# pseudomuto/protoc-gen-doc

Documentation generator plugin for Google Protocol Buffers

Repository: https://github.com/pseudomuto/protoc-gen-doc
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/protoc-gen-doc
Language: Go
License: MIT
License Family: permissive
Topics: protobuf, documentation-tool, protoc, hacktoberfest, hacktoberfest2021, golang, go
Last push: 2026-07-21T16:29:26+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 65/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 93, release rhythm 8, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 4413, "days_push": 43, "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 2836, forks 491 (observed 2026-08-28T04:07:24.574700+00:00)

## What it is
A protoc plugin that generates documentation (HTML, JSON, DocBook, Markdown) from comments in Protocol Buffers .proto files. It supports proto2 and proto3 and can be run via Docker, Go install, pre-built binaries, or Maven Central.

## Use cases
- generate documentation from proto files
- document protobuf APIs as markdown
- produce HTML docs for gRPC services
- convert proto comments into JSON reference docs
- automate protobuf docs in CI with Docker
- create custom doc output with Go templates

## When to choose
- your API schemas are defined in .proto files and you want docs generated from comments
- you need multiple output formats (HTML, Markdown, JSON, DocBook) from the same source
- you want a containerized, CI-friendly documentation step for protos

## When to avoid
- your API is defined in OpenAPI/Swagger rather than protobuf
- you need docs for non-protobuf code
- you want live, interactive API documentation rather than static reference docs

## Facets
- artifact type: plugin
- maturity: active
- function: documentation, api-documentation, parser
- domain: developer-tools, documentation, apis
- platform: cli, cross-platform, go
- tags: protobuf, protoc-plugin, grpc, code-generation, markdown, html, docker

## Member repositories
- pseudomuto/protoc-gen-doc (main) score 65

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:07:24.574700+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 2026-08-30T07:37:46.695450+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/pseudomuto/protoc-gen-doc (fetched 2026-08-28T04:07:24.574700+00:00, sha 18261215db06)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.