CodeStory

A workspace for documenting software projects

Describe how anything works and show the relevant code on the same page, using Live Views from your codebase, and much more!

Addressing the long-standing issues of code documentation

Code comments: no big picture.
While they are OK to explain the purpose of a module, function or block of code, code comments fall short of providing the big picture, because any feature or mechanism you’ll want to describe most likely involves multiple chunks of code spread across multiple files.

Hard to maintain.
A minor refactoring and the existing documentation gets irrelevant, without anyone even noticing.

Wikis: cumbersome.
Relying on a separate document (such as a wiki) would be the only way to provide the overview and enjoy a rich text documentation. However, making the connection between the notes and the code turns out to be a pain.

No immediate benefits.
Writing a documentation and keeping it up to date takes some time and effort: it has a substantive, immediate cost and requires great discipline. The developer doesn't perceive that his documentation task as useful for himself.

Live Code ViewsConnect your notes to your code, and vice versa.

Embed live views of your code right in the middle of your notes. Jump into your favorite editor, or the other way round. Just need to do a small edit ? Click into the view and transition like magic into a full-page editor, without leaving your note.

Any feature of your application most likely involves multiple portions of code, spread across multiple files. Code comments don't let you draw the big picture, and using a separate documentation is cumbersome and nearly impossible to maintain.

With Live Code Views, you are now able to document your project in a rich-text editor and insert live, editable views of your codebase right into your notes.

Watch Live Code Views in action

Sequence DiagramsA bird's eye view of your code...

CodeStory pushes the well-known sequence diagrams to the next level with rich content and Live Code Views popovers.

Real world examplesYour code is sophisticated, not complicated!

You'll be amazed to see that your documentation doesn't need to be verbose: using Live Code Views, code simply untangles itself..

A CodeStory Sequence Diagram in action with a popover revealing a note. A feature that looks simple to the end user but that actually involves a lot behind the scene, from the front-end and its build configuration, the backend server, down to Kubernetes configuration requirements!

Notice the right sidebar which reveals all the related files.

An in app purchase mechanism in an iOS app.

See how the Objective-C code and the python code from the server are interleaved in this note.

Quite a complex mechanism : a Meteor front-end establishing a secure communication with the server.