DocFX for Unity

DocFX usage example for Unity projects

DocFX tool generates a clean documentation that looks like the Unity documentation with a manual (written in Markdown) and a scripting API (from the C# scripts of the project).

This repository contains a simple Unity example project which documentation is automatically generated and deployed online: https://normanderwan.github.io/DocFxForUnity/. It references both C# API and Unity API.

DocFxForUnity documentation manual

DocFxForUnity documentation scripting API

Setup your documentation

Install DocFX.
Copy the Documentation/ folder to your Unity project:
```
  .
  ├── Assets
+ ├── Documentation
  ├── Package
  ├── ProjectSettings
  └── README.md
```
You can rename Documentation/DocFxForUnity.csproj to match your project — just update the filename in Documentation/docfx.json under metadata[0].src[0].files accordingly.

Edit the following properties in Documentation/docfx.json, keep the others as it is:

  {
    "build": {
      "globalMetadata": // Edit your documentation website info, see: https://dotnet.github.io/docfx/tutorial/docfx.exe_user_manual.html#322-reserved-metadata
      {
        "_appTitle": "Example Unity documentation",
        "_appFooter": "Example Unity documentation",
        "_enableSearch": true
      },
      "sitemap":
      {
        "baseUrl": "https://normanderwan.github.io/DocFxForUnity" // The URL of your documentation website
      }
  }

It's the configuration file of your documentation. See https://dotnet.github.io/docfx/tutorial/docfx.exe_user_manual.html#3-docfxjson-format for more details.

Edit Documentation/filterConfig.yml:

apiRules:
- include: # The namespaces to generate
    uidRegex: ^Your\.Namespace1
    type: Namespace
- include:
    uidRegex: ^Your\.Namespace2
    type: Namespace
- exclude:
    uidRegex: .* # Every other namespaces are ignored
    type: Namespace

It tells DocFX which namespaces you want to generate the documentation. See https://dotnet.github.io/docfx/tutorial/howto_filter_out_unwanted_apis_attributes.html for more details.

Document your classes and methods. See https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/csharp/codedoc for more details.
(Optional) Add your manual pages:
- Write a Markdown file for each page in Documentation/manual/.
- Keep a list of these pages on Documentation/manual/toc.yml.
(Optional) Add resources such as images:
- Copy them to Documentation/resources/.
- Reference them on your docs or manual pages.
- See https://dotnet.github.io/docfx/tutorial/links_and_cross_references.html#link-to-a-file-using-relative-path for more details.
(Optional) Document your namespaces:
- For each namespace, add a Assets/Scripts/Your/Namespace1/Your.Namespace1.md file:
```
---
uid: Your.Namespace1
summary: Description of the Your.Namespace1 namespace.
---
```
- See https://dotnet.github.io/docfx/tutorial/intro_overwrite_files.html to know how it works.
Generate your documentation:
- On a command line opened on your project, run:
```
cp README.md Documentation/index.md
docfx Documentation/docfx.json --serve
```
- The generated website will be visible at http://localhost:8080.

If you want to have a more similar look to the Unity documentation, see this UnityFX template for DocFX: https://github.com/code-beans/UnityFX.

Generate automatically your documentation

If you're using GitHub:

Copy the .github/workflows/documentation.yml workflow to your Unity project:

  .
+ ├── .github
+ |   └── workflows
+ |       └── documentation.yml
  ├── Assets
  ├── Documentation
  ├── Package
  ├── ProjectSettings
  └── README.md

Configure the Pages of your repository to use GitHub Actions.
Commit and push on the main branch: your documentation will be built and deployed to https://<username>.github.io/<repository>.

If you're using GitLab, use the provided .gitlab-ci.yml. Generated website is pushed to a public/ directory. See the GitLab Pages documentation for more details.

Troubleshooting / FAQ

DocFX outputs: Warning:[ExtractMetadata]No project detected for extracting metadata.

Solution: Make sure DocFxForUnity.csproj (or your renamed version) is inside the Documentation/ folder, and that the filename matches the entry in Documentation/docfx.json under metadata[0].src[0].files.
DocFX outputs: Warning:[ExtractMetadata]No metadata is generated for Assembly-CSharp,Assembly-CSharp-Editor.

Solution: Make sure you included your namespace in Documentation/filterConfig.yml:
```
- include:
  uidRegex: ^Your\.Namespace1
  type: Namespace
```
MSBuild outputs: Unity managed DLLs not found.

This means DocFX could not locate Unity's managed DLLs. It looks in three places, in order:
1. The UNITY_MANAGED_PATH environment variable (see below).
2. lib/UnityEngine/ at the project root (populated automatically by the CI workflow).
3. The default Unity Hub installation directory for your OS.
If Unity Hub is installed at a non-default location, or you want to target a specific Unity version, set UNITY_MANAGED_PATH (see Advanced: UNITY_MANAGED_PATH below).
If you want to reference a specific version of Unity, change this line on your docfx.json:
```
"xref": [ "https://normanderwan.github.io/UnityXrefMaps/<version>/xrefmap.yml" ],
```
where <version> is a Unity version in the form of YYYY.x (e.g. 2022.3, 2023.2, 6000.0).

Advanced: `UNITY_MANAGED_PATH`

By default, Documentation/DocFxForUnity.csproj auto-detects the Unity managed DLLs from the standard Unity Hub installation directory. Set UNITY_MANAGED_PATH when you need to:

Use a Unity version installed at a non-default location.
Pin to a specific version when multiple Unity versions are installed.
Work without Unity Hub (standalone Unity install).

Point it to the UnityEngine subfolder inside your Unity installation's Managed directory:

OS	Example path
Windows	`C:\Program Files\Unity\Hub\Editor\6000.0.73f1\Editor\Data\Managed\UnityEngine`
macOS	`/Applications/Unity/Hub/Editor/6000.0.73f1/Unity.app/Contents/Managed/UnityEngine`
Linux	`~/Unity/Hub/Editor/6000.0.73f1/Editor/Data/Managed/UnityEngine`

Set it in your shell before running DocFX:

# macOS / Linux
export UNITY_MANAGED_PATH="/Applications/Unity/Hub/Editor/6000.0.73f1/Unity.app/Contents/Managed/UnityEngine"
docfx Documentation/docfx.json --serve

# Windows (PowerShell)
$env:UNITY_MANAGED_PATH = "C:\Program Files\Unity\Hub\Editor\6000.0.73f1\Editor\Data\Managed\UnityEngine"
docfx Documentation/docfx.json --serve

Disclaimer

This repository is not sponsored by or affiliated with Unity Technologies or its affiliates. “Unity” is a trademark or registered trademark of Unity Technologies or its affiliates in the U.S. and elsewhere.