# pdoc3/pdoc

🐍 ➡️ 📜  Auto-generate API docs for Python projects

Repository: https://github.com/pdoc3/pdoc
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/pdoc3-pdoc
Homepage: https://pdoc3.github.io/pdoc/
Language: Python
License: AGPL-3.0
License Family: copyleft
Topics: documentation, generator, documentation-generator, documentation-tool, documentation-dumper, api-documentation, python, python3, docs, docs-generator, docstrings, docstring, docstring-documentation, pdoc, hacktoberfest
Last push: 2026-08-15T12:07:11+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 66/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:39:23.370411+00:00)
- activity 97, release rhythm 8, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 2801, "days_push": 18, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 1182, forks 145 (observed 2026-08-28T04:03:54.222152+00:00)

## What it is
pdoc3 is a Python tool that auto-generates API documentation from a project's modules, classes, functions, and their docstrings with zero configuration. It supports common docstring formats (Markdown, numpydoc, Google-style), type annotations, cross-linking, customizable Mako templates, and includes a built-in development web server for live preview.

## Use cases
- generate api docs for my python package from docstrings
- lightweight sphinx alternative for python documentation
- auto-generate html documentation from python source code
- preview python docstrings in a local web server
- document python project with markdown docstrings
- create api reference docs with zero configuration

## When to choose
- you have a small-to-medium Python project and want docs with minimal setup
- you prefer Markdown or Google/numpydoc docstring styles over reST
- you want automatic cross-linking and docstring inheritance out of the box
- you need customizable HTML templates via Mako

## When to avoid
- you need Sphinx's full ecosystem of extensions, themes, and multi-format output
- your project is large and requires fine-grained documentation control
- you cannot accept the AGPL-3.0 license
- you need documentation for non-Python code

## Facets
- artifact type: cli-tool
- maturity: active
- function: documentation, api-documentation, cli, templating
- domain: documentation, developer-tools
- platform: python, cli, cross-platform
- tags: docstring-parsing, api-docs, markdown, sphinx-alternative, mako-templates, python

## Member repositories
- pdoc3/pdoc (main) score 66

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:03:54.222152+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-30T06:24:52.162968+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/pdoc3/pdoc (fetched 2026-08-28T04:03:54.222152+00:00, sha c8d1473244da)
  - homepage: https://pdoc3.github.io/pdoc/ (fetched 2026-08-29T12:32:05.195865+00:00, sha 82339878745a)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.