dokumentavim

Dokumentavim is a hypothetical open-source framework designed to integrate document creation and management into the Vim text editor. The concept combines features found in documentation generators, literate programming tools, and Vim workflows to enable writing, organizing, and exporting documentation from within a familiar editing environment.

Origin and scope: The project arose from community experimentation with Vim’s extensibility. It is not part of the core Vim project; instead, it is distributed as a plugin ecosystem that uses Vimscript, Lua, or Python for scripting and supports formats such as Markdown, reStructuredText, and AsciiDoc. Its goal is bidirectional editing between code and its documentation, with indexing and change tracking.

Key features include in-editor documentation authoring, templating, outline navigation, cross-references, and bidirectional links between code and docs. It supports exporting to HTML, PDF, and ePub, syntax highlighting for documentation formats, code block execution, and lightweight templates to bootstrap new projects. It accommodates literate programming workflows where prose and code co-exist.

Usage and workflow: Users install the plugin, select formats, and run templates, render documentation, or publish with a few keystrokes. The interface integrates with Vim’s normal and command modes, offering a document map and tag navigation. The design prioritizes responsiveness for large projects.

Reception and status: Dokumentavim is described in community discussions as an experimental tool for developers and technical writers. It has attracted interest for bridging code and docs, though some users report a learning curve and performance concerns on very large documents. It remains community-maintained and outside official Vim releases.

See also: Vim, Documentation generator, Literate programming, Vim plugins.