JSDoc JavaScript API Documentation Generator
JSDoc is the standard API documentation generator for JavaScript. It parses specially-formatted comments in JavaScript source code to produce HTML documentation pages. With 15,000+ GitHub stars and millions of npm downloads, it is the most widely adopted JavaScript documentation tool and the foundation of the JSDoc comment standard used across the entire JS ecosystem.
npx skills add agentskillexchange/skills --skill jsdoc-javascript-api-documentation-generator
JSDoc is the canonical API documentation generator for JavaScript projects. It reads structured comment annotations (the JSDoc comment format using /** ... */ blocks with @param, @returns, @typedef, and other tags) from JavaScript source files and generates navigable HTML documentation sites. The JSDoc comment format has become a de facto standard, supported by IDEs like VS Code for inline type hints and by TypeScript for type checking JavaScript files via JSDoc annotations.
What this skill actually does
How It Works
An agent skill wrapping JSDoc enables automated documentation generation from JavaScript codebases. The agent invokes the jsdoc CLI with source file paths or directories, and JSDoc parses all annotated comments to extract function signatures, parameter types and descriptions, return values, class hierarchies, module definitions, events, and custom type definitions. The tool produces a complete static HTML site with navigation, search, and cross-referenced links between documented symbols.
Comment Tags and Configuration
JSDoc supports a rich set of documentation tags including @param for function parameters with types, @returns for return values, @typedef for custom type definitions, @class and @constructor for classes, @module for module declarations, @fires and @listens for events, @example for code examples, @deprecated for deprecation notices, and @see for cross-references. Configuration is managed via a jsdoc.json (or conf.json) file that specifies source directories, recursion depth, template/theme selection, plugins, and output directory.
Template and Plugin Ecosystem
JSDoc features a plugin system that enables custom tag definitions, AST transformations, and output modifications. The template system allows complete customization of the generated documentation appearance. Popular community templates include clean-jsdoc-theme, docdash, and better-docs. Plugins can add support for additional comment tags, integrate with Markdown rendering, or inject custom metadata into the output.
Agent Integration
For AI agents, JSDoc serves two purposes: generating human-readable documentation sites, and extracting structured API information that the agent can use to understand a codebase. The agent can invoke JSDoc in JSON output mode to get a machine-readable representation of all documented symbols, or generate HTML docs and deploy them to documentation hosting services. JSDoc integrates naturally into CI/CD pipelines for continuous documentation updates. It installs via npm (npm install --save-dev jsdoc) and runs on any Node.js environment.