labdoc

Automatically generate documentation for GitLab CI/CD components and CI/CD pipelines.

What is labdoc?

labdoc currently focuses on generating documentation for GitLab CI/CD components. For an example, check out the labdoc component documentation, which is generated with labdoc.

In the future, the focus might shift to generating documentation for GitLab CI/CD Pipelines in general.

Getting Started

Install labdoc

Via Homebrew

brew install erNail/tap/labdoc

Via Binary

Check the releases for the available binaries. Download the correct binary and add it to your $PATH.

Via Go

go install github.com/erNail/labdoc

Via Container

docker pull ernail/labdoc:<LATEST_GITHUB_RELEASE_VERSION>

From Source

Check out this repository and run the following:

go build

Add the resulting binary to your $PATH.

Run labdoc

Prepare your GitLab CI/CD components

labdoc currently expects all your CI/CD components to be in a directory, with all files on the root level. By default, labdoc will use the templates directory.

The documentation is generated from the spec.inputs.*.description keywords, and from the comments above the spec and the job keywords. Below is a minimal example:

---
# This comment will be used as description for the component
spec:
  inputs:
    my-input:
      description: "This is used as description for the input"
    my-other-input:
      description: >-
        This is a multiline input.
        Since this output is used in a table, the `>-` is used to remove any newline characters
...

---
# This comment will be used as description for the job
my-job:
  script: "echo Hello"
...

Generate Documentation

labdoc generate --repoUrl github.com/erNail/labdoc

This will generate a README.md in the templates directory.

The --repoUrl flag is required to generate the instructions on how to include your components.

Change the documentation output directory

labdoc generate --repoUrl github.com/erNail/labdoc --outputFile my/custom/path/README.md

Change the component directory

labdoc generate --repoUrl github.com/erNail/labdoc --componentDir my-components

Check if the documentation is up-to-date

labdoc generate --repoUrl github.com/erNail/labdoc --check

This command will not write the documentation to a file. It will only check if there is already a documentation, and if the content would change.

If the content remains unchanged, the command will exit with code 0. If there is no documentation, or the existing documentation would change, the command will exit with code 2.

Include the version in the usage instructions

labdoc generate --repoUrl github.com/erNail/labdoc --version 1.0.0

By default, labdoc will generate instructions on how to include your component in other CI/CD pipelines. If no version is specified, it will use latest as the version to use for the include.

Custom Documentation Template

By default, labdoc will generate documentation based on the documentation template located in this repository.

You can create your own template and use it to generate documentation. Simply create a file that uses Go Templating syntax and the type ComponentDocumentation, then run the following:

labdoc generate --repoUrl github.com/erNail/labdoc --template templates/README.md.gotmpl

More Details

For more details about the labdoc command, run the following:

labdoc -h

pre-commit Hook

You can run labdoc via pre-commit. Add the following to your .pre-commit-config.yml:

repos:
  - repo: "https://github.com/erNail/labdoc"
    rev: "<LATEST_GITHUB_RELEASE_VERSION>"
    hooks:
      - id: "labdoc-generate"
        args:
          - "--repoUrl=gitlab.com/erNail/labdoc"

GitLab CI/CD Component

labdoc can be added to your GitLab CI/CD Pipeline as component. Check the component documentation generated by labdoc for more details.

Limitations

• labdoc currently only supports reading CI/CD component files from a directory with all files on the root level. These file names will be used as the component names.
• labdoc currently expects all components to define spec:inputs and at least one job. Not defining one or the other can lead to unwanted behavior.
• As a result of this, labdoc is currently not able to handle components that only include other components or GitLab CI/CD files.

Planned Features

Please check the open GitHub Issues to get an overview of the planned features.

Development

Dependencies

To use all of the functionality listed below, you need to install all dependencies listed in the dev container setup script. If you are using this repositories dev container, you already have all dependencies installed.

Testing

task test

Linting

task lint

Running

task run -- --help

task run-generate

Building

task build

Building Container Images

task build-image

Test GitHub Actions

task test-github-actions

Test Release

task release-test