Principle:Axolotl ai cloud Axolotl Documentation Generation
| Knowledge Sources | |
|---|---|
| Domains | Documentation, Code_Generation, Build_System |
| Last Updated | 2026-02-07 00:00 GMT |
Overview
Automated documentation strategy that generates configuration references from Pydantic schemas and model guides from example READMEs, keeping docs synchronized with source code.
Description
Documentation Generation solves the problem of documentation drift in rapidly evolving ML frameworks. Rather than maintaining documentation manually (which inevitably diverges from the code), this principle advocates generating documentation directly from authoritative sources: Pydantic model definitions for configuration references, and curated example directories for usage guides. A build-time generation step (pre-render hook) ensures documentation is always up-to-date. The approach involves three layers: (1) a site configuration that defines the overall structure and API reference sections, (2) a schema-introspection generator that walks the class inheritance hierarchy and produces structured field documentation, and (3) an example-to-page converter that processes README files with link rewriting and asset management.
Usage
Apply this principle when a project has complex configuration schemas (many fields across multiple Pydantic models with inheritance) or a curated set of examples that should be published as documentation. It is especially valuable when configuration options change frequently and manual doc updates are error-prone.
Theoretical Basis
# Abstract documentation generation pipeline
def generate_docs(schema_model, example_dirs):
# Step 1: Introspect schema
for cls in schema_model.__mro__:
fields = extract_direct_fields(cls)
groups = detect_field_groups_from_source(cls)
for field in fields:
type_info = extract_type_from_ast(cls, field)
nested = extract_nested_pydantic_models(type_info)
emit_field_doc(field, type_info, nested) # recursive
# Step 2: Convert examples
for example_dir in curated_allowlist:
readme = read_and_strip_h1(example_dir / "README.md")
readme = rewrite_internal_links(readme)
readme = copy_and_rewrite_assets(readme)
emit_page(example_dir.name, readme)
# Step 3: Update site navigation
update_sidebar_config(generated_pages)