Chronicle

Automated "Living Documentation" Platform Powered by AI

Chronicle is a modern monorepo solution designed to keep project documentation seamlessly in sync with code evolution. By employing a background daemon that watches file system changes and Git history, Chronicle leverages the Google Gemini API to generate, update, and visualize architecture and logic documentation in real-time.

🚀 Key Features

• Automated Observation: A background daemon watches for file changes and git commits to trigger documentation updates.
• AI-Driven Insights: Utilizes Google Gemini API to analyze code differences and generate human-readable explanations.
• Web Dashboard: A Next.js + Tailwind CSS interface for visualizing project architecture, job queues, and documentation status.
• Transparent Reasoning: View "Thinking" logs to understand how the AI analyzes code and makes documentation decisions.
• CLI Management: A dedicated CLI tool to manage tracked projects and manual triggers.

🛠 Tech Stack

• Language: TypeScript, Node.js
• Frontend: Next.js, React, Tailwind CSS
• AI Integration: Google Gemini API
• Visualizations: Mermaid.js (via UI components)
• Architecture: Monorepo (Workspace)

📂 Project Structure

Chronicle is organized as a monorepo with the following core packages:

chronicle/
├── packages/
│   ├── cli/         # Command-line interface for project management
│   │   ├── bin/     # Executables
│   │   └── src/     # CLI logic (add, diff, etc.)
│   ├── daemon/      # Background service & AI processing logic
│   │   ├── src/     # Watcher and Gemini integration
│   │   └── scripts/ # Testing scripts for AI generation
│   └── ui/          # Next.js Web Dashboard
│       ├── app/     # App router pages and layouts
│       └── components/ # UI components (JobQueue, ThinkingPanel, etc.)
├── package.json     # Root workspace configuration
└── tsconfig.base.json

🏁 Getting Started

Prerequisites

• Node.js (v20+ recommended)
• npm or pnpm
• A Google Gemini API Key

Installation

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/your-org/chronicle.git
   cd chronicle

2. Install dependencies (Root):

   npm install

3. Build the packages:

   npm run build

Configuration

Chronicle uses a runtime key file at:

~/.chronicle/.gemini-key

When you run chronicle start, Chronicle auto-creates this file if missing. If the file is empty, startup fails with a clear error.

Add your Gemini key as a single line:

AIza...

Usage

Chronicle runs as a daemon + UI pair, managed by the CLI.

1. Start Chronicle

chronicle start

This starts both the daemon and the dashboard and prints the dashboard URL.

2. Manage Projects via CLI

Use the CLI to add projects and trigger updates.

# Build and link globally (repo development)
npm run build
npm link

# Add and initialize a project
chronicle add /path/to/target/project
chronicle init /path/to/target/project
chronicle diff
chronicle status
chronicle stop

Install as npm package

After publishing, users can install globally with:

npm install -g chronicle-ai
chronicle --version

🧩 Components Overview

• Job Queue: Manages the flow of documentation generation tasks.
• Thinking Drawer: A unique UI component that reveals the AI's internal reasoning process during documentation generation.
• Project Content Area: Renders the generated markdown and architectural diagrams.

📄 License

MIT