About JSDoc plugins

Creating and Enabling a Plugin

There are two steps required to create and enable a new JSDoc plugin:

Create a JavaScript module to contain your plugin code.
Include that module in the plugins array of JSDoc's configuration file. You can specify an absolute or relative path. If you use a relative path, JSDoc searches for the plugin in the current working directory; the directory where the configuration file is located; and the JSDoc directory, in that order.

For example, if your plugin is defined in the plugins/shout.js file in the current working directory, you would add the string plugins/shout to the plugins array in your JSDoc configuration file:

Adding a plugin to JSDoc's configuration file

{
  "plugins": ["plugins/shout"]
}

JSDoc executes plugins in the order that they are listed in the configuration file.

Authoring JSDoc 3 Plugins

JSDoc 3's plugin system offers extensive control over the parsing process. A plugin can affect the parse results by doing any of the following:

Defining event handlers
Defining tags
Defining a visitor for abstract syntax tree nodes

Event Handlers

At the highest level, a plugin may register handlers for specific named events that JSDoc fires. JSDoc will pass an event object to the handler. Your plugin module should export a handlers object that contains your handler, like so:

Event-handler plugin for 'newDoclet' events

exports.handlers = {
  newDoclet: function(e) {
    // Do something when we see a new doclet
  }
};

JSDoc fires events in the same order as the underlying code.

An event-handler plugin can stop later plugins from running by setting a stopPropagation property on the event object (e.stopPropagation = true). A plugin can stop the event from firing by setting a preventDefault property (e.preventDefault = true).

Event: parseBegin

The parseBegin event is fired before JSDoc starts loading and parsing the source files. Your plugin can control which files JSDoc will parse by modifying the event's contents.

Note: This event is fired in JSDoc 3.2 and later.

The event object contains the following properties:

sourcefiles: An array of paths to source files that will be parsed.

Event: fileBegin

The fileBegin event is fired when the parser is about to parse a file. Your plugin can use this event to trigger per-file initialization if necessary.

The event object contains the following properties:

filename: The name of the file.

Event: beforeParse

The beforeParse event is fired before parsing has begun. Plugins can use this method to modify the source code that will be parsed. For instance, your plugin could add a JSDoc comment, or it could remove preprocessing tags that are not valid JavaScript.

The event object contains the following properties:

filename: The name of the file.
source: The contents of the file.

Below is an example that adds a virtual comment for a function to the source so that it will get parsed and added to the documentation. This might be done to document methods that will be available to users, but might not appear in the source code being documented, such as methods provided by an external superclass:

Example

exports.handlers = {
  beforeParse: function(e) {
    var extraDoc = [
      "/**",
      " * Function provided by a superclass.",
      " * @name superFunc",
      " * @memberof ui.mywidget",
      " * @function",
      " */"
    ];
    e.source += extraDoc.join("\n");
  }
};

Event: jsdocCommentFound

The jsdocCommentFound event is fired whenever a JSDoc comment is found. The comment may or may not be associated with any code. You might use this event to modify the contents of a comment before it is processed.

The event object contains the following properties:

filename: The name of the file.
comment: The text of the JSDoc comment.
lineno: The line number on which the comment was found.
columnno: The column number on which the comment was found. Available in JSDoc 3.5.0 and later.

Event: symbolFound

The symbolFound event is fired when the parser comes across a symbol in the code that may need to be documented. For example, the parser fires a symbolFound event for each variable, function, and object literal in a source file.

The event object contains the following properties:

filename: The name of the file.
comment: The text of the comment associated with the symbol, if any.
id: The unique ID of the symbol.
lineno: The line number on which the symbol was found.
columnno: The column number on which the symbol was found. Available in JSDoc 3.5.0 and later.
range: An array containing the numeric index of the first and last characters in the source file that are associated with the symbol.
astnode: The symbol's node from the abstract syntax tree.
code: Object with detailed information about the code. This object usually contains name, type, and node properties. The object might also have value, paramnames, or funcscope properties depending on the symbol.

Event: newDoclet

The newDoclet event is the highest-level event. It is fired when a new doclet has been created. This means that a JSDoc comment or a symbol has been processed, and the actual doclet that will be passed to the template has been created.

The event object contains the following properties:

doclet: The new doclet that was created.

The doclet's properties can vary depending on the comment or symbol that the doclet represents. Some common properties you're likely to see include:

comment: The text of the JSDoc comment, or an empty string if the symbol is undocumented.
meta: Object that describes how the doclet relates to the source file (for example, the location within the source file).
description: A description of the symbol being documented.
kind: The kind of symbol being documented (for example, class or function).
name: The short name for the symbol (for example, myMethod).
longname: The fully qualified name, including memberof info (for example, MyClass#myMethod).
memberof: The module, namespace, or class that this symbol belongs to (for example, MyClass), or an empty string if the symbol does not have a parent.
scope: The scope of the symbol within its parent (for example, global, static, instance, or inner).
undocumented: Set to true if the symbol did not have a JSDoc comment.
defaultvalue: The default value for a symbol.
type: Object containing details about the symbol's type.
params: Object containing the list of parameters to a function.
tags: Object containing a list of tags that JSDoc did not recognize. Only available if allowUnknownTags is set to true in JSDoc's configuration file.

To see the doclets that JSDoc generates for your code, run JSDoc with the -X command-line option.

Below is an example of a newDoclet handler that shouts the descriptions:

Example

exports.handlers = {
  newDoclet: function(e) {
    // e.doclet will refer to the newly created doclet
    // you can read and modify properties of that doclet if you wish
    if (typeof e.doclet.description === "string") {
      e.doclet.description = e.doclet.description.toUpperCase();
    }
  }
};

Event: fileComplete

The fileComplete event is fired when the parser has finished parsing a file. Your plugin could use this event to trigger per-file cleanup.

The event object contains the following properties:

filename: The name of the file.
source: The contents of the file.

Event: parseComplete

The parseComplete event is fired after JSDoc has parsed all of the specified source files.

Note: This event is fired in JSDoc 3.2 and later.

The event object contains the following properties:

sourcefiles: An array of paths to source files that were parsed.
doclets: An array of doclet objects. See the newDoclet event for details about the properties that each doclet can contain. Available in JSDoc 3.2.1 and later.

Event: processingComplete

The processingComplete event is fired after JSDoc updates the parse results to reflect inherited and borrowed symbols.

Note: This event is fired in JSDoc 3.2.1 and later.

The event object contains the following properties:

doclets: An array of doclet objects. See the newDoclet event for details about the properties that each doclet can contain.

Tag Definitions

Adding tags to the tag dictionary is a mid-level way to affect documentation generation. Before a newDoclet event is triggered, JSDoc comment blocks are parsed to determine the description and any JSDoc tags that may be present. When a tag is found, if it has been defined in the tag dictionary, it is given a chance to modify the doclet.

Plugins can define tags by exporting a defineTags function. That function will be passed a dictionary that can be used to define tags, like so:

Example

exports.defineTags = function(dictionary) {
  // define tags here
};

The Dictionary

The dictionary provides the following methods:

defineTag(title, opts): Used to define tags. The first parameter is the name of the tag (for example, param or overview). The second is an object containing options for the tag. You can include any of the following options; the default value for each option is false:
- canHaveType (boolean): Set to true if the tag text can include a type expression (such as {string} in @param {string} name - Description).
- canHaveName (boolean): Set to true if the tag text can include a name (such as name in @param {string} name - Description).
- isNamespace (boolean): Set to true if the tag should be applied to the doclet's longname as a namespace. For example, the @module tag sets this option to true, and using the tag @module myModuleName results in the longname module:myModuleName.
- mustHaveValue (boolean): Set to true if the tag must have a value (such as TheName in @name TheName).
- mustNotHaveDescription (boolean): Set to true if the tag may have a value but must not have a description (such as TheDescription in @tag {typeExpr} TheDescription).
- mustNotHaveValue (boolean): Set to true if the tag must not have a value.
- onTagged (function): A callback function executed when the tag is found. The function is passed two parameters: the doclet and the tag object.
lookUp(tagName): Retrieve a tag object by name. Returns the tag object, including its options, or false if the tag is not defined.
isNamespace(tagName): Returns true if the tag is applied to a doclet's longname as a namespace.
normalise(tagName): Returns the canonical name of a tag. For example, the @const tag is a synonym for @constant; as a result, if you call normalise('const'), it returns the string constant.
normalize(tagName): Synonym for normalise. Available in JSDoc 3.3.0 and later.

A tag's onTagged callback can modify the contents of the doclet or tag.

Defining an onTagged callback

dictionary.defineTag("instance", {
  onTagged: function(doclet, tag) {
    doclet.scope = "instance";
  }
});

The defineTag method returns a Tag object, which has a synonym method that can be used to declare a synonym for the tag.

Defining a tag synonym

dictionary
  .defineTag("exception", {
    /* options for exception tag */
  })
  .synonym("throws");

Node Visitors

At the lowest level, plugin authors can process each node in the abstract syntax tree (AST) by defining a node visitor that will visit each node. By using a node-visitor plugin, you can modify comments and trigger parser events for any arbitrary piece of code.

Plugins can define a node visitor by exporting an astNodeVisitor object that contains a visitNode function, like so:

Example

exports.astNodeVisitor = {
  visitNode: function(node, e, parser, currentSourceName) {
    // do all sorts of crazy things here
  }
};

The function is called on each node with the following parameters:

node: The AST node. AST nodes are JavaScript objects that use the format defined by the ESTree spec. You can use AST Explorer to see the AST that will be created for your source code. As of version 3.5.0, JSDoc uses the current version of the Babylon parser with all plugins enabled.
e: The event. If the node is one that the parser handles, the event object will already be populated with the same things described in the symbolFound event above. Otherwise, it will be an empty object on which to set various properties.
parser: The JSDoc parser instance.
currentSourceName: The name of the file being parsed.

Making things happen

The primary reasons to implement a node visitor are to be able to document things that aren't normally documented (like function calls that create classes) or to auto generate documentation for code that isn't documented. For instance, a plugin might look for calls to a _trigger method since it knows that means an event is fired and then generate documentation for the event.

To make things happen, the visitNode function should modify properties of the event parameter. In general the goal is to construct a comment and then get an event to fire. After the parser lets all of the node visitors have a look at the node, it looks to see if the event object has a comment property and an event property. If it has both, the event named in the event property is fired. The event is usually symbolFound or jsdocCommentFound, but theoretically, a plugin could define its own events and handle them.

As with event-handler plugins, a node-visitor plugin can stop later plugins from running by setting a stopPropagation property on the event object (e.stopPropagation = true). A plugin can stop the event from firing by setting a preventDefault property (e.preventDefault = true).

Reporting Errors

If your plugin needs to report an error, use one of the following methods in the jsdoc/util/logger module:

logger.warn: Warn the user about a possible problem.
logger.error: Report an error from which the plugin can recover.
logger.fatal: Report an error that should cause JSDoc to stop running.

Using these methods creates a better user experience than simply throwing an error.

Note: Do not use the jsdoc/util/error module to report errors. This module is deprecated and will be removed in a future version of JSDoc.

Reporting a non-fatal error

var logger = require("jsdoc/util/logger");

exports.handlers = {
  newDoclet: function(e) {
    // Your code here.

    if (somethingBadHappened) {
      logger.error("Oh, no, something bad happened!");
    }
  }
};

Creating and Enabling a Plugin​

Authoring JSDoc 3 Plugins​

Event Handlers​

Event: parseBegin​

Event: fileBegin​

Event: beforeParse​

Event: jsdocCommentFound​

Event: symbolFound​

Event: newDoclet​

Event: fileComplete​

Event: parseComplete​

Event: processingComplete​

Tag Definitions​

The Dictionary​

Node Visitors​

Making things happen​

Reporting Errors​

Creating and Enabling a Plugin

Authoring JSDoc 3 Plugins

Event Handlers

Event: parseBegin

Event: fileBegin

Event: beforeParse

Event: jsdocCommentFound

Event: symbolFound

Event: newDoclet

Event: fileComplete

Event: parseComplete

Event: processingComplete

Tag Definitions

The Dictionary

Node Visitors

Making things happen

Reporting Errors