Developer tooling

Overview

XML2Doc converts C# compiler XML documentation into Markdown. It exposes the same work through a reusable core library, a command-line tool, and an MSBuild package so documentation can be generated as part of the build.

Motivation

API comments are close to the code, but compiler XML is not a convenient reference for someone browsing a repository. Generating readable pages also raises practical problems: stable links, predictable file paths, and knowing which generated files a tool owns.

Engineering approach

The core handles parsing, rendering, and output ownership. The CLI supports repeatable invocation, while MSBuild connects generation to compilation. Single-file and per-type output serve different documentation sizes.

The public 2.4.0 documentation describes shared output planning for paths, links, manifests, and writes. It also covers caller-supplied metadata, namespace-folder layouts, collision detection before writing, and extension points for rendering. Keeping those decisions consistent matters when documentation from several projects shares an output tree.

My contributions

My work includes CLI option and configuration validation, along with review and integration of changes. The project reflects a recurring interest of mine: making documentation part of the engineering workflow rather than a separate manual copy of it.

Current status

The public repository documents the 2.4.0 feature set as of October 23, 2026. Its README contains the current configuration and compatibility details; this page is an engineering overview rather than an installation guide.

Technologies

C#, .NET, XML documentation, Markdown, MSBuild.