Architecture docs that keep your notes.
Scan a repo, draft five docs with your local claude CLI, and read them in a viewer. Regenerate whenever the code changes, and your notes stay where you put them.
npx @excellent-so/selfdocs build --mocknpm
What you get
- 01
Drafted from the code
Architecture, schema, API, data flow and integrations, each written from the files that match it.
- 02
Your notes survive
A note is pinned to the block above it. A regeneration rewrites the draft around it and leaves the note in place.
- 03
Nothing gets lost
If a section disappears, its notes wait at the end of the doc, and each goes back in when its section returns.
- 04
Try it offline
build --mock drafts all five docs from the file scan alone, with nothing else installed.
Add a note anywhere
Every paragraph, list, table and code block has its own Add note button. Here someone writes down why the fulfilment retries wait so long, right under the paragraph that describes them.
An API reference, drafted
The API Reference gives each endpoint a parameter table and sample JSON, drafted from the routes. The note under the table holds what the code can't say: when the header becomes required.
Notes survive regeneration
The partner feed was taken out of the code and the Integrations Guide regenerated. The note under the table stayed where it was, and the note about the feed moved to a list of detached notes, where it waits for its section to come back.
The schema, in dark
The Database Schema in the dark theme: each table with its columns, types and constraints, drafted from the migrations, and a note on the column the app must never write.
How it works
- 1
Draft the docs
npx @excellent-so/selfdocs build --mock - 2
Read and add notes
npx @excellent-so/selfdocs open - 3
Draft with the model
npx @excellent-so/selfdocs build
Details
- Needs
- Node 20. The claude CLI, signed in, to draft with a model
- Writes
- The docs and your notes to .selfdocs/ in your repo
- Viewer
- One HTML file with no outside requests, on 127.0.0.1
- Dependencies
- None at runtime
- License
- MIT
Why I made it
Regenerating is a merge: delete a section and your note sets itself aside, bring the section back and the note goes back in.
Matt Waite
Try selfdocs.
Free and MIT licensed. Coming soon: the code goes public at launch.
npx @excellent-so/selfdocs build --mocknpm