DocForge

DocForge is a project-scoped documentation service for people and AI agents. It loads canonical Markdown and TOML from one repository, validates stable nodes and relationships, builds a disposable search index, and returns bounded context with source provenance.

DocForge does not own project facts. It does not select project work, apply proposals, run project commands, or perform Git and deployment operations. It may write only configured derived output and isolated previews through the explicit render boundary.

Current state

DFG-0 through DFG-14 are complete. Worldforge uses separate read-only sessions and an optional AssetForge-only proposal process. OpenClaw can propose updates to existing AssetForge chapter prose through isolated, validated changesets and escaped previews. Canonical integration remains a developer review step through Worldforge's established builder. DFG-9 found no measured need for an application command, so manual canonical integration is the permanent DocForge 0.x policy. Canonical application remains external and closed to the library, CLI, and MCP server. See docs/APPLICATION_DECISION.md.

DFG-10 adds one generic docforge_visualize MCP tool. It validates the configured project and derived index, then starts a token-protected read-only graph browser on 127.0.0.1. The browser supports project counts, family filtering, lexical search, exact node inspection, and bounded incoming-and-outgoing neighborhoods. It accepts no project path, database path, SQL, external bind address, or write operation.

DFG-11 upgrades the fixed browser template with pointer-centered mouse-wheel zoom, left-button drag pan, zoom buttons, a reset control, and a live zoom percentage. These controls operate only on the client-side SVG viewport and do not broaden the read-only HTTP or project authority boundary.

DFG-12 makes graph-node activation open a modal inspector without replacing the current neighborhood. The dialog exposes the node's complete validated content and offers a separate Explore neighborhood action when the user wants to recenter the graph.

DFG-13 makes pointer activation reliable by delaying SVG pointer capture until an actual drag crosses the movement threshold. It also ensures the empty-canvas instruction disappears whenever a neighborhood is rendered.

DFG-14 makes the viewer useful as a durable project-manual navigator. Resizable side panels and a draggable, resizable inspector support dense material. Neighborhoods are grouped generically by topology into the focus node, outgoing paths, and incoming or lateral context, with distinct palettes and progressive hop-distance shading.

DFG-17 makes relationship meaning visible without changing project graph facts. Nodes displays relation-specific colors, line patterns, directional symbols, and an exact visible key. Flow constructs a bounded upstream lineage with semantic direction for execution, data, and dependency relations while excluding structural and evidence context.

DFG-18 makes the viewer a managed project-bound local service. A native per-user supervisor owns the viewer manager, which survives MCP process turnover, reuses the current snapshot URL, exposes status and explicit stop tools, and reclaims only genuinely idle workers.

Development

Install Pyright once with npm install -g pyright. DocForge configures it to use the repository virtual environment and treats a clean strict run as a required development gate.

uv sync
npm ci
pyright
npm run lint:web
uv run ruff check src tests tools
uv run ruff format --check src tests tools
uv run python -m unittest discover -s tests -v
uv run docforge --project-root tests/fixtures/alpha validate
uv run docforge --project-root tests/fixtures/alpha render-status manual
uv run docforge --project-root tests/fixtures/alpha render manual
uv run docforge-mcp --project-root tests/fixtures/alpha --proposal-writer alpha-editor

The web gate validates the exact graph-browser HTML, CSS, and JavaScript served by DocForge. It also renders the fixture manual into a temporary project and validates that final HTML document.

The command prints deterministic JSON. Derived indexes live under each project's configured cache directory and are never canonical input.

Proposal writers are declared by ID in .docforge/project.toml. Each writer receives explicit node families and operation types. The MCP process binds to one writer at startup; tools cannot select or impersonate another writer. Create, update, move, and delete tools write only isolated JSON changesets below the configured changeset root.

Projects may also declare render views with confined template, preview, and output paths. The first built-in renderer converts CommonMark to escaped HTML through strict template tokens. MCP may render validated changesets only into isolated preview paths. Declared project output is generated through the explicit local CLI command and is never an MCP operation.

Project adapters implement AdapterLoader and return one ordered, immutable AdapterProjection. AdapterProject validates the projection and exposes it through the same disposable index used by generic projects. Project-specific context, query ordering, and render-model policy remain in the adapter. Shadow adapters are local integration tools; the normal MCP server does not discover or execute them. An explicit integration may bind a validated adapter project to DocForge's read-only MCP surface without enabling proposal tools.

Proposal-enabled adapters supply confined project settings and a project-owned validator. The core still owns hashes, permissions, changeset storage, conflict checks, graph validation, diffs, and preview confinement. The adapter owns source-format rules and may only narrow the allowed proposal surface.

Both generic and explicit adapter MCP servers expose the same visualization tools because they read the validated ProjectIndex supplied by the project binding. docforge_visualize reuses its unguessable loopback URL when the current snapshot remains valid, or replaces the worker after a complete index check when it does not. The per-user viewer manager retains active workers across MCP process turnover, reports state through docforge_visualization_status, and reclaims idle workers after one hour. See docs/VIEWER_MANAGER.md for installation.

See docs/NEW_PROJECT_QUICKSTART.md for a complete generic MCP setup, continuous-agent policy, visualization instructions, and a project-adapter checklist.