Automating Documentation with Documenter: Step-by-StepDocumentation is the connective tissue of any successful software project. It helps onboard new contributors, preserves institutional knowledge, and reduces support overhead. But keeping documentation accurate and up to date is difficult when code changes rapidly. Automating documentation with a tool like Documenter — whether you’re using the Julia package Documenter.jl, a similarly named tool in another ecosystem, or a bespoke documentation generator — transforms docs from a chore into a reliable, maintainable asset.
This guide walks through a practical, step-by-step approach to automate documentation using Documenter. It covers setup, writing source docs, generating outputs, integrating examples and tests, deploying documentation automatically, and maintaining the pipeline. Examples lean on common workflows (static site generation, API docs, continuous integration) and include tips applicable across languages and ecosystems.
What “Documenter” refers to
Documenter in this guide refers broadly to documentation automation tools and workflows; if you use a specific implementation (e.g., Documenter.jl for Julia, a custom Documenter for another language, or a CLI-based generator), substitute the exact commands and config where appropriate. The principles remain the same: source files (Markdown, reStructuredText, or docstrings) + generator + build pipeline = published docs.
1. Plan your documentation structure
Before tooling, decide what content you need and how it will be organized. A common structure:
- Overview / Getting Started
- Installation
- Tutorials / How-tos
- API Reference (auto-generated from code)
- Examples / Cookbook
- Contribution & Governance
- Changelog / Releases
- Troubleshooting / FAQ
Use a simple site map and folder layout. Example filesystem:
docs/ src/ index.md getting-started.md tutorials/ api/ <-- auto-generated make.jl (or build script) assets/ Keep the API reference separated from narrative guides so automated generation doesn’t overwrite hand-authored pages.
2. Choose source formats and docstrings style
Pick source formats supported by your Documenter: Markdown is ubiquitous; reStructuredText is common in Python/Sphinx workflows. For API docs, use whatever docstring style your language and generator support (e.g., Julia docstrings, Python docstrings (Google/Numpy/reST), JSDoc, JavaDoc).
Best practices:
- Keep prose in Markdown files; reserve docstrings for API-level explanations, small examples, and parameter descriptions.
- Use explicit examples in docstrings that can be executed in tests.
- Prefer short, focused docstrings for functions; longer conceptual docs belong in narrative files.
3. Set up Documenter and build scripts
Install and configure Documenter for your environment.
Example: Documenter.jl (Julia) minimal setup
# docs/make.jl using Documenter, MyPackage makedocs( modules=[MyPackage], sitename="MyPackage.jl", source = "src", format = Documenter.HTML(), builddir = "build" ) Example: Sphinx (Python) minimal config for autodoc
# docs/conf.py extensions = ['sphinx.ext.autodoc', 'sphinx.ext.napoleon'] master_doc = 'index' html_theme = 'sphinx_rtd_theme' General tips:
- Keep the build script under version control in the docs/ folder.
- Configure output directory (eg. docs/_build or docs/build) that CI can publish.
- Include a minimal index that explains the purpose of the site and links to API reference.
4. Auto-generate API reference
Automated API generation extracts docstrings and signatures. Steps:
- Ensure your codebase is importable in the docs build environment (CI).
- Configure the generator to locate modules/packages.
- Exclude private/internal symbols if unnecessary.
- Optionally, augment generated pages with additional narrative context.
Example: Documenter.jl uses @autodocs; Sphinx uses automodule/autoclass.
Include runnable examples in API docs that CI can execute to validate code snippets.
5. Testable examples and doctests
Automate testing of code samples to avoid drift.
- Use doctest features where supported (Documenter.jl doctestblocks, Sphinx doctest).
- Write examples as small, self-contained snippets.
- Run tests as part of CI to catch outdated examples early.
Example CI step:
- Install package
- Run unit tests
- Build docs with doctests enabled
- Fail build if doctests fail
6. Continuous Integration (CI) integration
Automate docs builds on every change using CI (GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, CircleCI).
Simple GitHub Actions workflow (conceptual):
- Trigger: push to main or PR open
- Jobs:
- Set up language runtime
- Install dependencies
- Run tests
- Build docs
- Deploy docs (on success)
Key configuration:
- Build docs in a clean environment to mirror user installs.
- Cache dependencies carefully to speed up builds.
- Use matrix builds if you support multiple versions.
7. Automated deployment
Choose where to host: GitHub Pages, GitLab Pages, Netlify, Vercel, or custom hosting.
Common patterns:
- Publish built docs to a docs/ branch or gh-pages branch.
- Push build artifacts to a storage bucket and serve via CDN.
- Use provider integrations (Netlify/Vercel) to deploy directly from the repo on successful builds.
Example GitHub Action step to deploy to GitHub Pages:
- name: Deploy docs uses: peaceiris/actions-gh-pages@v3 with: github_token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }} publish_dir: ./docs/build Security tips:
- Use the repository’s built-in deploy tokens; do not expose personal tokens.
- Avoid running arbitrary PR builds that automatically deploy to a production site—use preview deploys instead.
8. Previewing changes: preview deployments and review apps
Provide preview builds for pull requests so reviewers can see rendered docs.
Options:
- Netlify/Vercel preview deploys automatically for PRs.
- GitHub Actions can publish PR-specific preview branches to a temporary URL or a preview environment.
- Tools like docs.rs or readthedocs.org offer preview features for some ecosystems.
Previewing catches broken links, layout regressions, or incorrect content before merging.
9. Versioning and maintaining multiple doc versions
If you support multiple releases, present docs per version:
- Build docs for tags/releases and publish under versioned paths (e.g., /v1.2/).
- Keep a redirect or banner for latest stable.
- Automate building docs for each release during your release pipeline.
Example layout:
- /latest/
- /v1.0/
- /v2.0/
Store versioned artifacts in a predictable location (branch, CDN prefix, or hosting provider’s UI).
10. Search, indexing, and accessibility
Improve usability with search and accessibility:
- Add client-side search (Lunr, Algolia DocSearch). Algolia offers better scalability but requires indexing and potentially an account.
- Ensure semantic HTML from your generator and run an accessibility audit (axe-core).
- Provide a sitemap and meta tags for SEO.
11. Monitoring, link checking, and maintenance
Prevent regressions with automated checks:
- Run link checkers in CI to find broken internal/external links (docs-link-checker, html-proofer).
- Lint Markdown and check for style guide violations.
- Periodically rebuild docs on a schedule to catch changes in external dependencies or APIs.
Example CI steps:
- html-proofer ./docs/build # for HTML output
- markdownlint */.md
12. Common pitfalls and troubleshooting
- Build environment lacks dependencies: ensure CI installs dev dependencies and compiles native extensions.
- Docstrings are out of date: prioritize doctests and include examples in unit tests.
- Slow builds: cache dependencies, split heavy tasks, or prebuild assets.
- Secret leaks in docs: scan generated output for hardcoded tokens before deploys.
- Search not indexing dynamic content: use a crawler-friendly approach or pre-generate search indices.
13. Checklist for automation
- [ ] Folder structure established
- [ ] Docstrings and narrative content separated
- [ ] Build script under version control
- [ ] Doctests enabled and passing
- [ ] CI builds docs on PRs and main
- [ ] Preview deploys for PRs
- [ ] Automated deploy on release/main
- [ ] Link checking and linting in CI
- [ ] Versioned docs for releases
- [ ] Monitoring and scheduled rebuilds
Example: minimal end-to-end flow
- Write docs in docs/src/*.md and docstrings in code.
- Add docs/make.jl (or equivalent) to generate site into docs/build.
- Add GitHub Action:
- Set up runtime
- Install dependencies
- Run tests
- Run build script to create docs/build
- Deploy docs/build to gh-pages via actions-gh-pages
- Configure Netlify/Algolia/CI as needed for previews and search.
Automating documentation turns it from a sporadic afterthought into a reliable, continuously validated component of your development lifecycle. With a consistent source structure, doctested examples, CI-built artifacts, and automated deployment, your documentation will stay accurate, discoverable, and useful as your project evolves.
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