How to Write Framework Documentation: A Practical Guide Based on Daily Support Experience

This article summarizes the author's extensive experience with daily support inquiries for development frameworks, providing guidance on what should be included in framework documentation. The content is organized from three dimensions: functional framework, feature usage process, and functional description logic.

Problem Analysis: The author identified two main categories of support requests during maintenance of over 10 development frameworks. Approximately 40% of daily support involves questions about how to use the framework in specific scenarios, often because documentation is poorly structured or missing entirely. Another 30% involves troubleshooting unexpected issues during usage.

Documentation Categories: The author proposes that complete framework documentation should include: (1) Background and domain knowledge, (2) Applicable scenarios with dependencies and limitations, (3) Integration, usage, and optimization guides, (4) Quality information including testing and security, (5) User guidance and best practices, and (6) Architecture design and source code reading guides.

Detailed Documentation Structure: The article provides a comprehensive breakdown including framework homepage, domain knowledge, quick start guide, dependencies and limitations, configuration options, detailed usage instructions, multi-scenario examples, version release notes, upgrade guides, design principles, quality information, and FAQ.

Documentation Logic: The author emphasizes three dimensions of logical writing: (1) Functional framework logic using a "summary-detail-summary" approach, (2) Feature process logic with step-by-step guidance and visual diagrams, and (3) Functional description logic ensuring completeness, considering all impact points, clear conditional statements, precise terminology, and background explanations.

The article concludes that good documentation is like a product that solves user problems, and that both framework users and developers are important stakeholders. Writing clear documentation enhances the framework's value and the developer's technical influence.