# EWSoftware/SHFB

Sandcastle Help File Builder (SHFB).  A standalone GUI, Visual Studio integration package, and MSBuild tasks providing full configuration and extensibility for building help files with the Sandcastle tools.

Repository: https://github.com/EWSoftware/SHFB
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/shfb
Language: C#
License: NOASSERTION
License Family: other
Last push: 2026-06-27T18:26:11+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 83/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 89, release rhythm 65, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 4241, "days_push": 67, "days_rel": 157, "gap_med": 78, "n_releases_24m": 8}
- flags: no_license
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 2250, forks 376 (observed 2026-08-28T04:06:30.926839+00:00)

## What it is
Sandcastle Help File Builder is a tool for generating help files for .NET class libraries, combining XML code comments with conceptual topics written in Markdown or MAML. It provides a standalone GUI, Visual Studio integration, and MSBuild tasks to automate builds with the Sandcastle tools.

## Use cases
- generate api documentation from c# xml comments
- build chm help file for .net library
- create help documentation in visual studio
- convert markdown and maml to help topics
- automate documentation builds with msbuild

## When to choose
- you maintain a .NET class library and need API reference documentation
- you want a GUI or Visual Studio-integrated documentation project
- you need both conceptual (Markdown/MAML) and API reference topics in one help file

## When to avoid
- your project is not on the .NET platform
- you prefer modern web-based doc generators like DocFX or mkdocs
- you need documentation for non-managed code

## Facets
- artifact type: application
- maturity: active
- function: documentation, api-documentation, build-tool, cli, gui
- domain: documentation, developer-tools, apis
- platform: windows, dotnet, cli
- tags: sandcastle, help-file-builder, xml-comments, maml, chm, msbuild, visual-studio, c-sharp, dotnet, desktop

## Member repositories
- EWSoftware/SHFB (main) score 83

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:06:30.926839+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 2026-08-30T02:43:51.675781+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/EWSoftware/SHFB (fetched 2026-08-28T04:06:30.926839+00:00, sha 19c299630534)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.