Frond

Developer documentation platform — Fern, but better.

Config-as-code API docs, interactive playgrounds, SDK generation, and hosted documentation sites.

Monorepo structure

frond/
├── apps/
│   ├── cli/          # @frond/cli — npm CLI
│   ├── web/          # Landing page + dashboard (Next.js)
│   └── docs/         # Published docs renderer (Next.js)
├── packages/
│   ├── config/       # frond.config.json, docs.yml parsers
│   ├── compiler/     # OpenAPI → manifest compiler
│   └── sdk-generator/# TypeScript + Python SDK generation
├── services/
│   └── api/          # Go REST API
└── docker-compose.yml

Quick start (local development)

1. Prerequisites

• Node.js 20+
• pnpm 9+
• Go 1.22+
• Docker (for Postgres + Meilisearch)

2. Start infrastructure

cp .env.example .env
# Add GOOGLE_CLIENT_ID and GOOGLE_CLIENT_SECRET for Google login

docker compose up -d postgres meilisearch

3. Install dependencies

pnpm install

4. Database (Prisma + Postgres)

Local development uses Prisma for schema migrations and seeding. The Go API still reads/writes the same Postgres tables via pgx.

pnpm db:migrate   # apply migrations
pnpm db:seed      # create demo user + org

Or in one step:

make db-setup

If you previously used goose migrations, reset the local DB first:

pnpm db:reset

Demo login (no Google setup required):

Field	Value
Username	demo
Password	demo

Sign in at http://localhost:3000/login — Google sign-in remains available when OAuth is configured.

5. Start Go API

cd services/api
go run ./cmd/server
# API at http://localhost:8080

6. Build

pnpm build

7. Start web apps

# Terminal 1 — landing + dashboard
pnpm --filter @frond/web dev

# Terminal 2 — docs renderer
pnpm --filter @frond/docs dev

App	URL
Landing + Dashboard	http://localhost:3000
Docs renderer	http://localhost:3001/:org/:project
Go API	http://localhost:8080

Note: Creating an org/project in the dashboard does not publish docs. The docs site only shows content after frond docs publish --project-id <uuid> (or an equivalent publish API call). Until then, http://localhost:3001/:org/:project shows “Docs not published yet”.

CLI usage

# Install CLI locally
pnpm --filter @frond/cli build
npm install -g ./apps/cli

# In your API repo
frond init
frond validate
frond doctor
frond docs dev          # local manifest server on :3002
frond login             # Google OAuth (or use demo credentials in dashboard)
frond generate          # SDKs to sdks/
frond docs publish --project-id <uuid>
frond diff --from v1 --to v2

Author workflow

my-api/
├── frond/
│   ├── frond.config.json
│   ├── generators.yml
│   ├── openapi/v1/openapi.yaml
│   └── docs/
│       ├── docs.yml
│       └── pages/
└── .github/workflows/   # see publish-docs.example.yml

Authentication

Demo account (local testing)

Field	Value
Username	demo
Password	demo
Email	demo@frond.dev

Use Sign in with demo account at http://localhost:3000/login. Re-seed anytime with pnpm db:seed.

Google OAuth setup

1. Create a Google Cloud OAuth 2.0 Client ID
2. Add redirect URI: http://localhost:8080/v1/auth/google/callback
3. Set GOOGLE_CLIENT_ID and GOOGLE_CLIENT_SECRET in .env

Documentation

Doc	Description
PRD	Product requirements
PHASE.md	Phased product design
ROADMAP.md	Full feature roadmap

Phase 2 — Repository Intelligence

• GitHub OAuth connect + repo selection
• Background repo scanner (OpenAPI, package.json, go.mod, ADRs, CODEOWNERS, routes)
• Knowledge graph (services, APIs, dependencies, ADRs)
• Architecture explorer (React Flow)
• Dependency explorer
• Documentation health dashboard
• PR drift alerts (GitHub webhook)
• Unified search across services, APIs, ADRs

GitHub setup

1. Create a GitHub OAuth App at https://github.com/settings/developers
2. Authorization callback URL: http://localhost:8080/v1/auth/github/callback
3. Set GITHUB_CLIENT_ID and GITHUB_CLIENT_SECRET in .env
4. Optional: configure webhook at http://localhost:8080/v1/webhooks/github for push/PR events

Phase 2 API endpoints

Endpoint	Description
GET /v1/orgs/:slug/github/connect	Start GitHub OAuth
GET /v1/orgs/:slug/github/repos	List available repos
POST /v1/orgs/:slug/github/repos	Connect repos for scanning
GET /v1/orgs/:slug/intelligence/architecture	Architecture graph
GET /v1/orgs/:slug/intelligence/services	Discovered services
GET /v1/orgs/:slug/intelligence/dependencies	Dependency trees
GET /v1/orgs/:slug/intelligence/health	Doc health score
GET /v1/orgs/:slug/intelligence/search?q=	Unified search
GET /v1/orgs/:slug/intelligence/drift	Drift alerts

Phase 1 status

• Go API (auth, orgs, projects, publish, search)
• @frond/cli (init, validate, doctor, docs dev, publish, generate, diff, login)
• Config parser + OpenAPI compiler
• SDK generator (TypeScript, Python)
• Next.js landing + dashboard with demo login + Google OAuth
• Next.js docs renderer with playground
• Docker Compose + CI

Phase 2 status

• GitHub OAuth + repo connect
• Background repo scanner worker
• Knowledge graph (services, APIs, deps, ADRs)
• Architecture explorer (React Flow)
• Dependency explorer
• Documentation health dashboard
• PR drift alerts (webhook)
• Unified search (services, APIs, ADRs)

License

See LICENSE.