Configuration Overview

Learn how to configure doc-kit for your documentation generation needs

doc-kit provides a flexible configuration system that allows you to customize every aspect of the documentation generation process. Configuration can be provided through dedicated configuration files or via CLI options.

Configuration Methods

There are three ways to configure doc-kit, listed in order of precedence (highest to lowest):

1. Configuration file - Pass a custom config file using --config-file
2. CLI options - Override specific settings via command-line arguments
3. Default values - Built-in defaults used when no configuration is provided

Configuration File Support

Configuration files must be loadable via an import() call. Supported formats include:

• JavaScript/ESM (.mjs, .js with "type": "module")
• JSON (.json)

JavaScript

// doc-kit.config.mjs
export default {
  global: {
    version: '20.0.0',
    minify: true,
    repository: 'nodejs/node',
    ref: 'main',
    baseURL: 'https://nodejs.org/docs/',
    input: 'src/',
    output: 'dist/',
    ignore: ['node_modules/', 'test/'],
  },
  
  threads: 4,
  chunkSize: 10,
  
  // Generator-specific configurations
  json: {
    format: 'json',
    minify: false, // Override global setting
  },
};

JSON

{
  "global": {
    "version": "20.0.0",
    "minify": true,
    "repository": "nodejs/node",
    "ref": "main",
    "baseURL": "https://nodejs.org/docs/",
    "input": "src/",
    "output": "dist/",
    "ignore": ["node_modules/", "test/"]
  },
  "threads": 4,
  "chunkSize": 10,
  "json": {
    "format": "json",
    "minify": false
  }
}

Using a Configuration File

Pass your configuration file to doc-kit using the --config-file option:

doc-kit generate --config-file ./doc-kit.config.mjs

Configuration Structure

A doc-kit configuration object consists of:

• global - Settings that apply to all generators unless overridden
• threads - Number of worker threads to use for parallel processing
• chunkSize - Number of items to process per worker thread
• target - Array of generator names to run
• Generator-specific overrides - Per-generator configuration that inherits from global

Configuration Merging

When multiple configuration sources are provided, doc-kit merges them using a deep merge strategy:

1. Start with built-in defaults
2. Apply configuration file settings
3. Apply CLI option overrides

This allows you to maintain a base configuration file while overriding specific values via CLI when needed.

Next Steps

File Format

Learn about the configuration file structure and all available properties

CLI Options

See how CLI options map to configuration properties