Agent Docstrings: Automatic Code Summaries

Agent Docstrings is a command-line tool that automatically generates and maintains a "Table of Contents" at the top of your source files. It scans for classes, functions, and methods, creating a summary that provides a high-level overview of the file's structure.

This is especially useful for AI-Agents, helping them solve the "cold start" problem of quickly understanding and navigating large, unfamiliar codebases.

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Table of Contents

• Supported Languages
• Why Use Agent Docstrings?
• Features
• Examples
• Platform Compatibility
• Installation
• Usage
• Configuration
• Limitations and Nuances
• Integration with Development Workflow
• Development
• Support the Project
• Contributing
• License
• Changelog

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Supported Languages

Language	File Extensions	Features
Python	.py	Classes, functions, methods
Java	.java	Classes, methods
Kotlin	.kt	Classes, functions
Go	.go	Functions, methods
PowerShell	.ps1, .psm1	Functions
Delphi	.pas	Classes, procedures, functions
C	.c, .h	Functions
C++	.cpp, .hpp, .cc, .cxx, .h	Functions, classes
C#	.cs	Classes, methods
JavaScript	.js, .jsx	Functions, classes
TypeScript	.ts, .tsx	Functions, classes

Why Use Agent Docstrings?

Imagine an AI agent tasked with modifying a large, unfamiliar codebase. Its first step is to read a file to get its bearings. What if the first thing it saw was a perfect summary?

Without Agent Docstrings: The "Blind" Approach

An AI agent opens a file and has no initial context. To understand the file's structure, it must:

1. Read a large chunk of the file.
2. Use tools like grep_tool or other search methods to find function and class definitions.
3. Analyze and piece together the results to build a mental map of the file. This process is slow, api-intensive, and prone to error.

With Agent Docstrings: The "Map-First" Approach

The agent opens the same file. The very first thing it reads is a "Table of Contents" generated by this tool. This provides immediate, critical advantages:

• Solves the "Cold Start" Problem: The agent instantly understands the file's layout, classes, and functions without any prior knowledge. The docstring acts as a "map" for the new territory, providing an immediate entry point for analysis.
• Dramatically Boosts Efficiency: Gaining this structural overview is a single read_tool operation. This is far more efficient than performing multiple searches and analyses to build the same context from scratch.
• Enhances Situational Awareness: With a clear overview from the start, the agent's subsequent actions (like targeted code searches or modifications) become more precise and intelligent. Knowing that a function integrate_user_data exists allows for a much more focused approach than a broad search for "user data".

In short, Agent Docstrings gives an AI a crucial head start, turning a slow, investigative process into a quick, informed action.

Features

• Multi-language support: Works with a wide range of popular programming languages.
• Automatic discovery: Recursively scans directories for source files to process.
• Smart filtering: Automatically respects .gitignore files and allows for custom ignore (.agent-docstrings-ignore) and include (.agent-docstrings-include) files for fine-grained control.
• Incremental updates: Designed to be fast, it only modifies files when changes to the code structure are detected.
• Robust Parsers: Uses reliable AST (Abstract Syntax Tree) parsers for Python and Go, and intelligent regex-based parsing for other languages.
• CLI interface: A simple and easy-to-use command-line tool for manual runs or CI/CD integration.
• Extensively Tested: High reliability is ensured by a comprehensive suite of over 140 tests, covering everything from individual parsers (unit tests) to full command-line behavior (end-to-end tests).

Examples

Python Example

Before:

def calculate_fibonacci(n):
    if n <= 1:
        return n
    return calculate_fibonacci(n-1) + calculate_fibonacci(n-2)

class MathUtils:
    def add(self, a, b):
        return a + b

After:

"""
    --- AUTO-GENERATED DOCSTRING ---
    Table of content is automatically generated by Agent Docstrings v1.3.0

    Classes/Functions:
    - MathUtils (line 18):
      - add(a, b) (line 19)
      - Functions:
        - calculate_fibonacci(n) (line 13)
    --- END AUTO-GENERATED DOCSTRING ---
"""
def calculate_fibonacci(n):
    if n <= 1:
        return n
    return calculate_fibonacci(n-1) + calculate_fibonacci(n-2)

class MathUtils:
    def add(self, a, b):
        return a + b

Platform Compatibility

This tool is compatible with:

• Python: 3.10, 3.11, 3.12, and 3.13

• Go: >=1.22 (required only for building the Go parser during package development)

• No dependency on external Python libraries at runtime

Installation

From PyPI (recommended)

pip install agent-docstrings

From source

git clone https://github.com/Artemonim/agent-docstrings.git
cd agent-docstrings
pip install -e .

Usage

Processing paths

You can process one or more directories, files, or a mix of both.

Process a directory:

agent-docstrings src/

Process a single file:

agent-docstrings src/main.py

Process multiple paths:

agent-docstrings src/ tests/ lib/utils.py

With verbose output

agent-docstrings src/ --verbose

Using as a Python module

from agent_docstrings.core import discover_and_process_files

# Process a mix of files and directories
discover_and_process_files(["src/", "lib/utils.py"], verbose=True)

Configuration

Gitignore Integration

The tool automatically reads and respects .gitignore files in your project directory and its parents. Files and directories ignored by git will also be ignored by the docstring generator.

Blacklist (Ignore files)

You can create a gitignore-like .agent-docstrings-ignore file in your project root to specify files and directories to ignore:

Whitelist (Only process specific files)

You can create a gitignore-like .agent-docstrings-include file to only process specific files:

# Only process main source code
src/*.py
lib/*.py
agent_docstrings/*.py

Note: If a whitelist file exists and is not empty, ONLY files matching the whitelist patterns will be processed.

Limitations and Nuances

It is important to understand the nuances of this tool to use it effectively. The quality and method of code parsing vary significantly by language.

• Table of Contents, Not Full Documentation: The generator does not create detailed, explanatory docstrings. Instead, it generates a file-level comment block that acts as a "Table of Contents" listing the functions and classes found in the file. This provides a quick overview of the file's structure.

• Language-Dependent Parsing Quality: The reliability of the parser is highly dependent on the target language.

  • Robust AST-Based Parsing (Python, Go): For Python and Go, the tool uses native Abstract Syntax Tree (AST) parsers. This approach is highly accurate and robustly handles complex syntax, multiline definitions, and unconventional formatting.

  • Regex-Based Parsing (Other Languages): For other languages (C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, TypeScript, Kotlin, PowerShell, Delphi), the generator relies on regular expressions and simplified scope analysis (brace counting). This method is inherently more fragile and may fail or produce incorrect results with:

    • Multiline Definitions: Function or class signatures that span multiple lines.
    • Complex Syntax: Advanced language features like C++ templates, decorators on separate lines, or complex default parameter values.
    • Unconventional Formatting: Code that does not follow common formatting standards.
    • Scope Confusion: The brace-counting mechanism can be easily confused by comments or strings containing { or } characters, leading to incorrect structure detection.

• In-Place File Modification: The tool modifies files directly. It is designed to correctly remove its own previously generated headers, but it might struggle with files that have very complex, pre-existing header comments, potentially leading to incorrect placement of the new header.

Integration with Development Workflow

Pre-commit Hook

Add to your .pre-commit-config.yaml:

repos:
    - repo: local
      hooks:
          - id: agent-docstrings
            name: Generate docstrings
            entry: agent-docstrings
            language: system
            files: \.(py|java|kt|go|ps1|psm1|pas|js|jsx|ts|tsx|cs|cpp|cxx|cc|hpp|h|c)$
            pass_filenames: false
            args: [src/]

CI/CD Integration

# GitHub Actions example
- name: Generate docstrings
  run: |
      pip install agent-docstrings
      agent-docstrings src/
      # Check if any files were modified
      git diff --exit-code || (echo "Docstrings need updating" && exit 1)

Development

Setting up development environment

git clone https://github.com/Artemonim/agent-docstrings.git
cd agent-docstrings
pip install -e .[dev]

Running tests

pytest tests/ -v

Code formatting

black agent_docstrings/

Type checking

mypy agent_docstrings/

Version Bumping

This project uses bump-my-version for version management. To create a new version, use the following commands after installing the development dependencies (pip install -e .[dev]):

• Patch release (e.g., 1.0.1 -> 1.0.2):

  bump-my-version patch

• Minor release (e.g., 1.0.2 -> 1.1.0):

  bump-my-version minor

• Major release (e.g., 1.1.0 -> 2.0.0):

  bump-my-version major

The tool is configured in pyproject.toml to automatically update the version string in agent_docstrings/__init__.py, pyproject.toml, and CHANGELOG.md.

Note: Running bump-my-version, you need to create a release branch and a pull request to master. The process of tagging, creating a GitHub Release, and publishing to PyPI is automated. For full details, see the Contribution Guide.

Support the Project

Agent Docstrings is an independent open-source project. If you find this tool useful and want to support its ongoing development, your help would be greatly appreciated.

Here are a few ways you can contribute:

• Give a Star: The simplest way to show your support is to star the project on GitHub! It increases the project's visibility.
• Support My Work: Your financial contribution helps me dedicate more time to improving this tool and creating other open-source projects. On my Boosty page, you can:
  • Make a one-time donation to thank me for this specific project.
  • Become a monthly supporter to help all of my creative endeavors.
• Try a Recommended Tool: This project was inspired by my work with LLMs. If you're looking for a great service to work with multiple neural networks, check out Syntx AI. Using my referral link is another way to support my work at no extra cost to you.

Thank you for your support!

Contributing

We welcome contributions! Please see our Contribution Guide for detailed instructions on how to get started, our development workflow, and coding standards.

In short:

1. Fork the repo and create your branch from dev.
2. Add your feature or fix.
3. Add/update tests.
4. Update CHANGELOG.md.
5. Submit a pull request to dev.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

Changelog

See CHANGELOG.md for a list of changes and version history.

Support

• Issues: GitHub Issues
• Documentation: GitHub README
• Source Code: GitHub Repository