When you write a JavaScript library, how do you explain it to people? If it's a small project in a domain your users are familiar with, JSDoc's alphabetical list of routines might suffice. But in a larger project, it is useful to intersperse prose with your API docs without having to copy and paste things.
sphinx-js lets you use the industry-leading Sphinx <http://sphinx-doc.org/>_ documentation tool with JS projects. It provides a handful of directives, patterned after the Python-centric autodoc <www.sphinx-doc.org/en/latest/ext/autodoc.html>_ ones, for pulling JSDoc-formatted documentation into reStructuredText pages. And, because you can keep using JSDoc in your code, you remain compatible with the rest of your JS tooling, like Google's Closure Compiler.
sphinx-js also works with TypeScript, using the TypeDoc tool in place of JSDoc and emitting all the type information you would expect.
Install JSDoc (or TypeDoc if you're writing TypeScript). The tool must be on your $PATH, so you might want to install it globally::
npm install -g jsdoc
...or... ::
npm install -g typedoc
JSDoc 3.6.3 and 4.0.0 and TypeDoc 0.15.0 are known to work.
Install sphinx-js, which will pull in Sphinx itself as a dependency::
pip install sphinx-js
Make a documentation folder in your project by running sphinx-quickstart and answering its questions::
cd my-project
sphinx-quickstart
Please enter values for the following settings (just press Enter to
accept a default value, if one is given in brackets).
Selected root path: .
You have two options for placing the build directory for Sphinx output.
Either, you use a directory "_build" within the root path, or you separate
"source" and "build" directories within the root path.
> Separate source and build directories (y/n) [n]:
The project name will occur in several places in the built documentation.
> Project name: My Project
> Author name(s): Fred Fredson
> Project release []: 1.0
If the documents are to be written in a language other than English,
you can select a language here by its language code. Sphinx will then
translate text that it generates into that language.
For a list of supported codes, see
https://www.sphinx-doc.org/en/master/usage/configuration.html#confval-language.
> Project language [en]:
In the generated Sphinx conf.py file, turn on sphinx_js by adding it to extensions::
extensions = ['sphinx_js']
If you want to document TypeScript, add js_language = 'typescript' to conf.py as well.
If your JS source code is anywhere but at the root of your project, add js_source_path = '../somewhere/else' on a line by itself in conf.py. The root of your JS source tree should be where that setting points, relative to the conf.py file. (The default, ../, works well when there is a docs folder at the root of your project and your source code lives directly inside the root.)
If you have special JSDoc or TypeDoc configuration, add jsdoc_config_path = '../conf.json' (for example) to conf.py as well.
If you're documenting only JS or TS and no other languages (like C), you can set your "primary domain" to JS in conf.py::
primary_domain = 'js'
(The domain is js even if you're writing TypeScript.) Then you can omit all the "js:" prefixes in the directives below.
In short, in a Sphinx project, use the following directives to pull in your JSDoc documentation, then tell Sphinx to render it all by running make html in your docs directory. If you have never used Sphinx or written reStructuredText before, here is where we left off in its tutorial <http://www.sphinx-doc.org/en/stable/tutorial.html#defining-document-structure>_. For a quick start, just add things to index.rst until you prove things are working.
First, document your JS code using standard JSDoc formatting::
/**
* Return the ratio of the inline text length of the links in an element to
* the inline text length of the entire element.
*
* @param {Node} node - Types or not: either works.
* @throws {PartyError|Hearty} Multiple types work fine.
* @returns {Number} Types and descriptions are both supported.
*/
function linkDensity(node) {
const length = node.flavors.get('paragraphish').inlineLength;
const lengthWithoutLinks = inlineTextLength(node.element,
element => element.tagName !== 'A');
return (length - lengthWithoutLinks) / length;
}
Then, reference your documentation using sphinx-js directives. Our directives work much like Sphinx's standard autodoc ones. You can specify just a function's name... ::
.. js:autofunction:: someFunction
...and a nicely formatted block of documentation will show up in your docs.
You can also throw in your own explicit parameter list, if you want to note optional parameters::
.. js:autofunction:: someFunction(foo, bar[, baz])
Parameter properties and destructuring parameters also work fine, using standard JSDoc syntax <https://jsdoc.app/tags-param.html#parameters-with-properties>_::
/**
* Export an image from the given canvas and save it to the disk.
*
* @param {Object} options Output options
* @param {string} options.format The output format (``jpeg``, ``png``, or
* ``webp``)
* @param {number} options.quality The output quality when format is
* ``jpeg`` or ``webp`` (from ``0.00`` to ``1.00``)
*/
function saveCanvas({ format, quality }) {
// ...
}
Extraction of default parameter values works as well. These act as expected, with a few caveats::
/**
* You must declare the params, even if you have nothing else to say, so
* JSDoc will extract the default values.
*
* @param [num]
* @param [str]
* @param [bool]
* @param [nil]
*/
function defaultsDocumentedInCode(num=5, str="true", bool=true, nil=null) {}
/**
* JSDoc guesses types for things like "42". If you have a string-typed
* default value that looks like a number or boolean, you'll need to
* specify its type explicitly. Conversely, if you have a more complex
* value like an arrow function, specify a non-string type on it so it
* isn't interpreted as a string. Finally, if you have a disjoint type like
* {string|Array} specify string first if you want your default to be
* interpreted as a string.
*
* @param {function} [func=() => 5]
* @param [str=some string]
* @param {string} [strNum=42]
* @param {string|Array} [strBool=true]
* @param [num=5]
* @param [nil=null]
*/
function defaultsDocumentedInDoclet(func, strNum, strBool, num, nil) {}
You can even add additional content. If you do, it will appear just below any extracted documentation::
.. js:autofunction:: someFunction
Here are some things that will appear...
* Below
* The
* Extracted
* Docs
Enjoy!
js:autofunction has one option, :short-name:, which comes in handy for chained APIs whose implementation details you want to keep out of sight. When you use it on a class method, the containing class won't be mentioned in the docs, the function will appear under its short name in indices, and cross references must use the short name as well (``:func:`someFunction```)::
.. js:autofunction:: someClass#someFunction
:short-name:
autofunction can also be used on callbacks defined with the @callback tag <https://jsdoc.app/tags-callback.html>_.
There is experimental support for abusing autofunction to document @typedef tags <https://jsdoc.app/tags-typedef.html>_ as well, though the result will be styled as a function, and @property tags will fall misleadingly under an "Arguments" heading. Still, it's better than nothing until we can do it properly.
We provide a js:autoclass directive which documents a class with the concatenation of its class comment and its constructor comment. It shares all the features of js:autofunction and even takes the same :short-name: flag, which can come in handy for inner classes. The easiest way to use it is to invoke its :members: option, which automatically documents all your class's public methods and attributes::
.. js:autoclass:: SomeEs6Class(constructor, args, if, you[, wish])
:members:
You can add private members by saying... ::
.. js:autoclass:: SomeEs6Class
:members:
:private-members:
Privacy is determined by JSDoc @private tags or TypeScript's private keyword.
Exclude certain members by name with :exclude-members:::
.. js:autoclass:: SomeEs6Class
:members:
:exclude-members: Foo, bar, baz
Or explicitly list the members you want. We will respect your ordering. ::
.. js:autoclass:: SomeEs6Class
:members: Qux, qum
When explicitly listing members, you can include * to include all unmentioned members. This is useful to have control over ordering of some elements, without having to include an exhaustive list. ::
.. js:autoclass:: SomeEs6Class
:members: importMethod, *, uncommonlyUsedMethod
Finally, if you want full control, pull your class members in one at a time by embedding js:autofunction or js:autoattribute::
.. js:autoclass:: SomeEs6Class
.. js:autofunction:: SomeEs6Class#someMethod
Additional content can go here and appears below the in-code comments,
allowing you to intersperse long prose passages and examples that you
don't want in your code.
This is useful for documenting public properties::
class Fnode {
constructor(element) {
/**
* The raw DOM element this wrapper describes
*/
this.element = element;
}
}
And then, in the docs... ::
.. autoclass:: Fnode
.. autoattribute:: Fnode#element
This is also the way to document ES6-style getters and setters, as it omits the trailing () of a function. The assumed practice is the usual JSDoc one: document only one of your getter/setter pair::
class Bing {
/** The bong of the bing */
get bong() {
return this._bong;
}
set bong(newBong) {
this._bong = newBong * 2;
}
}
And then, in the docs... ::
.. autoattribute:: Bing#bong
If you have same-named objects in different files, use pathnames to disambiguate them. Here's a particularly long example::
.. js:autofunction:: ./some/dir/some/file.SomeClass#someInstanceMethod.staticMethod~innerMember
You may recognize the separators #.~ from JSDoc namepaths <https://jsdoc.app/about-namepaths.html>_; they work the same here.
For conciseness, you can use any unique suffix, as long as it consists of complete path segments. These would all be equivalent to the above, assuming they are unique within your source tree::
innerMember
staticMethod~innerMember
SomeClass#someInstanceMethod.staticMethod~innerMember
some/file.SomeClass#someInstanceMethod.staticMethod~innerMember
Things to note:
We use simple file paths rather than JSDoc's module: prefix or TypeDoc's external: or module: ones.
We use simple backslash escaping exclusively rather than switching escaping schemes halfway through the path; JSDoc itself is headed that way as well <https://github.com/jsdoc3/jsdoc/issues/876>_. The characters that need to be escaped are #.~(/, though you do not need to escape the dots in a leading ./ or ../. A really horrible path might be... ::
some/path\ with\ spaces/file.topLevelObject#instanceMember.staticMember(with(parens
Relative paths are relative to the js_source_path specified in the config. Absolute paths are not allowed.
Behind the scenes, sphinx-js will change all separators to dots so that...
:func:`~InwardRhs.atMost``` prints as merely atMost(). (For now, you should always use dots rather than other namepath separators: #~``.)To save some keystrokes, you can set primary_domain = 'js' in conf.py and then say (for example) autofunction rather than js:autofunction.
To have a class link to its superclasses and implemented interfaces, you'll need to document the superclass (or interface) somewhere using js:autoclass or js:class and use the class's full (but dotted) path when you do::
.. js:autoclass:: someFile.SomeClass
Unfortunately, Sphinx's ~ syntax doesn't work in these spots, so users will see the full paths in the documentation.
js_language
Use 'javascript' or 'typescript' depending on the language you use. The default is 'javascript'.
js_source_path
A list of directories to scan (non-recursively) for JS or TS source files, relative to Sphinx's conf.py file. Can be a string instead if there is only one. If there is more than one, root_for_relative_js_paths must be specified as well. Defaults to '../'.
jsdoc_config_path
A conf.py-relative path to a JSDoc config file, which is useful if you want to specify your own JSDoc options, like recursion and custom filename matching. If using TypeDoc, you can also point to a tsconfig.json file.
root_for_relative_js_paths
Relative JS entity paths are resolved relative to this path. Defaults to js_source_path if it is only one item.
jsdoc_cache
Path to a file where JSDoc output will be cached. If omitted, JSDoc will be run every time Sphinx is. If you have a large number of source files, it may help to configure this value. But be careful: the cache is not automatically flushed if your source code changes; you must delete it manually.
A good example using most of sphinx-js's functionality is the Fathom documentation. A particularly juicy page is https://mozilla.github.io/fathom/ruleset.html. Click the "View page source" link to see the raw directives.
ReadTheDocs <https://readthedocs.org/>_ is the canonical hosting platform for Sphinx docs and now supports sphinx-js as an opt-in beta. Put this in the .readthedocs.yml file at the root of your repo::
requirements_file: docs/requirements.txt
build:
image: latest
Then put the version of sphinx-js you want in docs/requirements.txt. For example... ::
sphinx-js==3.1.2
Or, if you prefer, the Fathom repo carries a Travis CI configuration <https://github.com/mozilla/fathom/blob/92304b8ad4768e90c167c3d93f9865771f5a6d80/.travis.yml#L41>_ and a deployment script <https://github.com/mozilla/fathom/blob/92304b8ad4768e90c167c3d93f9865771f5a6d80/tooling/travis-deploy-docs>_ for building docs with sphinx-js and publishing them to GitHub Pages. Feel free to borrow them.
{@link foo}; you have to use Sphinx-style equivalents for now, like :js:func:`foo``` (or simply :func:`foo``` if you have set primary_domain = 'js' in conf.py.@param, @returns, @throws, @example (without the optional <caption>), @deprecated, @see, and their synonyms. Other ones will go poof into the ether.Run the tests using tox, which will also install JSDoc and TypeDoc at pinned versions::
pip install tox
tox
3.2.2: (September 20th, 2023)
Thank you to Will Kahn-Greene!
3.2.1: (December 16th, 2022)
Thank you to xsjad0 and Will Kahn-Greene!
3.2.0: (December 13th, 2022)
js_source_path configuration item. (#182)Thank you Stefan 'hr' Berder, David Huggins-Daines, Nick Alexander, mariusschenzle, Erik Rose, lonnen, and Will Kahn-Greene!
3.1.2: (April 15th, 2021)
docutils to work around the way pip's greedy dependency resolver reacts to the latest version of Sphinx. pip fails when pip-installing sphinx-js because pip sees our "any version of docutils" declaration first (which resolves greedily to the latest version, 0.17) but later encounters Sphinx's apparently new <0.17 constraint and gives up. We can revert this when pip's --use-feature=2020-resolver becomes the default.3.1.1: (March 23rd, 2021)
3.1: (September 10th, 2020)
Re-architect language analysis. There is now a well-documented intermediate representation between JSDoc- and TypeDoc-emitted JSON and the renderers. This should make it much faster to merge PRs.
Rewrite much of the TypeScript analysis engine so it feeds into the new IR.
foo & bar) in TS.~ after the filename path segment; now they use . as in JS.external: prefix in front of filenames or module: in front of namespace names.No longer show args in the arg list that are utterly uninformative, lacking both description and type info.
Class attributes are now listed before methods unless manally ordered with :members:.
3.0.1: (August 10th, 2020)
../ prefix on an object path. This can happen behind the scenes when root_for_relative_js_paths is set inward of the JS code.3.0: (July 14th, 2020)
2.8: (September 16th, 2019)
2.7.1: (November 16th, 2018)
2.7: (August 2nd, 2018))
2.6: (July 26th, 2018)
@deprecated and @see. (David Li)2.5: (April 20th, 2018)
@params to help fill out the formal param list for a
function. This keeps us from missing params that use destructuring. (flozz)2.4: (March 21, 2018)
@example tag. (lidavidm)2.3.1: (January 11th, 2018)
jsdoc command on Windows, where it has a different name. Then
patch up process communication so it doesn't hang.2.3: (November 1st, 2017)
autoclass :members: option, meaning "and all the members that I didn't explicitly list".2.2: (October 10th, 2017)
autofunction support for @callback tags. (krassowski)autofunction support for @typedef tags. (krassowski)python_2_unicode_compatible is sure to be around.2.1: (August 30th, 2017)
js_source_path. This is useful for gradually migrating large projects, one folder at a time, to JSDoc. Introduce root_for_relative_js_paths to keep relative paths unambiguous in the face of multiple source paths.2.0.1: (July 13th, 2017)
2.0: (May 4th, 2017)
Deal with ambiguous object paths. Symbols with identical JSDoc longnames (such as two top-level things called "foo" in different files) will no longer have one shadow the other. Introduce an unambiguous path convention for referring to objects. Add a real parser to parse them rather than the dirty tricks we were using before. Backward compatibility breaks a little, because ambiguous references are now a fatal error, rather than quietly referring to the last definition JSDoc happened to encounter.
Index everything into a suffix tree so you can use any unique path suffix to refer to an object.
Other fallout of having a real parser:
Fix KeyError when trying to gather the constructor params of a plain old
object labeled as a @class.
1.5.2: (March 22th, 2017)
1.5.1: (March 20th, 2017)
:members: alphabetically when an order is not explicitly specified.1.5: (March 17th, 2017)
:members: option to autoclass.:private-members: and :exclude-members: options to go with it.1.4: (March 10th, 2017)
jsdoc_config_path option.1.3.1: (March 6th, 2017)
1.3: (February 21st, 2017)
autoattribute directive.1.2: (February 14th, 2017)
autoclass directive.1.1: (February 13th, 2017)
:short-name: option.1.0: (February 7th, 2017)
js:autofunctionFAQs
Support for using Sphinx on JSDoc-documented JS code
We found that sphinx-js demonstrated a healthy version release cadence and project activity because the last version was released less than a year ago. It has 2 open source maintainers collaborating on the project.
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