doc-writer

An AI-powered technical documentation generator skill for your IDE (Cursor / Claude). It analyzes your repository using a graph-first pipeline: GitNexus and Graphify are indexed into a frozen snapshot under docs/.../_work/graph/, analysis views are written with graph evidence, then SRS and Basic Design documents are generated following the machine-defined DAG in .source-investigator/document-dependencies.yaml. Parallel sub-agents are used where the DAG and phase files allow.

Prerequisites (target repo)

| Tool | Role | |------|------| | Git | source_path must live inside a git work tree (for commit SHA + git rev-parse --show-toplevel). | | GitNexus | npx gitnexus analyze at repo root (optional if you use --graph-backend graphify only). MCP is optional; a mirror under _work/graph/gitnexus/ supports offline phases. | | Graphify | Python CLI per Graphify (optional if you use --graph-backend gitnexus only). |

Installation

You can install the package globally using npm:

npm install -g doc-writer

(Alternatively, you can run it directly without installing via npx doc-writer init)

Setup and quick start

Step 1: Initialize the skill

Navigate to your project directory in your terminal and run the installer:

cd /path/to/your/project
npx doc-writer init

This copies .cursor, .claude, and .source-investigator (skills, phases, schemas, and document-dependencies.yaml) into your project.

Step 2: Open your AI IDE

Open the project directory in Cursor or Claude.

Step 3: Generate documentation

In chat, use one primary command (path = folder to analyze):

/gen-doc ./src

(Replace ./src with the path you want documented. If you omit the path, the skill will ask for it.)

Advanced commands

/gen-doc <source_path>                     # Full pipeline: Phase 0–3 (default)
/gen-doc all <source_path>                 # Same, explicit
/gen-doc analyze <source_path>             # Phase 0 + Phase 1 only
/gen-doc srs <source_path>                 # Phase 2 only (requires completed analysis)
/gen-doc design <source_path>              # Phase 3 only (requires completed SRS)

Options

• --output <path> — Output root (default: ./docs/<folder-name>).
• --force — Re-run the requested phase; analyze + --force resets Phase 0 and Phase 1.
• --skip-graph-refresh — Skip npx gitnexus analyze and Graphify rebuild; requires an existing _work/graph/manifest.json under the output tree.
• --graph-backend both|gitnexus|graphify — Default both. Skipped backends are stubbed in the manifest and noted under Gaps & Assumptions.
• --type <auto|modern|legacy> — Still honored by the router when you add it; architecture detection defaults to auto via /gen-doc.

Phases (high level)

0. Graph index — GitNexus analyze, Graphify export, manifest.json (graph identity for the run).
1. Source analysis — Architecture, screens, APIs, entities, workers, module dependencies, features, deep dives (graph-evidenced where possible).
2. SRS — Requirements aligned to analysis + graph traceability.
3. Basic design — Screen/API/DB design from SRS + analysis.

Progress is stored in <output>/_work/progress.md. You can resume after interruption.

Contracts for contributors

• Graph evidence: .source-investigator/schemas/graph-evidence.md
• Document DAG: .source-investigator/document-dependencies.yaml

License

ISC