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mops docs generate

Generate documentation for Motoko code using the built-in documentation generator.

Usage​

mops docs generate [options]

Options​

  • --source <source> - Source directory containing .mo files (default: src)
  • --output <output> - Output directory for generated documentation (default: docs)
  • --format <format> - Output format: md, adoc, or html (default: md)

Description​

The mops docs generate command uses the Motoko documentation generator (mo-doc) to create documentation from your Motoko source code. It extracts documentation comments and generates formatted documentation files.

Examples​

Generate markdown documentation​

mops docs generate

This generates markdown documentation from the src directory and outputs it to the docs directory.

Generate HTML documentation​

mops docs generate --format html

Generate documentation from custom source directory​

mops docs generate --source lib --output documentation

Generate AsciiDoc documentation​

mops docs generate --format adoc --output docs/asciidoc

Output Formats​

  • markdown (md) - Human-readable markdown files
  • html - HTML files with styling for web viewing
  • adoc - AsciiDoc format for advanced document processing

Documentation Comments​

To generate meaningful documentation, add documentation comments to your Motoko code:

/// Calculate the factorial of a natural number.
///
/// Example:
/// ```motoko
/// let result = factorial(5); // 120
/// ```
public func factorial(n : Nat) : Nat {
    if (n <= 1) { 1 } else { n * factorial(n - 1) }
}

Notes​

  • The command uses the mo-doc tool that comes with your Motoko compiler
  • Documentation is generated from triple-slash comments (///)
  • Functions, classes, types, and modules can all be documented
  • The generated documentation includes type signatures and examples