pydoc

Pydoc is a module in the Python standard library that provides access to Python's documentation and a lightweight documentation server. It gathers help text from module docstrings and the Python introspection API to generate human-readable output in both plain text and HTML formats.

Usage is straightforward. At the command line, you can view documentation for a module or object with python -m pydoc <name>, for example python -m pydoc math. In Python code, you can call functions such as pydoc.render_doc(...) or pydoc.help(...). The locate(name) function resolves a dotted name to the corresponding Python object, enabling programmatic access to modules, classes, and functions.

An optional built-in HTTP server can be started to browse documentation in a web browser by running python -m pydoc -p 8000. The server provides an index of installed modules and pages for individual objects, offering a simple, browsable view of documentation.

Pydoc is cross-platform as part of the Python standard library and relies on the module's docstrings and the inspect module for information. It is intended as a quick way to access documentation and to assist in debugging or learning, rather than as a comprehensive documentation framework.

Limitations include reliance on docstrings, which means documentation quality varies by module. Complex APIs and many third-party or C extensions may have incomplete or less accessible docs. For extensive or polished documentation projects, dedicated tools such as Sphinx are typically preferred.