26 Feb 2024 | Qinyu Luo, Yining Ye, Shihao Liang, Zhong Zhang, Yujia Qin, Yaxi Lu, Yesai Wu, Xin Cong, Yankai Lin, Yingli Zhang, Xiaoyin Che, Zhiyuan Liu, Maosong Sun
RepoAgent is an open-source framework powered by large language models (LLMs) designed to generate, maintain, and update repository-level code documentation. The framework addresses the limitations of existing methods by providing comprehensive, context-aware documentation that includes detailed functionality, parameters, code descriptions, examples, and practical guidance. It leverages global structure analysis, documentation generation, and documentation update stages to ensure accurate and up-to-date documentation that aligns with code changes. RepoAgent integrates with Git to automate documentation updates, ensuring synchronization between code and documentation. The framework has been tested on real Python repositories, demonstrating its effectiveness in generating high-quality documentation that is comparable to human-authored content. Quantitative evaluations show that RepoAgent outperforms human-generated documentation in blind preference tests. The framework also addresses challenges such as poor summarization, inadequate guidance, and passive updates, offering a proactive solution for maintaining code documentation. RepoAgent is expected to improve developer productivity by reducing the burden of manual documentation tasks and enhancing collaboration among teams. However, it has limitations, including dependency on Python-specific tools, the need for human oversight, and the reliance on LLM capabilities. Future work aims to expand its applicability to other programming languages and improve its integration with software development workflows.RepoAgent is an open-source framework powered by large language models (LLMs) designed to generate, maintain, and update repository-level code documentation. The framework addresses the limitations of existing methods by providing comprehensive, context-aware documentation that includes detailed functionality, parameters, code descriptions, examples, and practical guidance. It leverages global structure analysis, documentation generation, and documentation update stages to ensure accurate and up-to-date documentation that aligns with code changes. RepoAgent integrates with Git to automate documentation updates, ensuring synchronization between code and documentation. The framework has been tested on real Python repositories, demonstrating its effectiveness in generating high-quality documentation that is comparable to human-authored content. Quantitative evaluations show that RepoAgent outperforms human-generated documentation in blind preference tests. The framework also addresses challenges such as poor summarization, inadequate guidance, and passive updates, offering a proactive solution for maintaining code documentation. RepoAgent is expected to improve developer productivity by reducing the burden of manual documentation tasks and enhancing collaboration among teams. However, it has limitations, including dependency on Python-specific tools, the need for human oversight, and the reliance on LLM capabilities. Future work aims to expand its applicability to other programming languages and improve its integration with software development workflows.