Generate documentation from Azure infrastructure as code (IaC) artifacts.
Generate markdown from Azure infrastructure as code (IaC) artifacts.
Features of PSDocs for Azure include:
This project uses GitHub Issues to track bugs and feature requests. Please search the existing issues before filing new issues to avoid duplicates.
If you have any problems with the PSDocs engine, please check the project GitHub issues page instead.
Support for this project/ product is limited to the resources listed above.
This project requires the PSDocs
PowerShell module.
For details on each see install.
You can download and install these modules from the PowerShell Gallery.
Module | Description | Downloads / instructions |
---|---|---|
PSDocs.Azure | Generate documentation from Azure infrastructure as code (IaC) artifacts. | latest / instructions |
The follow example uses PSDocs for Azure to generate markdown from an Azure template. The source template and generated output are provided below.
For frequently asked questions, see the FAQ.
In its simplest structure, an Azure template has the following elements:
{
"$schema": "https://schema.management.azure.com/schemas/2019-04-01/deploymentTemplate.json#",
"contentVersion": "1.0.0.0",
"parameters": { },
"variables": { },
"functions": [ ],
"resources": [ ],
"outputs": { }
}
Additionally a metadata
property can be added in most places throughout the template.
For example:
{
"$schema": "https://schema.management.azure.com/schemas/2019-04-01/deploymentTemplate.json#",
"contentVersion": "1.0.0.0",
"metadata": {
"name": "Storage Account",
"description": "Create or update a Storage Account."
},
"parameters": {
"storageAccountName": {
"type": "string",
"metadata": {
"description": "The name of the Storage Account."
}
},
"tags": {
"type": "object",
"metadata": {
"description": "Tags to apply to the resource.",
"example": {
"service": "<service_name>",
"env": "prod"
}
}
}
},
"resources": [
],
"outputs": {
"resourceId": {
"type": "string",
"value": "[resourceId('Microsoft.Storage/storageAccounts', variables('storageAccountName'))]",
"metadata": {
"description": "A unique resource identifier for the storage account."
}
}
}
}
This metadata and the template structure itself can be used to dynamically generate documentation. Documenting templates in this way allows you to:
PSDocs interprets the template structure and metadata to generate documentation as markdown. Generating documentation as markdown allows you to publish web-based content on a variety of platforms.
PSDocs supports the following metadata:
Field | Scope | Type | Description |
---|---|---|---|
name |
Template | string |
Used for markdown page title. |
summary |
Template | string |
Used as a short description for the markdown page. |
description |
Template | string |
Used as a detailed description for the markdown page. |
description |
Parameter | string |
Used as the description for the parameter. |
example |
Parameter | string , boolean , object , or array |
An example use of the parameter. The example is included in the JSON snippet. If an example is not included the default value is used instead. |
ignore |
Parameter | boolean |
When true the parameter is not included in the JSON snippet. |
description |
Output | string |
Used as the description for the output. |
An example of an Azure Storage Account template with metadata included is available here.
To run PSDocs for Azure locally use the Invoke-PSDocument
cmdlet.
# Import module
Import-Module PSDocs.Azure;
# Generate markdown
Invoke-PSDocument -Module PSDocs.Azure -InputObject '<template_file_path>' -OutputPath out/docs/;
This will generate a README.md
in out/docs directory with the generated markdown (also creates out/docs/ directory if it does not exist).
To scan for templates in a directory the Get-AzDocTemplateFile
cmdlet can be used.
# Import module
Import-Module PSDocs.Azure;
# Scan for Azure template file recursively in the templates/ directory
Get-AzDocTemplateFile -Path templates/ | ForEach-Object {
# Generate a standard name of the markdown file. i.e. <name>_<version>.md
$template = Get-Item -Path $_.TemplateFile;
$templateName = $template.Directory.Parent.Name;
$version = $template.Directory.Name;
$docName = "$($templateName)_$version";
# Generate markdown
Invoke-PSDocument -Module PSDocs.Azure -OutputPath out/docs/ -InputObject $template.FullName -InstanceName $docName;
}
In this example template files are stored in a directory structure such as templates/<name>/<version>/template.json
.
i.e. templates/storage/v1/template.json
.
The example finds all the Azure template files and outputs a markdown file for each in out/docs/
.
An example of the generated markdown is available here
The following example shows how to setup Azure Pipelines to generate ARM template documentation in the markdown format. This example copies the generated markdown files to a designated blob storage.
<name>_<version>
.mdFor example:
# Example: .azure-pipelines/psdocs-blobstorage.yaml
jobs:
- job: 'generate_arm_template_documentation'
displayName: 'Generate ARM template docs'
pool:
vmImage: 'windows-2019'
steps:
# STEP 1: Generate Markdowns using PSDocs
- powershell: |
Install-Module -Name 'PSDocs.Azure' -Repository PSGallery -force;
# Scan for Azure template file recursively in the templates/ directory
Get-AzDocTemplateFile -Path templates/ | ForEach-Object {
# Generate a standard name of the markdown file. i.e. <name>_<version>.md
$template = Get-Item -Path $_.TemplateFile;
$templateName = $template.Directory.Parent.Name;
$version = $template.Directory.Name;
$docName = "$($templateName)_$version";
# Generate markdown
Invoke-PSDocument -Module PSDocs.Azure -OutputPath out/docs/ -InputObject $template.FullName -InstanceName $docName;
}
displayName: 'Export template data'
# STEP 2: Copy files to a storage account
- task: AzureFileCopy@4
displayName: 'Copy files to a storage account blob container'
inputs:
SourcePath: 'out/docs/*'
azureSubscription: 'psdocstest'
Destination: 'AzureBlob'
storage: '<storageaccountname>'
ContainerName: 'ps-docs'
The following example shows how to setup GitHub Actions to copy generated markdown files to an Azure blob storage account.
<name>_<version>
.mdSTORAGEACCOUNTSECRET
action secret.For example:
# Example: .github/workflows/arm-docs.yaml
name: Generate ARM templates docs
on:
push:
branches: [ main ]
jobs:
arm_docs:
name: Generate ARM template docs
runs-on: ubuntu-latest
steps:
- name: Checkout
uses: actions/checkout@v2
# STEP 1: Generate Markdowns using PSDocs
- name: Generate ARM markdowns
run: |
Install-Module -Name 'PSDocs.Azure' -Repository PSGallery -force;
# Scan for Azure template file recursively in the templates/ directory
Get-AzDocTemplateFile -Path templates/ | ForEach-Object {
# Generate a standard name of the markdown file. i.e. <name>_<version>.md
$template = Get-Item -Path $_.TemplateFile;
$templateName = $template.Directory.Parent.Name;
$version = $template.Directory.Name;
$docName = "$($templateName)_$version";
# Generate markdown
Invoke-PSDocument -Module PSDocs.Azure -OutputPath out/docs/ -InputObject $template.FullName -InstanceName $docName;
}
shell: pwsh
# STEP 2: Copy files to a storage account
- name: Copy files to a storage account
uses: bacongobbler/[email protected]
with:
connection_string: ${{ secrets.STORAGEACCOUNTSECRET }}
container_name: ps-docs
source_dir: 'out/docs/*'
PSDocs for Azure extends PowerShell with the following cmdlets and concepts.
The following commands exist in the PSDocs.Azure
module:
The following conceptual topics exist in the PSDocs.Azure
module:
Modules in this repository will use the semantic versioning model to declare breaking changes from v1.0.0. Prior to v1.0.0, breaking changes may be introduced in minor (0.x.0) version increments. For a list of module changes please see the change log.
Pre-release module versions are created on major commits and can be installed from the PowerShell Gallery. Pre-release versions should be considered experimental. Modules and change log details for pre-releases will be removed as standard releases are made available.
This project welcomes contributions and suggestions. If you are ready to contribute, please visit the contribution guide.
This project has adopted the Microsoft Open Source Code of Conduct. For more information see the Code of Conduct FAQ or contact [email protected] with any additional questions or comments.
This project is licensed under the MIT License.