docToolchain v4

docToolchain is the docs-as-code toolchain created by Ralf D. Müller: it turns AsciiDoc into HTML, PDF, microsites and Confluence pages, and pulls architecture material out of tools like Enterprise Architect so the documentation can live in the repository next to the code. It has grown with its community since 2017; this documentation describes version 4, a ground-up rewrite that removes Gradle and jBake in favour of plain Groovy scripts and adds an LLM-native, MCP-integrated architecture.

Two things make this example worth reading. First, it documents an architecture in transition: the building block view reasons openly about the v3→v4 delta — what was removed and why — and one ADR even records that its accepted decision was reversed during implementation. Second, it is unusually well cross-wired: quality scenarios, risks, threats and decisions all carry stable IDs and reference each other, so every decision names the scenarios it supports and the risks it creates — the goals→strategy→decisions traceability chain arc42 recommends, worked end to end.

The chapters were written for a tool that builds documentation, by the people who build it — down to a runtime scenario for error recovery and a quality tree with nineteen six-part scenarios.

Both docToolchain and this documentation are MIT-licensed — one of the most permissive open source licences there is. Unlike the CC BY-SA licence most examples here carry, MIT does not require adaptations to stay under the same licence: you may copy, adapt and reuse these chapters, even as the skeleton of your own closed arc42 documentation, as long as the licence notice travels with what you take. The notice lives in the docToolchain repository and is also linked from the Source-and-licence note below.