pytkdocs

Load Python objects documentation.

Installation

pip install pytkdocs

With uv:

uv tool install pytkdocs

With conda:

conda install -c conda-forge pytkdocs

Usage

pytkdocs accepts JSON on standard input and writes JSON on standard output.

Input format:

{
  "objects": [
    {
      "path": "pytkdocs",
      "new_path_syntax": false,
      "members": true,
      "inherited_members": false,
      "filters": [
        "!^_[^_]"
      ],
      "docstring_style": "google",
      "docstring_options": {
        "replace_admonitions": true
      }
    }
  ]
}

Output format:

{
  "loading_errors": [
    "string (message)"
  ],
  "parsing_errors": {
    "string (object)": [
      "string (message)"
    ]
  },
  "objects": [
    {
      "name": "pytkdocs",
      "path": "pytkdocs",
      "category": "module",
      "file_path": "/media/data/dev/pawamoy/pytkdocs/src/pytkdocs/__init__.py",
      "relative_file_path": "pytkdocs/__init__.py",
      "properties": [
        "special"
      ],
      "parent_path": "pytkdocs",
      "has_contents": true,
      "docstring": "pytkdocs package.\n\nLoad Python objects documentation.",
      "docstring_sections": [
        {
          "type": "markdown",
          "value": "pytkdocs package.\n\nLoad Python objects documentation."
        }
      ],
      "source": {
        "code": "\"\"\"\npytkdocs package.\n\nLoad Python objects documentation.\n\"\"\"\n\nfrom typing import List\n\n__all__: List[str] = []\n",
        "line_start": 1
      },
      "children": {
        "pytkdocs.__all__": {
          "name": "__all__",
          "path": "pytkdocs.__all__",
          "category": "attribute",
          "file_path": "/media/data/dev/pawamoy/pytkdocs/src/pytkdocs/__init__.py",
          "relative_file_path": "pytkdocs/__init__.py",
          "properties": [
            "special"
          ],
          "parent_path": "pytkdocs",
          "has_contents": false,
          "docstring": null,
          "docstring_sections": [],
          "source": {},
          "children": {},
          "attributes": [],
          "methods": [],
          "functions": [],
          "modules": [],
          "classes": []
        }
      },
      "attributes": [
        "pytkdocs.__all__"
      ],
      "methods": [],
      "functions": [],
      "modules": [
        "pytkdocs.__main__",
        "pytkdocs.cli",
        "pytkdocs.loader",
        "pytkdocs.objects",
        "pytkdocs.parsers",
        "pytkdocs.properties",
        "pytkdocs.serializer"
      ],
      "classes": []
    }
  ]
}

Command-line

Running pytkdocs without argument will read the whole standard input, and output the result once.

Running pytkdocs --line-by-line will enter an infinite loop, where at each iteration one line is read on the standard input, and the result is written back on one line. This allows other programs to use pytkdocs in a subprocess, feeding it single lines of JSON, and reading back single lines of JSON as well. This mode was actually implemented specifically for mkdocstrings.

Configuration

The configuration options available are:

• new_path_syntax: when set to true, this option forces the use of the new object path syntax, which uses a colon (:) to delimit modules from other objects.

• filters: filters are regular expressions that allow to select or un-select objects based on their name. They are applied recursively (on every child of every object). If the expression starts with an exclamation mark, it will filter out objects matching it (the exclamation mark is removed before evaluation). If not, objects matching it are selected. Every regular expression is performed against every name. It allows fine-grained filtering. Example:

  • !^_: filter out every object whose name starts with _ (private/protected)
  • ^__: but still select those who start with two _ (class-private)
  • !^__.*__$: except those who also end with two _ (specials)

• members: this option allows to explicitly select the members of the top-object. If True, select every members that passes filters. If False, select nothing. If it's a list of names, select only those members, and apply filters on their children only.

• inherited_members: true or false (default). When enabled, inherited members will be selected as well.

• docstring_style: the docstring style to use when parsing the docstring. google, restructured-text¹ and numpy².

• docstring_options: options to pass to the docstring parser.

  • replace_admonitions boolean option (default: true). When enabled, this option will replace titles of an indented block by their Markdown admonition equivalent: AdmonitionType: Title will become !!! admonitiontype "Title".
  • trim_doctest_flags boolean option (default: true). When enabled, all doctest flags (of the form # doctest: +FLAG and <BLANKLINE>) located within python example blocks will be removed from the parsed output.

  The google docstring style accepts both options. The numpy style only accepts trim_doctest_flags. The restructured-text style does not accept any options.

¹: reStructured Text parsing is in active development and is not feature complete yet.
²: The following sections are currently not supported : Notes, See Also, Warns and References.

Details on new_path_syntax

Example:

New syntax	package.module:Class.attribute
Old syntax	package.module.Class.attribute

• If there is a colon is an object's path, pytkdocs splits the path accordingly, regardless of the value of new_path_syntax.
• If there isn't a colon, and new_path_syntax is false, pytkdocs uses the old importing behavior.
• If there isn't a colon, and new_path_syntax is true, pytkdocs uses the new importing behavior and therefore considers that the path points to a module.