml	rust
*.csproj, *.sln	dotnet
pom.xml, build.gradle	java
composer.json	php

2.2 Create Config

Write a single documentation/config.json file containing all fields:

{
  "stack": "[detected-stack]",
  "exclude": [
    "**/*.test.*",
    "**/*.spec.*",
    "**/test/**",
    "**/tests/**",
    "**/__tests__/**",
    "**/node_modules/**",
    "**/vendor/**",
    "**/dist/**",
    "**/build/**",
    "**/target/**"
  ],
  "include_inline_examples": true,
  "include_architecture_diagrams": true,
  "docusaurus": null,
  "frontend": {
    "enabled": true,
    "css_paths": [],
    "js_paths": [],
    "token_files": [],
    "build_tool": null,
    "methodology": null
  },
  "playbook": {
    "enabled": true,
    "custom_procedures": []
  },
  "capability_map": {
    "enabled": true,
    "custom_categories": []
  },
  "style_guide": {
    "enabled": true,
    "forbidden_patterns": ["!important", "inline styles"],
    "custom_rules": []
  },
  "integration_map": {
    "enabled": true
  },
  "consistency_check": {
    "enabled": true,
    "strict": false
  },
  "claude_md": {
    "inject_rules": true,
    "max_rules": 25,
    "custom_rules": []
  }
}

If Docusaurus sync is requested, set the docusaurus field:

{
  "docusaurus": {
    "repo": "git@github.com:org/docs-site.git",
    "branch": "main",
    "docs_path": "docs/api",
    "sidebar_label": "API Reference"
  }
}

All fields from frontend onward are optional — existing config.json files without these fields use the defaults shown above.

2.2b Backfill Config

After the scan (step 2.4) completes, update documentation/config.json a second time with auto-detected values:

• Set frontend.css_paths to detected CSS/SCSS directory paths
• Set frontend.js_paths to detected JS/TS frontend directory paths
• Set frontend.token_files to detected design token file paths
• Set frontend.build_tool to detected build tool name
• Set frontend.methodology to detected CSS methodology

This second write backfills detected values so the user can review and override them in subsequent runs.

2.3 Read Stack Reference

Load the appropriate reference file:

• references/stacks/[stack].md

This provides patterns for identifying public/private API, documentation comments, error handling, and project structure conventions.

2.4 Scan Codebase

1. List all source files (respecting exclude patterns)
2. Identify public API surface using stack-specific patterns
3. Categorize items: functions, types, errors, features
4. Extract documentation comments
5. Map relationships between items
6. If config.frontend.enabled is true: scan frontend assets following the procedures in references/frontend-detection.md. This detects CSS/SCSS organization, methodology, design tokens, breakpoints, JS initialization patterns, build tools, and anti-patterns.
7. Track cross-module function calls using patterns from the "Cross-Module Patterns" section in references/stacks/[stack].md. Record: calling module, called function/method, file path, and data passed.
8. For each design pattern detected in step 5, extract concrete details for playbook generation: file path globs, base classes/interfaces, directory conventions, required method signatures.
9. While scanning, build the capability map incrementally — classify each public function/type into a functional domain category as it is discovered. Do NOT defer this to a second pass.

2.5 Generate Documentation

Read references/doc-templates.md for exact formats.

Create directory structure:

documentation/
├── config.json
├── .docstate
├── overview.md
├── architecture.md
├── playbook.md
├── capability-map.md
├── style-guide.md
├── integration-map.md
├── public/
│   ├── _index.md
│   ├── features/
│   ├── api/
│   ├── functions/
│   ├── types/
│   └── errors/
└── private/
    ├── _index.md
    ├── functions/
    ├── types/
    └── utils/

Generate files:

1. overview.md - Project purpose, entry points, quick start
2. architecture.md - Component diagrams, data flow, design patterns
3. Function docs - One file per function in appropriate directory
4. Type docs - One file per type
5. Error docs - Error hierarchy and patterns
6. Index files - _index.md in each directory
7. playbook.md — Read template 11 from references/doc-templates.md. For each design pattern extracted in step 2.4 (item 8), generate a numbered step-by-step procedure. Include checklists and common mistakes. Only generated when config.playbook.enabled is true.
8. capability-map.md — Read template 12 from references/doc-templates.md. Use the domain classifications built incrementally during step 2.4 (item 9). Organize into task-oriented categories. Only generated when config.capability_map.enabled is true.
9. style-guide.md — Read template 13 from references/doc-templates.md. Use frontend scan results from step 2.4 (item 6). Only generated when config.style_guide.enabled is true AND frontend assets were detected.
10. integration-map.md — Read template 14 from references/doc-templates.md. Use cross-module data from step 2.4 (item 7). Only generated when config.integration_map.enabled is true.

2.6 Update Claude Code Instructions

Create or update CLAUDE.md in the project root to reference the documentation. If the file exists, check for existing sections before modifying:

1. Read the file and search for ## Project Rules and ## Codebase Documentation headings
2. If a section already exists, replace it in place (preserve surrounding content)
3. If a section does not exist, append it to the end of the file
4. If the file does not exist, create it

Step A: If config.claude_md.inject_rules is true (default), add the Project Rules section:

## Project Rules

These rules MUST be followed when modifying this codebase:

### Architecture
- [Generated rules from architecture.md and playbook.md]

### Data Access
- [Generated rules about ORM/Model usage patterns]

### Frontend
- [Generated rules from style-guide.md]

### Before Creating New Code
- Check `documentation/capability-map.md` before creating any new utility, helper, or shared function
- Check `documentation/public/_index.md` before creating any new public API
- Follow the step-by-step procedures in `documentation/playbook.md` for common tasks

### Documentation
- After adding new public functions, types, or components, update the relevant documentation files
- After adding new cross-module integrations, update `documentation/integration-map.md`

Extract project-specific rules to populate the subsections above (max config.claude_md.max_rules, default 25). Priority order when candidates exceed the limit:

1. config.claude_md.custom_rules — user-defined rules, always included first
2. Architecture rules from architecture.md and playbook.md
3. Data access rules from detected Model/Repository patterns
4. Frontend rules from style-guide.md (when applicable)
5. Documentation maintenance rules

If config.claude_md.inject_rules is false, skip Step A entirely.

Step B: Always add the Codebase Documentation section:

## Codebase Documentation

This project has AI-optimized documentation in the `documentation/` folder.

Before making changes to this codebase:
1. Read `documentation/overview.md` for project purpose and entry points
2. Read `documentation/architecture.md` for system design and data flow
3. Read `documentation/playbook.md` for how to add new features
4. Check `documentation/capability-map.md` for existing utilities and helpers
5. Check `documentation/style-guide.md` for frontend conventions
6. Check `documentation/public/_index.md` for the public API surface

When modifying existing code:
- Check the relevant function/type doc in `documentation/public/` or `documentation/private/`
- Note any error handling patterns in `documentation/public/errors/`

When adding new public APIs:
- Follow patterns documented in `documentation/playbook.md`
- Ensure consistency with existing APIs in `documentation/public/`
- Update `documentation/capability-map.md` with the new capability

2.7 Write State

Create documentation/.docstate:

{
  "last_commit": "[current HEAD SHA]",
  "last_run": "[ISO timestamp]",
  "docusaurus_last_sync": null,
  "docusaurus_synced_files": [],
  "consistency_last_check": null,
  "consistency_violations": 0,
  "generated_docs": [
    "overview.md",
    "architecture.md",
    "playbook.md",
    "capability-map.md",
    "style-guide.md",
    "integration-map.md"
  ],
  "detected_patterns": {
    "rest_endpoint": {
      "description": "Router → Controller → Model",
      "glob": "src/controllers/*.php",
      "base_class": "BaseController",
      "required_methods": ["handle", "validate"]
    },
    "data_access": {
      "description": "Model static methods with caching",
      "glob": "src/models/*.php",
      "base_class": "BaseModel",
      "required_methods": ["save", "to_array", "get_by"]
    },
    "frontend_css": {
      "description": "Component SCSS files",
      "glob": "src/css/blocks/*.scss"
    },
    "frontend_js": {
      "description": "Block entry points with .init()",
      "glob": "src/js/blocks/*.js"
    }
  },
  "frontend_stats": {
    "important_count": 0,
    "inline_style_count": 0,
    "token_count": 0,
    "breakpoint_count": 0
  }
}

Only include detected_patterns entries for patterns that were actually detected. generated_docs lists only the doc files that were actually generated (based on config flags). frontend_stats is only included when config.frontend.enabled is true.

Get current HEAD:

git rev-parse HEAD

3. Incremental Mode

Execute when documentation/config.json exists.

3.1 Load State

Read documentation/config.json and documentation/.docstate.

3.2 Get Changes

git diff --name-status [last_commit]..HEAD

Filter to source files only (exclude test files, config, etc).

3.3 Analyze Changes

For each changed file:

1. Get the diff:

   git diff [last_commit]..HEAD -- [file]
   

2. Identify semantic changes:

   • New functions/types/classes added
   • Signatures modified (parameters, return types)
   • Items removed or deprecated
   • Error handling changes
   • Documentation comment updates

3.4 Update Documentation

For each semantic change:

Change Type	Action
New item	Create new doc file
Modified signature	Update existing doc
Removed item	Mark deprecated or delete
New error	Add to error docs

Also update:

• Relevant _index.md files
• architecture.md if structure changed
• Cross-references in related docs

Also update prescriptive documents when relevant changes are detected:

Change Type	Document to Update
New design pattern or pattern change	playbook.md — add or update procedure
New public function/type/helper	capability-map.md — add to relevant category
New frontend files or convention change	style-guide.md — update rules and tokens
New cross-module call or shared resource	integration-map.md — add integration pattern

3.4.5 Consistency Check

Skip if config.consistency_check.enabled is false.

1. Load references/consistency-rules.md for rule definitions and the execution procedure
2. Load detected_patterns from documentation/.docstate
3. For each changed file from step 3.2, run applicable consistency rules following the execution procedure in references/consistency-rules.md
4. Generate documentation/.consistency-report.md using template 15 from references/doc-templates.md. This file is fully replaced on each run (never appended). If no violations are found, write a passing report.
5. Include consistency results in the PR description (step 4.3)

Severity is determined by config.consistency_check.strict:

• strict: true — High-confidence violations are Errors, best-effort findings are Warnings
• strict: false — All findings are Warnings

3.5 Verify Claude Code Instructions

Check that CLAUDE.md contains both:

1. The "Codebase Documentation" reference section (from step 2.6)
2. The "Project Rules" section (from step 2.6), if config.claude_md.inject_rules is true

If the documentation reference section is missing, add it using the template from step 2.6.

If rules have changed (because underlying documentation was updated in step 3.4), regenerate the rules section using the priority order from step 2.6 and update CLAUDE.md.

3.6 Update State

Update documentation/.docstate with new HEAD and timestamp.

3b. Regenerate Mode

Execute when user runs with regenerate [doc-type].

Valid doc-types: playbook, capability-map, style-guide, integration-map, overview, architecture, consistency-report, all

3b.1 Determine Scan Scope

Each doc type requires a different scan scope:

Doc Type	Required Scan Steps
playbook	Pattern detection (step 2.4, items 5, 8)
capability-map	Full API scan (step 2.4, items 1-5, 9)
style-guide	Frontend scan only (step 2.4, item 6)
integration-map	Cross-module scan (step 2.4, item 7)
overview	Basic scan (step 2.4, items 1-3)
architecture	Full scan (step 2.4, items 1-5)
consistency-report	No scan — run consistency check (step 3.4.5) against current HEAD using existing .docstate patterns
all	Full scan (all of step 2.4)

3b.2 Load Config and State

Read documentation/config.json and documentation/.docstate. Load the stack reference file.

3b.3 Execute Targeted Scan

Run only the scan steps required by the doc type (per the table above).

3b.4 Regenerate Document

Regenerate the specified document file using the corresponding template from references/doc-templates.md.

3b.5 Update State

Update documentation/.docstate:

• Set last_run to current timestamp
• Update detected_patterns if the scan detected changes
• Update frontend_stats if frontend scan was run
• Do NOT update last_commit — regeneration does not advance the incremental baseline

4. Create PR

4.1 Branch Naming

Format: docs/auto-update-YYYY-MM-DD-HH:MM

If branch exists, append -2, -3, etc.

BRANCH="docs/auto-update-$(date +%Y-%m-%d-%H:%M)"
git checkout -b "$BRANCH"

4.2 Commit Changes

git add documentation/
git commit -m "docs: update documentation for [commit range]"

4.3 Push and Create PR

git push -u origin "$BRANCH"

Create PR with description summarizing changes (see PR Description template in references/doc-templates.md).

5. Docusaurus Sync (Optional)

Execute only if config.docusaurus is configured. See references/docusaurus.md for detailed patterns.

5.1 Clone/Update Docusaurus Repo

DOCS_REPO="[config.docusaurus.repo]"
DOCS_BRANCH="[config.docusaurus.branch]"
DOCS_PATH="[config.docusaurus.docs_path]"

# Clone to temp directory if not exists
if [ ! -d ".docusaurus-sync" ]; then
  git clone --depth 1 -b "$DOCS_BRANCH" "$DOCS_REPO" .docusaurus-sync
else
  cd .docusaurus-sync && git pull && cd ..
fi

5.2 Transform Documentation

For each markdown file in documentation/:

1. Add Docusaurus frontmatter:

   ---
   id: [filename-without-extension]
   title: [extracted-from-h1]
   sidebar_label: [short-title]
   sidebar_position: [order]
   ---
   

2. Convert internal links from ../types/Foo.md to Docusaurus paths

3. Copy to .docusaurus-sync/[docs_path]/

5.3 Generate Sidebar

Create or update .docusaurus-sync/[docs_path]/_category_.json for each directory:

{
  "label": "[directory-name-titlecased]",
  "position": [order],
  "collapsed": false
}

Generate sidebars.js entry if needed (see references/docusaurus.md).

5.4 Commit and Push to Docusaurus Repo

cd .docusaurus-sync
git add .
git commit -m "docs: sync from [source-repo] @ [commit-sha]"
git push origin "$DOCS_BRANCH"

Or create a PR in the Docusaurus repo if preferred.

5.5 Cleanup

rm -rf .docusaurus-sync

Documentation Standards

AI Optimization

Documentation must be optimized for AI consumption:

1. Structured data over prose - Use tables for parameters, errors, options
2. Explicit types - Always include full type signatures
3. Complete examples - Show imports, setup, and usage
4. Error recovery - Document how to handle each error
5. Cross-references - Link to related functions and types
6. No ambiguity - Specify defaults, constraints, edge cases

Public vs Private

Public (documentation/public/):

• Exported functions, classes, types
• Items intended for external use
• API surface for dependent projects

Private (documentation/private/):

• Internal implementation details
• Helper functions
• Useful for understanding internals but not for direct use

When to Document Private Items

Document private items when:

• They're complex and non-obvious
• They're frequently modified
• Understanding them helps debug issues
• They contain important business logic

Skip documenting:

• Trivial helpers (less than 5 lines)
• Generated code
• Boilerplate

Error Handling

If documentation generation fails:

1. Do not commit partial changes
2. Log the error
3. Exit with non-zero status

Common issues:

• Cannot detect stack: Ask user to set stack in config.json
• Cannot parse source files: Skip unparseable files, continue with others
• Git operations fail: Ensure clean working directory
• Reference file missing: See the fallback column in the Reference Files table below

Reference Files

Load these as needed. If a file cannot be read (missing, corrupted install, partial update), follow the fallback behavior:

File	When to Load	If Missing
references/stacks/[stack].md	After detecting or reading stack	Fail — cannot generate accurate docs without stack-specific rules. Log: "Missing reference file for stack '{stack}'. Reinstall the plugin." Stop.
references/doc-templates.md	When generating any documentation	Fail — templates are required for all output. Log: "Missing doc-templates.md. Reinstall the plugin." Stop.
references/docusaurus.md	When config.docusaurus is configured	Skip feature — skip Docusaurus sync. Log: "Missing docusaurus.md. Skipping Docusaurus sync."
references/frontend-detection.md	During frontend scan (step 2.4, item 6)	Skip feature — set all frontend results to empty/null, set config.frontend.enabled to false. Log: "Missing frontend-detection.md. Skipping frontend scan."
references/consistency-rules.md	During consistency check (step 3.4.5)	Skip feature — skip consistency checking entirely, omit the Consistency Check section from the PR description. Log: "Missing consistency-rules.md. Skipping consistency checks."