Installation & Configuration

This guide provides comprehensive instructions for setting up GenDoc. Please read the following sections to choose the best installation method for you.

Choosing Your Installation Method

There are two primary ways to install GenDoc:

• From an npm Package (Recommended): This method is for most users who want to quickly start using the application. It's the simplest and cleanest way to get started.
• From Source Code: This method is for developers, contributors, or users who want to access the very latest (and potentially unstable) features.

Prerequisites

Before you begin, ensure you have the following installed:

• Node.js: v22 or higher is recommended. You can download it from the official Node.js website.
• OpenAI API Key: Required to use the AI generation features.
• Git: Required only if you choose to install from source code.

Installation

Follow the instructions for your chosen method.

Method 1: Installation from a Package File

Since this package is not published on the public npm registry, you must install it from the package file (.tgz) provided with each release on GitHub.

1. Navigate to the project's GitHub Releases page.
2. Download the .tgz package file from the latest release (e.g., gendoc-cli-v1.x.x.tgz).
3. Open your terminal, navigate to the directory where you downloaded the file, and run the following command (replace the filename with the one you downloaded):

   npm install -g ./gendoc-cli-v1.x.x.tgz

Verify Installation After installation, you can verify that the gendoc command is available by running:

gendoc --version

Method 2: From Source Code

This method is for developers who wish to contribute code or run a local development version. For a complete guide on how to set up your local environment, please see our Development Setup Guide.

Configuration

GenDoc offers several ways to configure settings. It's important to understand their priority.

Configuration Priority

Settings are applied in the following order of precedence (higher items override lower ones):

1. Environment Variables (e.g., OPENAI_API_KEY)
2. Global CLI Config (managed by the gendoc config command)
3. .env File (primarily for development when installing from source)

Recommended Method: gendoc config

For users who installed via npm package, this is the recommended way to manage your settings.

Use the gendoc config set command with dot notation to apply a setting.

1. Set your API Key (Required)

gendoc config set llm.apiKey sk-xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

(Replace sk-xxxxxxxx... with your actual API key.)

2. View All Available Keys Here are all the available configuration keys:

Key	Description	Default Value
llm.apiKey	Your OpenAI API key.	null
llm.model	The LLM model name to use.	'gpt-4o'
llm.baseUrl	A custom base URL for OpenAI-compatible APIs (e.g., local LLMs).	null
llm.proxy	A proxy server URL for network access.	null
app.language	The application's interface language. Can be en or zh.	'en'
app.mock	Enable mock LLM responses for testing. Can be true or false.	false

3. Manage and Verify Your Configuration

# Set the language to Chinese
gendoc config set app.language zh

# Check a single value
gendoc config get app.language

# List all currently set values
gendoc config list

Alternative Methods

Environment Variables You can set environment variables to override any other settings. This is useful for CI/CD environments or for proxy settings.

• OPENAI_API_KEY: Sets the API key.
• OPENAI_MODEL: Sets the model name.
• OPENAI_API_BASE: Sets the API base URL.
• HTTPS_PROXY: Sets the proxy URL.
• GENDOC_LANG: Sets the application language (en or zh).

.env File When you install from source, you can create a .env file in the project root. This method is primarily intended for development.

1. Copy the example file:

   cp .env.example .env

2. Edit the .env file with your settings:

   OPENAI_API_KEY="sk-YOUR_OPENAI_API_KEY"
   HTTPS_PROXY="http://your-proxy-server-address:port"