deno doc, documentation generator

deno doc followed by a list of one or more source files will print the JSDoc documentation for each of the module's exported members.

For example, given a file add.ts with the contents:

/**
 * Adds x and y.
 * @param {number} x
 * @param {number} y
 * @returns {number} Sum of x and y
 */
export function add(x: number, y: number): number {
  return x + y;
}

Running the Deno doc command, prints the function's JSDoc comment to stdout:

deno doc add.ts
function add(x: number, y: number): number
  Adds x and y. @param {number} x @param {number} y @returns {number} Sum of x and y

Linting Jump to heading#

You can use --lint flag to check for problems in your documentation while it's being generated. deno doc will point out three kinds of problems:

1. Error for an exported type from the root module referencing a non-exported type.
   • Ensures API consumers have access to all the types the API uses. This can be suppressed by exporting the type from a root module (one of the files specified to deno doc on the command line) or by marking the type with an @internal jsdoc tag.
2. Error for missing return type or property type on a public type.
   • Ensures deno doc displays the return/property type and helps improve type checking performance.
3. Error for missing JS doc comment on a public type.
   • Ensures the code is documented. Can be suppressed by adding a jsdoc comment, or via an @ignore jsdoc tag to exclude it from the documentation. Alternatively, add an @internal tag to keep it in the docs, but signify it's internal.

For example:

interface Person {
  name: string;
  // ...
}

export function getName(person: Person) {
  return person.name;
}

$ deno doc --lint mod.ts
Type 'getName' references type 'Person' which is not exported from a root module.
Missing JS documentation comment.
Missing return type.
    at file:///mod.ts:6:1

These lints are meant to help you write better documentation and speed up type-checking in your projects. If any problems are found, the program exits with non-zero exit code and the output is reported to standard error.

HTML output Jump to heading#

Use the --html flag to generate a static site with documentation.

$ deno doc --html --name="My library" ./mod.ts

$ deno doc --html --name="My library" --output=./documentation/ ./mod.ts

$ deno doc --html --name="My library" ./sub1/mod.ts ./sub2/mod.ts

The generated documentation is a static site with multiple pages that can be deployed to any static site hosting service.

A client-side search is included in the generated site, but is not available if user's browser has JavaScript disabled.

JSON output Jump to heading#

Use the --json flag to output the documentation in JSON format. This JSON format is consumed by the deno doc website and is used to generate module documentation.