codebrief

Instantly generate comprehensive, human-readable markdown documentation for any codebase offline.

codebrief is a zero-dependency, offline-first CLI tool that scans your codebase and generates 6 Markdown documentation files inside a folder called codebase-info/ in the project root.

No AI. No API keys. No internet required. Pure static analysis.

Features

• Zero Runtime Dependencies: Fast, lightweight, and requires Node.js 16+.
• Offline First: All processing is done locally on your machine.
• Multilingual Support: Automatically detects and analyzes Node.js, React, Next.js, Java (Spring Boot, Maven, Gradle), Python, Go, DevOps (Docker, Kubernetes, GitHub Actions, Terraform), Solidity/Web3, and more.
• Robust Ignore Logic: Honors .gitignore files and skips build folders, binary files, and node_modules.

Output Structure

Running codebrief creates a codebase-info/ folder:

• README.md: Project description, tech stack, metrics, and key entry points.
• ARCHITECTURE.md: Architecture pattern (MVC, layered, etc.), complete directory tree, data flow, and external integrations.
• FILES.md: Detailed breakdown of every non-binary file, lines of code, language, and key exports.
• DEPENDENCIES.md: Lists runtime and development dependencies with explanations.
• SETUP.md: Local setup instructions, prerequisites, and a list of used environment variables.
• GLOSSARY.md: Key classes, exported functions, database models, and API endpoints.

Installation & Usage

You can run it directly using npx:

npx codebrief

Or install it globally:

npm install -g codebrief
codebrief

Options

• --only [section]: Generate only a specific documentation file. Supported options: readme, architecture, files, dependencies, setup, glossary.
• --output [dir]: Custom output directory (default: codebase-info).
• --exclude [pattern]: Custom path pattern to exclude (supports standard globbing/substring match).
• --version: Show version number.
• --help: Show usage instructions.

License

MIT