DocFX

DocFX

DocFX is an open source tool that can generate documentation and help files for .NET projects. It supports API reference documentation, conceptual articles, and code comments. DocFX emits documentation in different formats like HTML, Markdown, and XML.
DocFX image
documentation api-reference conceptual-articles code-comments net

DocFX: Open Source Tool for Generating Documentation

DocFX is an open source tool that can generate documentation and help files for .NET projects. It supports API reference documentation, conceptual articles, and code comments. DocFX emits documentation in different formats like HTML, Markdown, and XML.

What is DocFX?

DocFX is an open-source documentation generator for API reference documentation and conceptual articles for .NET projects. It can extract triple-slash comments from C# and Visual Basic code files and process Markdown files to generate rich and well-formatted API documentation in HTML format. Some key features include:

  • Supports C# and VB projects, including .NET Framework, .NET Core and .NET Standard
  • Processes triple-slash comments in code files to generate API reference documentation
  • Processes conceptual Markdown files to generate conceptual documentation
  • Supports different output formats like HTML, Markdown and XML
  • Can integrate with tools like Visual Studio, Git and CI systems for automated documentation generation
  • Provides customizable templates to control the look and feel of the generated documentation
  • Has plugin support to integrate with other documentation generators like Sandcastle
  • Open-sourced under MIT license, with active development community on GitHub

Overall, DocFX is a great choice for generating professional API reference and conceptual documentation for .NET projects from source code comments and Markdown files with custom templates and multiple output formats.

DocFX Features

Features

  1. Generates API reference documentation from .NET assemblies
  2. Supports conceptual articles written in Markdown
  3. Extracts triple-slash comments from C# code files
  4. Builds documentation into a static website
  5. Supports multiple output formats like HTML, Markdown and XML

Pricing

  • Open Source

Pros

Open source and free

Integrates with Visual Studio

Good for documenting .NET projects

Can customize templates

Generates searchable and navigable documentation

Cons

Only for .NET documentation

Steep learning curve

Limited to a few input and output formats

Not very extensible or customizable

Requires maintaining Markdown files for concepts


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