Doclific

Doclific is an internal documentation tool that features a modern, Notion-like rich text editor for creating and managing your project documentation. Built with a powerful CLI and a beautiful web interface, Doclific makes it easy to document your codebase, APIs, and project knowledge.

Features

• 📝 Notion-like Editor: Rich text editing experience with support for headings, lists, code blocks, and more
• 📁 Codebase Integration: Reference code snippets directly from your repository
• 🔍 Smart Navigation: Organized folder structure for easy documentation management
• ⚡ Fast & Local: Runs entirely on your machine - no external services required
• 🔄 Auto-Updates: Automatically checks for and installs updates

Installation

Install Doclific with a single command:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/muellerluke/doclific/main/scripts/install.sh | bash

This will:

• Download the latest release for your platform
• Install the binary to /usr/local/bin (or ~/.local/bin if you don't have write permissions)
• Set up the frontend build files
• Automatically add skills for Cursor and Claude Code to ~/.cursor/skills or ~/.claude/skills (if those directories exist)

Note: Make sure ~/.local/bin (or /usr/local/bin) is in your PATH if it's not already.

Skills Installation: The installation script will automatically add Doclific skills to Cursor and Claude Code if those applications are installed. If the skills are not automatically added, you can manually copy them from the skills/ directory in this repository to ~/.cursor/skills/ or ~/.claude/skills/ as needed.

Using Cursor or Claude Code

Doclific includes skills that allow Cursor and Claude Code to automatically generate documentation for your project. Here's how to use them:

Writing Documentation

To generate documentation for a specific document, simply ask Cursor or Claude Code:

Write documentation for the "Getting Started" document

or

Generate documentation for the "API Reference" page

The AI will:

1. Find the document by title in your doclific/ folder
2. Write well-structured MDX documentation to the content.mdx file
3. Use code snippets from your codebase when relevant

Creating ERD Diagrams

To create an Entity Relationship Diagram (ERD) for your database schema, you must explicitly request an ERD:

Create an ERD diagram for my database schema

or

Generate an ERD showing the relationships between Users, Posts, and Comments tables

When you request an ERD, the AI will:

1. Ask you about your database schema (tables, columns, relationships)
2. Generate the properly formatted JSON for the ERD component
3. Add the <ERD> component to your documentation

Important: If you want an ERD diagram, make sure to mention "ERD" or "Entity Relationship Diagram" in your prompt. The AI will not automatically create ERDs unless you specifically request them.

Tips for Better Results

• Be specific about which document you want to update
• Mention if you want code snippets included
• For ERDs, describe your tables, columns, and relationships clearly
• You can ask for multiple documents to be updated in one session

Commands

doclific

Start the Doclific server (default command).

doclific
# or specify a custom port
doclific --port 8080

Options:

• -p, --port: Port to listen on (default: 6767)

The server will automatically open your browser to the web interface.

doclific init

Initialize a new Doclific project in the current directory.

doclific init

This creates a doclific folder structure where your documentation will be stored.

doclific get [key]

Get a configuration value.

doclific get DEEPLINK_PREFIX

Available keys:

• DEEPLINK_PREFIX - Prefix for deep linking

doclific set [key] [value]

Set a configuration value.

doclific set DEEPLINK_PREFIX https://example.com

doclific version

Show the current version of Doclific.

doclific version

doclific update

Manually check for updates and install the latest version.

doclific update

Note: Doclific automatically checks for updates when you run any command. This command is useful for manual updates or checking update status.

Configuration

Doclific stores configuration in ~/.config/doclific/config.json. You can manage it using the get and set commands, or edit the file directly.

Usage

1. Initialize a project:

   cd /path/to/your/project
   doclific init

2. Start the server:

   doclific

3. Open the web interface: The browser will open automatically, or navigate to http://localhost:6767

4. Create documentation: Use the Notion-like editor to create and edit your documentation

Project Structure

After running doclific init, your project will have:

your-project/
└── doclific/
    └── [documentation folders]/
        ├── config.json
        └── content.mdx

Each documentation folder contains:

• config.json: Metadata (title, icon)
• content.mdx: The documentation content in MDX format

Auto-Updates

Doclific automatically checks for updates every time you run a command. If a newer version is available, it will:

1. Download and install the update
2. Exit with a message asking you to restart the command
3. Continue normally if already up to date

You can disable auto-updates by running the update command manually when needed.

Requirements

• Go 1.25+ (for building from source)
• Node.js 20+ (for building the frontend)
• A modern web browser

License

Copyright © 2026 Luke Mueller

Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0

See LICENSE file for details.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.

Support

For issues, questions, or feature requests, please open an issue on GitHub.