Using command line

To run Dokka from the command line, download the Dokka CLI runner. To generate documentation, run the following command: 

java -jar dokka-cli.jar <arguments>

Configuration options

Dokka supports the following command line arguments:

  • -outputDir - the output directory where the documentation is generated
  • -moduleName - (required) - module name used as a part of source set ID when declaring dependent source sets
  • -cacheRoot - cache directory to enable package-list caching
  • -pluginsClasspath - artifacts with Dokka plugins, separated by ;. At least dokka-base and all its dependencies must be added there
  • -pluginsConfiguration - configuration for plugins in format fqPluginName=json^^fqPluginName=json...
  • -offlineMode - do not resolve package-lists online
  • -failOnWarning - throw an exception instead of a warning
  • -globalPackageOptions - per package options added to all source sets
  • -globalLinks - external documentation links added to all source sets
  • -globalSrcLink - source links added to all source sets
  • -sourceSet - (repeatable) - configuration for a single source set. Following this argument, you can pass other arguments:
    • -sourceSetName - source set name as a part of source set ID when declaring dependent source sets
    • -displayName - source set name displayed in the generated documentation
    • -src - list of source files or directories separated by ;
    • -classpath - list of directories or .jar files to include in the classpath (used for resolving references) separated by ;
    • -samples - list of directories containing sample code (documentation for those directories is not generated but declarations from them can be referenced using the @sample tag) separated by ;
    • -includes - list of files containing the documentation for the module and individual packages separated by ;
    • -includeNonPublic - include protected and private code
    • -skipDeprecated - if set, deprecated elements are not included in the generated documentation
    • -reportUndocumented - warn about undocumented members
    • -skipEmptyPackages - do not create index pages for empty packages
    • -packageOptions - list of package options in format matchingRegex,-deprecated,-privateApi,+reportUndocumented;matchingRegex, ..., separated by ;
    • -links - list of external documentation links in format url^packageListUrl^^url2..., separated by ;
    • -srcLink - mapping between a source directory and a Web site for browsing the code in format <path>=<url>[#lineSuffix]
    • -noStdlibLink - disable linking to online kotlin-stdlib documentation
    • -noJdkLink - disable linking to online JDK documentation
    • -jdkVersion - version of JDK to use for linking to JDK JavaDoc
    • -analysisPlatform - platform used for analysis, see the Platforms section
    • -dependentSourceSets - list of dependent source sets in format moduleName/sourceSetName, separated by ;

You can also use a JSON file with Dokka configuration: 

java -jar <dokka_cli.jar> <path_to_config.json>

Applying plugins

To apply a Dokka plugin you have to provide it and all its dependencies in the pluginsClasspath parameter

Base plugin

Using CLI runner to generate default documentation requires providing all dependencies manually on classpath. For Base plugins these are:

All of them are published on maven central. To get them on classpath one should add them via pluginsClasspath argument, e. g. 

java -jar dokka-cli.jar -pluginsClasspath "dokka-base.jar;dokka-analysis.jar;kotlin-analysis-compiler.jar;kotlin-analysis-intellij.jar;kotlinx-coroutines-core.jar;kotlinx-html-jvm.jar" ...