# Ludic documentation generator

Generates the public documentation site (the `pages` branch) from a single
source of truth, so the site can never drift from the language.

## Source of truth

```
docs/
  language/<category>/<id>.md    one file per symbol — keyword, type, phase,
                                 builtin, namespace method, operator, annotation
  language/<category>/_section.md   section title + blurb + order
  language/colors/palette.json   the 221 named colors (generated by `ludic-dev docs-palette`)
  site/site.json                 landing-page messaging (hero, features, …)
  site/snippets/*.ludic          the code shown on the landing page (real programs)
tools/docgen/inventory.json      the authoritative symbol set the coverage guard checks
```

### A symbol file

```markdown
---
id: screen-fill_rectangle     # anchor + page name (screen-fill_rectangle.html)
name: Screen.fill_rectangle
category: screen
kind: namespace-method        # keyword|type|phase|namespace-method|builtin|annotation|operator
tokens: Screen.fill_rectangle # literal token(s) the highlighter matches & links
sig: Screen.fill_rectangle(x, y, width, height, color)
tip: Draw a solid, filled rectangle.     # one sentence — the hover-card summary
order: 1
ns: Screen                    # namespace-method only
member: fill_rectangle        # namespace-method only
related: screen-clear screen-draw_rectangle
---

Rich description — inline `<code>`/`backticks`, "model instance" language.

Parameters:                   # for anything that takes arguments
- `x` — the left edge, in pixels
- `color` — the fill color, e.g. a `Color.*` name

​```ludic
program Example { … descriptive-named, compilable … }
​```
```

## What it produces

One **page per symbol** (`<id>.html`), a namespace overview page per namespace
(`ns-screen.html` … `ns-color.html`), a searchable **index** (`api.html`, fuzzy
search over every symbol), the **landing page** (`index.html`), the
`ludic-highlight.js` highlighter (all its symbol tables, tips, per-item link
targets, per-parameter anchors and hover-card data generated from the sources
above), `symbols.json`, and `.nojekyll`.

In any code sample: keywords/types/builtins/annotations link to their page;
`Screen.fill_rectangle` links `Screen` → the namespace page and `fill_rectangle`
→ the method page separately; a named argument like `width:` links to that
parameter's anchor; `Color.Charcoal` links `Color` and `Charcoal` separately;
hovering any token shows a summary card from the real API data.

## Build & check

The generator and its guards are written in Ludic and run through `x` — there is
no Python in the pipeline. `assets/` (the CSS/HTML/JS templates) and
`inventory.json` are the only inputs the tools here still read directly.

```bash
bin/ludic-dev docs-gen --out build/pages    # generate the whole site
bin/ludic-dev docs-check build/pages        # coverage + duplicate-token + link guard
bin/ludic-dev check-docs                    # parse every ```ludic doc fence
```

`docs-check` fails CI if any symbol in `inventory.json` lacks a page, if a token
is documented on two pages, or if a highlighter link points at a missing page —
so "every symbol is documented, autogenerated each time" is enforced. It needs a
built `bin/ludic` (bootstrapped from the IR seed with clang alone).

## Publish

`.forgejo/workflows/docs.yml` bootstraps the toolchain from the IR seed and runs
`ludic-dev docs-gen` + `ludic-dev docs-check` on every push to `main` that touches `docs/**`,
`tools/docgen/**` or `tools/ludic-cli/**`, and publishes the result to the `pages` branch
root. `index.html` + `.nojekyll` always stay at the root.

## Colors

`palette.json` and `selfhost/backend/stdlib/emit_color.ludic` are both generated
by `bin/ludic-dev docs-palette` from a single palette table — the `pal_add(...)` rows in
`tools/ludic-cli/docgen.ludic`. Edit the table there and regenerate; do not hand-edit the
generated files.