documentation-maker

Walks a running web application and writes end-user documentation - features, capabilities and step-by-step user journeys - as Markdown with screenshots.

Built to the Agent Skills format, packaged as a Claude Code plugin so the skill, the slash command, the subagent and the after-session hook install together.

Install

As a plugin (recommended). One command, and npm dependencies install themselves:

/plugin marketplace add mad-coders/documentation-maker
/plugin install documentation-maker

As a plain skill, for any agent that reads the Agent Skills format:

make install          # into ~/.claude/skills
make install-project  # into ./.claude/skills, travels with the repo
make link             # symlink, so git pull updates it

Then confirm a browser will start:

make check

Set it up for a project

/documentation-maker

Asks for the base URL, which capabilities to enable, how to log in, where the docs go, and whether to regenerate after each session. Writes .documentation-maker.ini and adds it to .gitignore.

Generate

Ask for it in plain language - "document this app" - or run the pipeline directly:

node scripts/dm-explore.mjs      # crawl, build the page inventory
node scripts/dm-capture.mjs      # screenshots
node scripts/dm-journey.mjs      # replay declared user journeys

Then Claude writes the Markdown from those artefacts.

What comes out

docs/user-guide/
├── README.md              index and navigation map
├── features/orders.md     one file per feature
├── journeys/checkout.md   one file per replayed journey
└── assets/                screenshots

Why the crawl exists

A model given only screenshots guesses what the buttons do. The crawl records the real accessible names, form fields, headings, links and journey outcomes first, and the documentation is written from that. Every claim traces to something observed.

Journeys are replayed rather than described, so a step that no longer works shows up as a broken run instead of a confident paragraph. --strict makes that a CI failure: a documented user flow stopped working.

Configuration

.documentation-maker.ini, gitignored, per project. Capabilities are switches - a section set to false is not written. Full key reference in skills/documentation-maker/references/config-reference.md.

Secrets go in the environment, not the file: DM_PASSWORD, DM_USERNAME, DM_BASE_URL.

Requirements

Node 18+ and a Chrome or Chromium already on the machine. No browser is downloaded.

Licence

MIT.