How it works
Docs-as-Code is a loop you already know from software: write, version, build, publish. Here is each step — and where docToolchain fits in.
Write in plain text
Open your editor and write in AsciiDoc or Markdown. Structure long documents with includes. Draw architecture diagrams as PlantUML text right next to the prose, so a diagram is reviewed and versioned like everything else.
Commit to Git
Keep the source in version control — ideally in the same repository as the code it documents. Branch for substantial edits, open a pull request, and let a reviewer read the diff before it merges. Your documentation now has authorship, history, and quality gates.
Build on CI
A pipeline renders the source on every commit: AsciiDoc becomes HTML and PDF, PlantUML becomes images, links get validated. Nothing is published by hand, so nothing drifts. This is the step where a toolchain earns its keep — and where docToolchain does the heavy lifting.
Publish
The rendered output deploys like any other build artifact — to a static host, a documentation portal, or straight into Confluence. The newest docs are always exactly one merge away from your readers.
A toolchain ties it together
Each step has many possible tools. Assembling and maintaining them yourself — the AsciiDoc processor, the diagram renderer, the PDF theme, the Confluence exporter — is the part that quietly eats time. A ready-made toolchain removes that friction so your team works on content, not plumbing.
- No local install — a wrapper script pulls the right version
- AsciiDoc & PlantUML rendering out of the box
- arc42 architecture templates ready to fill
- Exports to HTML, PDF, and Confluence
- Runs the same on your laptop and in CI
Skip the plumbing.
docToolchain implements this whole workflow as one open-source toolchain. See what it gives you out of the box.