DocWright

Auto-generate and maintain documentation for your Rails application.

DocWright introspects your live Rails app to generate structured markdown documentation for your database schema, API routes, models, services, background jobs, and more. Human-written content is preserved across regenerations using smart merge markers.

Add to your application's Gemfile:

gem "docwright"

Then run:

bundle install
bundle exec rake docwright:generate

rake docwright:generate

Runs the interactive wizard which:

1. Scans your app and shows what will be generated
2. Asks y/n to continue
3. Generates auto files (database, API, models)
4. Walks you through each new manual file with write/editor/skip options

rake docwright:check

Audits your docs and reports:

• Missing required files
• Files with placeholder content only
• Empty notes slots

rake docwright:search[your_term]

Searches across all generated markdown files.

• docs/database.md — tables, columns, types
• docs/api.md — routes and endpoints
• docs/models.md — associations and validations per model

• docs/overview.md
• docs/setup.md
• docs/architecture.md
• docs/deployment.md
• docs/security.md
• docs/troubleshooting.md
• docs/business_rules.md
• docs/changelog.md
• docs/readme.md

• docs/auth_and_permissions.md
• docs/background_jobs.md
• docs/services.md
• docs/concerns.md
• docs/features/*.md

Create .docwright.yml in your Rails app root:

# Optional narrative docs
optional_docs:
  auth_and_permissions: true
  background_jobs: true
  services: true
  concerns: true

# Feature-specific docs
features:
  - name: qr_flow
    description: QR code generation and scanning flow
  - name: subscriptions
    description: Billing and plan management

Auto-generated content is wrapped in markers:

auto content here — regenerated every time

Write your notes outside these markers — DocWright will never touch them.

For per-model files, named markers are used:

auto content for Post

Notes for Post

your notes here — never overwritten

git clone https://github.com/GraceHtet/docwright.git
cd docwright
bundle install
bundle exec rspec

See the examples/ folder for sample generated output.

Bug reports and pull requests are welcome on GitHub.

MIT License. See LICENSE.txt.