saifdocs

Project documentation generator. You sketch what to document in a small docspec/ tree — products, audiences, tasks, concepts, source files — and saifdocs (via saifctl) writes the actual markdown for you. Re-run anytime your code or intent changes; reference pages always stay synced to source, and tone stays consistent across the whole doc set.

  docspec/                              (you write this)
    │  saifdocs gen
    ▼
  saifctl/features/saifdocs-<ts>/       (compiled task list)
    │  saifctl feat run --feature <id>
    ▼
  docs/                                 (your generated docs)

Requirements

• Node.js 22+
• pnpm 9+
• saifctl installed in the project where you'll generate docs (you'll run saifctl feat run after each saifdocs gen)

Quick start

1. Install

In the project where you want to generate docs:

pnpm add -D @safe-ai-factory/saifdocs
# or, globally
pnpm add -g @safe-ai-factory/saifdocs

After install, the saifdocs CLI is available (or via npx saifdocs).

2. Author your docspec

A docspec/ folder at your project root. Layout follows the Diátaxis quadrants — references, concepts, how-tos, tutorials:

docspec/
  products/<product>/
    product.md                        what the product is, who it's for
    rules.md                          (optional) tone, voice, banned phrases
    personas/<persona>/
      persona.md                      who this reader is, what they know
      tasks/<task>.md                 something they want to do
    concepts/<id>.md                  one explainer page
    how-tos/<id>.md                   one task recipe
    tutorials/<id>.md                 one step of a guided walkthrough
    tutorials/index.yaml              order of the tutorial track
  reference/commands/<product>/<cmd>.md   `source:` points at real code

Every file has YAML frontmatter (declarative — saifdocs uses it to plan the docs) and a freeform body (notes the agent reads when writing). Reference pages are special: their body is empty; the agent reads the source: file directly each regen, so reference pages always match real code.

Fastest way to start: copy saifdocs's own docspec/ as a template and rename my-product.

3. Compile to a saifctl feature tree

From your project root:

saifdocs gen --project-dir .

Saifdocs reads docspec/, builds a manifest of every page that needs to be written, and emits a timestamped feature dir under <project>/saifctl/features/saifdocs-<timestamp>/:

saifctl/features/saifdocs-2026-05-04T10-30-45-123Z/
  feature.yml          # declares the audit critic
  plan.md              # run summary (when, what, how)
  critics/
    audit.md           # review prompt: omissions, false claims, …
  phases/
    01-ref-cli-flags/  # one phase per file-to-generate
      spec.md          # the writing prompt for this page
      tests/
        gate.sh        # checks the page exists and is non-empty
    02-ref-config/
    …

Phase numbering width is computed from the run's total file count (50 pages → 01..50; 1023 pages → 0001..1023) so lex ordering matches emission order. The dependency chain is preserved: references → concepts → how-tos → tutorials → landing-pages.

4. Run it via saifctl

saifctl feat run --feature saifdocs-<timestamp>

Saifctl drives the agent through every phase, with the audit critic reviewing each page after writing in fresh LLM context.

5. Read the docs

When the run finishes, your generated pages land at the paths declared in the docspec — typically under docs/:

docs/
  products/my-product/
    concepts/auth.md
    how-tos/get-started.md
    …
  reference/commands/my-product/
    run.md

Daily workflows

Command	What it does
saifdocs gen	Full compile from scratch — fresh feature dir, every page.
saifdocs update	Emit a feature dir containing only stale phases (per validate's rules: any read path newer than generatedAt).
saifdocs validate	Check staleness in CI — no LLM, fast. Exits non-zero if any page is out of date.
saifdocs audit	Gap report: expected outputs (per docspec) vs files on disk. Run after saifctl feat run to confirm coverage.
saifdocs review	Emit a single-phase feature for a persona-simulation review.
saifdocs clear	Delete the output directory (default docs/).

The typical loop:

1. edit docspec/                        ← author intent
2. saifdocs gen --project-dir .         ← emit feature
3. saifctl feat run --feature <id>      ← generate pages
4. saifdocs audit                       ← confirm coverage
5. saifdocs validate                    ← in CI on every PR
6. saifdocs update --project-dir .      ← regen only stale pages

Configuration

Filter what gets compiled

saifdocs gen --project-dir . --types references,concepts

Only phases for the named types end up in the emitted feature.

Override the feature id (in-place regeneration)

By default each saifdocs gen emits a fresh timestamped feature dir, so multiple runs accumulate side-by-side (good for monthly recurring documentation refresh, before/after refactor snapshots, audit trails). For in-place regen:

saifdocs gen --project-dir . --feature-id saifdocs-monthly

Override the saifctl features dir

saifdocs gen --project-dir . --saifctl-features-dir custom/path

Manifest-only (skip feature emission)

saifdocs gen --project-dir . --dry-run

Writes docspec/.manifest.json for staleness tracking; doesn't emit a feature tree.

Export the manifest

# to stdout
saifdocs gen --project-dir . --export-manifest

# to a file
saifdocs gen --project-dir . --export-manifest-out ./manifest.json

# stdout via the same flag
saifdocs gen --project-dir . --export-manifest-out stdout

Force-regen one specific page

saifdocs update --project-dir . --entry concept--my-product--auth
# or by output-path suffix
saifdocs update --project-dir . --entry docs/concepts/auth.md

Persona-simulation review

Emits a single-phase feature whose deliverable is a markdown review report under docs/review/<product>/<persona>/:

saifdocs review \
  --product my-product \
  --persona engineer \
  --task install \
  --project-dir .

Then saifctl feat run --feature <id> to execute the review.

Development

Working on saifdocs itself (not just using it)?

git clone https://github.com/safe-ai-factory/saifdocs.git
cd saifdocs
pnpm install
pnpm run check    # lint + typecheck + knip + build + test

Saifctl is a devDependency for the integration tests; saifdocs has no runtime dependency on it.

License

MIT